Early Spring Angling

I had the pleasure of fishing a beautiful little stream on Thursday. The weather could not have been nicer. With air temps in the high fifties and a brilliant sun which made it feel so much warmer. The sparseness of the early April foliage and the clarity of the water made for some very slow stalking. Movement in a stealthy manner was the hot tip of the day. I started fishing wet flies and pretty much stayed with those through the outing. I was soon greeted by a feisty small brown at the very edge of a plunge pool, an odd place to find browns at this time of year.

I continued my trek downstream and was rewarded with another small brown. There are places along this stream that are so well protected by nature, that they might never be fished. The thorns are of such size that they could be recorded as not of this earth.

As I reached this nice run, a spot that has a prime undercut, I drifted the fly towards it. The fly was swinging through about mid stream when the fish hit. As I laid my hand in the water and lifted a fine female brown to photograph I realized it to was in a odd location also.

A hen in prime condition. A sign that the condition of the stream during this winter was satisfactory.

This section has always given up a nice brookie or two over the years. It's usually a mass of tangles and woody debris, but this time it was pretty open and very clear. I let the soft hackle drift to the clump of wood in the stream. I saw the fish come for the fly and back off. A few more casts later as the fly hung in the current he struck again. This fish had a lot of fight in it, even going airborne a time or two. In the end the 3wt won out.

The prize of the day, a wild handsome healthy male brown, beautifully spotted and the color of gold. He was released into the clear stream and vanished.

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