Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Sunday, day one....

This past Sunday and Monday were pretty nice days for November. A long range guess put those two days to be the best out of the next five. I was fortunate to be able to get out and fish a few streams and it was a pleasure. The stream I fished Sunday is one I'm familiar with. The area it flows through is protected and the fish are all wild. Two tributaries flow into it and at times they also hold trout. It's funny how you can be so familiar with an area and still find out something new, and that was the case for me on Sunday. The choice of equipment that day was a short glass rod, and soft-hackle flies. The stream was flowing nicely with a few pools that were absolutely gorgeous, slick and clear with several deep undercut banks. A few casts and a hard strike, several more casts and my first brown to hand.



Small and handsome. Deep color on this one with beautiful spots.


This is one of the tributaries. It actually is quite long and has some very nice plunge pools.


In those pools one can find willing participants.


Brookies show up here too. As I moved up the stream I had a brief scare. A dark four legged creature suddenly ran near me. It jumped on a fallen tree and ran across the tree to the other side of the stream where it quickly vanished. It took a few minutes to compute but I realized what I saw was a Fisher. They are really cool animals, and super fast.


Back tracking to where I thought he came from I discovered this. He was feeding on a blue heron. The kill was fresh and I was not certain the Fisher was responsible.


What a day, what a stream.


My best fish of the day. A healthy wild brown.


A little gray squirrel dubbing, and some starling hackle.....












18 comments:

  1. Glad you're still getting some time in on the streams. That one in particular is a lovely piece of water.

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    1. billp
      Thanks
      Bill until it gets bitter cold or deep snows prevent access to them I'll fish. It's a sweet stream for sure.

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  2. Hi Alan, this side of the pond we don’t have Fishers so I had to look them up, pretty fierce creatures. As for the poor heron that is not a great ending. Though there looked to be some very useful feathers there! I still have some grey heron herl I found that makes a very nice body for soft hackle spiders, every cloud as they say. Wish we had brookies over here!

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    1. Grannom
      Thanks
      I picked up quite a few nice feathers, and plan on crafting some nice soft-hackles. Herons are pretty smart birds, that Fisher must have had a super sneak plan and executed well.

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  3. Interesting end for the Heron. Fishers are stealthy critters, it wouldn't surprise me if he did ambush the Heron. They've gone after piglets here a time or two; I found their tracks in the mud around the farrowing pen. They didn't succeed. Beautiful fish, Alan!

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    1. mike
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      Mike I visualize an attack from above. The Fisher may have been in a tree and pounced on the Heron.
      A piglet is not small prey, Fishers are tough I guess.

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  4. Those little browns are beautiful. Brilliantly spotted and healthy looking. Fishers are efficient killers that is for sure. Did you grab a few feathers from the crane carcass for fly tying, Alan? The wing feathers especially look to be in good shape.

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    1. Sam
      Thanks
      Sam there's concentrated beauty in those wee browns.
      I selected some great feathers for this winter.

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    2. What a spectacular photo of the brook trout down below. You captured all the colors with that one, Alan. Just amazing.

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    3. Sam that photo was taken with an old Nikon point and shoot camera. It all came together and the "bomber" led the way.

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  5. Alan,
    Interesting outing and some beautiful browns. I hear of more and more sightings of fishers lately. They are making quite the rebound in many places. Lucky for those browns they don't eat much fish.
    JJ

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    1. Beaverdam
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      Joe they have been sighted in most towns in CT. Must be good hunting here for them. And seeing they do not like fish is a good thing for the trout.

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  6. Alan
    Colorful brook trout on a stream that seem free of leaves----just wondering what the temp was on this outing? The weather here has been extremely cold in the teens in the mornings, I can only imagine what its like there. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Bill Trussell
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      Bill the high temp that day was in the upper 40's to low 50's. The last few days we have had some cold nights a bit of a shock but we will adjust.

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  7. Some beautiful trout on a November day. I caught my largest wild brook trout on my favorite stream the day after Thanksgiving and I wish I was closer to my home wild trout streams but your pictures and outings help quite a bit. I have never seen a Fisher but we do have a real problem with Blue Herons making a dent in our wild trout populations in NW Jersey and NE Pennsylvania. Send a few Fishers our way!

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    1. NJpatbee
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      Pat November can be a good month for fishing. This Nov. started cold, a possible return to normal is probable. I hear NJ has a major problem with wild turkeys.
      Are there any plans to head back to the old places over the Thanksgiving holiday?

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    2. Thanksgiving is in South Jersey but I would love to take a ride North if the weather allows. My wife is not well and I also have the role of care taker for now.

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    3. Pat, sorry to hear about your wife...stay close buddy.

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