I found this weekend to be incredibly frustrating. My wife was very gracious, as she let me go fishing three nights in a row. Thursday night began with me skipping out on band practice to hit up my local favorite.
Here's the deal. I fished a stretch that last year I did very well on, but haven't fished that much this year yet. Last year it was easily 95% brookies/5% small browns. Something happened this year. In the two hours I fished, I only landed 5 trout (well under par), and 4 of them were browns. I don't like the idea that browns may be pushing out the brookies in this stream. Further sampling may be needed.
Friday night I fished another freestoner. It's listed on the Class A as a solid wild brookie stream. I can't understand this stream. I had a stellar day on it a few months ago and it convinced me that this stream is indeed a Class A stream, but since that day I haven't had great fishing on it. I couldn't have asked for better conditions on Friday night. A bit overcast, water was a little stained, but you could still see well, but the strikes were low. If I took you to this stream, you'd think every hole should have trout in it, but I had to work very hard for every strike. The biggest concern again-mostly brownies, only one brookie.
What is going on? Are the brookies just being stubborn? Are the browns taking over and pushing out the native fish? I've never known a scenario where the brownies will rise and feed more willingly than brook trout. I pray that things aren't shifting to favor the brown trout population, but I fear that is the case.
Saturday night I drove 30 minutes to fish a spring creek-this time intentionally seeking wild browns. I arrived at the stream, geared up, heard "scattered showers" on the weather report, stepped in the stream and the sky opened up. I'm not one to be scarred off by a little rain, but this was no "scattered shower". I sat under a canopy and waited for 45 minutes for the rain to end...when I left it was still dumping buckets.
Frustrating weekend for shizzle.
You can catch all brookies some of the time.
ReplyDeleteYou can catch some brookies all of the time.
You can't catch all brookies all of the time.
Too true. I'm used to having browns mixed in, and I'm not "anti-brown trout", don't get me wrong. I appreciate all species of wild troutses, but I definitely care about the displacement of native fish. It just concerns me that browns are taking over these streams. We aren't exactly rich on native trout waters in my area.
ReplyDeleteUnless the water chemistry changed dramatically in that short period of time, I'd say you don't have anything to worry about. Who really knows why some fish bite and others don't.
ReplyDeleteBut if you want to catch only brookies come over here and I'll put you on some brook trout only streams.