Lets step up and knock one down....

 In 1771 Boston merchant John Rowe wrote of traveling to the town of Pembroke, where he caught 62 brook trout while fishing the Indian Head River. Rowe did this during the month of April for three years running, with similar success. Although he does not pin point his exact location, it seems likely that Rowe was fishing below the dam of the Curtiss Iron Works for salter brook trout trying to migrate into the Idian Head from the tidewaters of the North River. The brook trout may have at that time still been able to reach the river above the dam through a flume in the dam left open in the spring to allow passage of herring and shad.

From the book Wild River..by Warren Winders...

These old colonial dams still present a major problem for the migration of wild brook trout. Connecticut has countless little dams that no longer serve any purpose. They cause more harm in the form of holding back heated silted waters. They block brook trout from upper reaches of streams where the waters are cooler and more conducive to wild brook trout. These upper reaches are also prime spawning locales and without access to them the brook trout cannot reproduce.

I will be quoting some more of Warren Winders thoughts and writings in future posts. 

His book can be purchased here

Wild River by Warren Winders – Sea-Run Brook Trout Coalition (searunbrookie.org)

 

 

 

Truly International...

A typical freestone stream in Connecticut. It has no man made obstacles as  it tumbles trough the forest of hemlock and hardwood. It can almost be said it has a brother and sister stream but not in Connecticut or for that matter  in the U.S....no but in Japan and Italy. Soft hackle flies have a following world wide. Both Japan with their sakasa kebari and Italy with the Valsesiana types of soft hackle flies. These flies were created to work in the swift mountain streams of each country ans I must say very effectively.  When allowed to drift naturally in the currents they are very life like in their movement. And when one is retrieved using a variety of speeds and rod tip manipulations it can be deadly.
 

 

Valsesiana...Tied on a Firehole Stick, 320..orange silk thread body, hares mask for the thorax and hen pheasant hackle. Traditional Italian silk thread is used but getting  it is almost impossible. Substitute any other silk and it will work just fine.
 

Valsesiana style flies use game bird feathers as opposed to others such as chicken. I love tying and fishing these flies and will tie them in sizes 10 to 16, but I prefer them in 10 and 12
 

 

 

No matter how you...

Protect...keep safe, keep from harm, preserve, safe guard....no matter the meaning it;s useless if we don't do what's necessary to maintain and protect this wonderful environment. I have seen what bad practices have done to some pretty brook trout streams. Streams that have gone from a robust population of wild brook trout to complete extirpation. These happen from both man and nature.

In years of drought the brookie will do it's part to survive. Most time he finds a way but other times he has no choice. Poor logging practices, bad planning in the construction of new homes and other retail developments just compile strain on an already  limited water supply.
 

 

Woody debris...so valuable to the brook trouts survival.
 

What looks to be a rain puddle is actually a ground water spring. It is full now but will dwindle in volume as the year progresses. A bad decision in logging can all but cause the destruction of this valuable brook trout water source.
 

 

 

 

 

 

  So as much as we love our native brook trout we must love his finely tuned environment. With out this there are no brook trout.

 

 I for one do not want to see him go...
 

Posted by Brk Trt at 7:01 AM No comments:  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More than a feeling...

More then a book, A Fly Rod of Your Own by John Gierach is an inspiration. I pulled it of my book shelf at the same time I took out my bamboo fly rod for a dusting it did not need. I guess the need to assemble it and to feel it flex was the real motive. I have few possessions that I cherish more then my bamboo fly rod. When it is doing it's thing on a stream I feel complete. I, the rod, the stream, and all that surrounds me. It's a feeling that those who fish bamboo know very well.
 

 

There are many cane crafters out there. Their work is beautiful and the overall price of cane rods are within most of our budgets.
 

Several readers of SSR's have been successful in restoring old bamboo rods, and this to can offer a great deal of pleasure ans satisfaction.
 

 

To catch a spirited wild brookie on a bamboo rod is near the top of fly fishing's pleasures.
 

Stewart's Black Spider

 

Black Magic

Two very good small stone fly patterns.