For the last week we have been in a soupy, sticky humid air mass. The days have been cloudy with an occasional brightening of the sky. Come afternoon and evening the skies opened up and the rains came. Some of these storms brought heavy rains which led to the filling up of those little streams.
This outing found me moving about the woods early morning. Everything was damp and soon I was part of this dampness for brushing against ferns and bushes is unavoidable. The waters movement was audible in the damp air but the birds seemed to be so quiet. What the damp woodland air does enhance is the smell. It seems as if every tree and plant gives off a scent that can't be described.
I had been toying with some feathers and put together a caddis fly that I thought had a shot of fooling a few fish....it did. More on this fly in a later post.
The new caddis fly had managed to fool a few of the streams smaller residents it wasn't until this guy hit that I realized the fly's ability to coax a fish to strike. The male brook trout was in super shape and seemed to take on some early colors of a season to come.
Further down as I moved along the stream I was able to bring a few more brookies to hand. Again these fish were very healthy and quite spunky.
With the damp forest floor these were as plentiful as the brook trout in the stream. Edible?
Gorgeous as always!!! The rain is good Al, filling up the rivers and streams!!! We need that!!
ReplyDeleteTROUT1,
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That it is. Pete the streams really benefited. Now if we could get some rain weekly we would be in great shape.
We could do with some on this side of the pond....
ReplyDeleteAndy,
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Somewhat dry over there. A few years ago we suffered a nasty summer drought. Took a few years to bring the trout back to normal.
Alan
ReplyDeleteDid I see a beaver dam in the foreground of that stream? Right above it was probably a likely spot to land a number of brookies. Thanks for shaing
Bill Trussell,
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No Bill just some large rocks. That pool has given up it's share, but not when it's clear like that. Better wait til evening shadows take over.
glad you got some rains out of it! we're hoping the humidity leads to rain here in texas, too!
ReplyDeleteTexWisGirl,
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Teresa the humidity led to dandy t-storms, they put down some rains.
That looked just like the creek Juan and I were fishing yesterday. I think I need some help.
ReplyDeleteMark Kautz,
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I'll have to visit "Northern California Trout" and check that report out.
Alan, really nice looking stream, however, I am interested in the fly pattern. Could not tell if it was to be fished dry or is it designed like a soft hackle? Will wait for further information when you post about this pattern.....................................
ReplyDeletePond Stalker,
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Mel with that fly you can get the best of both.
Very nice Alan! Looks like your fly is a caddis variation on the Ausable Wulff/bomber (orange thread, orange possum dubbing)?
ReplyDeleteMark,
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That old Betters influence.
I love the smell of foliage after rain.. I also like the colour of the dorsal on that first brookie
ReplyDeletebrian,
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He had a beauty for sure.
With the interesting smells of midsummer all around, the colors of the brook trout suggest a season to come... I'm not ready for that, enjoyable as the prospect is.
ReplyDeleterivertoprambles,
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Walt I'm in the same class with you as far as the season to come. It can wait while we enjoy these quiet warm days of summer. Last winter is still very fresh in my mind.
Looks like you have a winner. I'm looking forward to the post about this new jem.....including its name.
ReplyDeleteKiwi,
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I hope to get back to that other stream come next week. As far as a name well............
Beautiful spot Alan.
ReplyDeleteSteve Zakur,
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Indeed.
Some of your stream shots make my knees ache. Good looking though.
ReplyDeletessj,
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There are day when fishing such streams mine ache as well along with my back.