The Salters of Red Brook, Part 1

Jeanette and I just returned from a few days on Cape Cod. They were spent in part on the shores of Red Brook and the shores of Buttermilk Bay. The weather was beautiful with sunny skies and cool to mild temps. The winter had taken a toll there as it did most of the northeast and the folks there were glad it was gone. A side note it seemed as if everything was a week or two behind normal, maybe the result of the harsh winter. The stream was in fantastic shape. Most times that we were fishing there we had caught the tide right which made for more pleasurable fishing.

As you can see in the photos the green-up had not been completed. The leaves were not fully shaped and the watercress was still some time away from full bloom. The river herring run was in swing when we got there and fish were in the brook heavy. With that I knew that fishing tidewater would be very difficult because when the herring run the stripers are right behind them. And stripers do not see them and brook trout as anything different then food. So thought was to fish further upstream and stand a better chance at taking the salters.

Red Brook, an easier time to angle.

Herring. I don't know if they actively feed while spawning but I did tangle with many of them. They are swift and formidable opponents on a glass 3wt. jumping and running like salmon.

With the sun so bight and the stream so clear it was going to be a challenge to get a brook trout to take. I did manage to put the fly just where it had to be. Most places of cover and deeper water produced a strike.

And in some cases the strike produced a salter to hand. These fish strike hard at streamers. There are lots of little fish for them to eat and eat them they do.

When they did restoration work on Red Brook they knew exactly where to place structure. A fly near this structure usually means fish will take it.

A healthy Red Brook salter.

A quiet and peaceful run. Sounds of birds, and water..........

.....and the thrashing of a feisty wild brook trout.

And then there's lunch..................part 2 coming.