A Little Mountain Stream, July 2014

We are into the month of July, typically the small streams are running on the low side. It is at this time that water temps are very important to the trouts survival. The little mountain freestone that I fished yesterday was in really good shape, considering very little rainfall in the last few weeks. Maybe all that snow of last winter is paying off now. I took the water temp several times in various locations and it was a cool 62 to a not bad 66. The stream has many runs that dump into pretty good size pools. These pools can hold several brook trout and they are not bashful about eating what ever happens to fall into the water. Even with the appetite of these brook trout almost to the point of being reckless, stealth is important and one wrong move on your part will send these fish into the next pool and beyond.

I started fishing dry flies and pretty much stayed with them. In a few deeper and longer pools I fished a Mickey Finn. I had several followers to the red and yellow bucktail but no takers. On one particular cast of the Mickey Finn, as the fly remained somewhat dry and floated a bit I could see several brook trout fry try to take the size 10 streamer. Thinking to myself what were they going to do with it if they succeeded in capturing it.

The ant and beetle population must be good on this stream, for the trout are in wonderful shape.

I absolutely love this stream and especially this pool. To the right just below the little water fall is a deep run. It flows along a large rock shelf that is a condo for brook trout. A fly drifted along it will bring multiple strikes from different fish. If careful and in the early morning shadows you can see multiple trout just lying at the tail of the pool.

This wild jewel was taken from the pool pictured above. He took the fly as it floated dead center in the pool.