Tuesday, November 24, 2015

A Little R and D On A Thin Blue Line

Yesterday morning I joined Kirk for some research and development on a new blue line. It was cold and a brisk wind was about but the sky was cloudless. We were soon geared up and headed for the stream, which was almost perfect. Its waters flowed over rocks and into deep pools. I fished the first pool while Kirk moved downstream. I was changing a fly when I saw Kirk walking back to me. His first words were how you doing, to which I replied nothing yet, how about you I replied and that's when he reached for his camera and said a couple. He then showed me a photo of a perfect brook trout. This fish was in fantastic shape and quite big. I was excited about this stream. Long story cut short. Those were the only two fish caught on this stream, as a matter of fact I never even had a strike...



An upstream view. There were beaver dams and a pretty big swamp.




The stream sort of split at one point and we may have taken the wrong side. This stream is to beautiful to be lacking trout. More time is necessary to really find out just where they are.


On my way home I decided to stop at a stream. I do not like the smell of skunk so I pulled out "Pinkie" and drifted it. It was a while but "Pinkie" came through. As I set the brook trout back into the stream a nice feeling came over me.



24 comments:

  1. It's amazing, how some streams will have a split, and for whatever reason the trout only like one split. I have a stream near home that's got a split for about 200yds. The east split is fairly level in depth and sort of a steady, slight riffle. The west split has deep holes with some undercuts, it's got woody debris... I've never caught a fish on the west side that looks so good, but have caught several to the east. Crazy!

    Given all the streams you guys have explored down there, it's amazing you are still finding new ones! A great sign of our environment here in the North East!

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    1. Hibernation
      Thanks
      Will they certainly know what they like and seek it out, and I love that. Will a tremendous amount of these streams are on state forest lands. All that's required is good legs and the ability to enjoy all that is not in the stream.

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  2. I love exploring unknown blue lines on a map. Great pictures, Alan. It's nice to see the colors of nature in your pictures, instead of the white of snow. Doing my best to keep it over here! Good job beating the skunk before you called it a day!

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    1. Justin Carfagnini
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      Justin, that white stuff will be here soon enough, even with your good intentions to keep it where you are.
      The skunk was close...

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  3. Alan - Nice to see you guys getting out there and finding a few. Guess it's pinkie time again!

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    1. Mark
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      Mark this stream could be a great one if we just figure it out.
      "Pinkie" time is upon us.

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    2. You know what Albert Einstein used to say about research..."If we knew what we were doing it wouldn't be called Research"

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    3. I knew I admired him for a reason......intelligence simplified.

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  4. Good recon mission!!! Looks promising!!!

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    1. TROUTI
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      Pete it does look promising. The walk wasn't bad except felt soles are not good walking on dry leaves.

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  5. If there are three, there should be more.

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    1. Mark Kautz
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      Mark I agree. Just more time is needed to find them.

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  6. Isn't that why we all love fishing new waters. Exploration, research, Identification, and, more research required. I must say that I am amazed with all the waters you have to fish. Like my most recent blog post, "pink" is a color not to overlook!

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    1. Gramps Mel
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      Mel more streams to fish then there is time to fish them. Pink is not overlooked by us.

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  7. Alan
    Looks like some nice water there in the beaver area, I'm sure you tried the Bomber there???? Thanks for sharing

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    1. Bill Trussell
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      Bill the Bomber was called into action but it did not awaken a single fish.

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  8. Alan, beautiful small stream. Maybe a good number of the brookies were in upstream headwater tending to spawning still. It sure looks like there ought to be plenty in there.

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    1. Parachute Adams
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      Sam that thought had not entered my mind until you brought it up. It's very possible.

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  9. Kudos for even stepping outside. We always expect you're going to get something.

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    1. Howard Levett
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      Howard it's getting cold but no snow. That skunk was very close.

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  10. Hi Alan, and firstly thank you for the site.
    Secondly the spirit to go fishing has recently been rekindled, an armchair fly fisherman for way too long, but is how life works out sometimes. Great photography honest pictures and great colour, who needs more. I am not from your side of the pond, but fishing knows no boundaries and I will be taking rod in hand once again. There are a lot of rivers and streams where I live in South Wales in the UK. Rivers that within my lifetime ran black with coal washings or red with the waste from the ironworks, but these rivers are now very much alive with trout, grayling, sea trout and salmon, strange thing is it is not the size of the fish that impresses me - I think I am in good company here.

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    1. X1phOs
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      I wish I had a name as opposed to the bunch of numbers.
      I'm glad you have taken that step back into fly fishing. The rewards are so great. And I to am not to concerned with the size of the trout, as long as they are wild and spirited. And you are indeed in good company.

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