Thursday, July 2, 2015

Do Brown Trout Like The Crowningshield?

I started out this morning with the intention of fishing a section of stream that I have not fished since early October. The winter has been very hard and I did not know what to expect. The stream has wild populations of both brook and brown trout, but this section primarily holds browns. The fly I selected to start with was the Crowningshield dry, as it turned out it was the only fly used today.

Like always I check the water temp, which was a cool 60. The brook was covered with shade with some sun poking through.I'm not fooling when I say they hammered that Crowningshield fly. On the first cast the fly did not even move when a brown rose and was hooked.

I'm going to let the photos tell most of the story.










These browns were strong.

As the fly drifted near the bank...oh man.



There was a rise at the middle of this pool. The fly drifted and wham.

This is what took the fly. My best wild brown this year. He ran the pool from top to bottom and side to side. My glass 3wt had a battle to win. Eventually the brown took me into a snag and was hung up. I had to wade over and free him up.


I laid him alongside the rod to try to get a measurement, he was a very nice fish.

A very overworked Crowningshield fly.


18 comments:

  1. The pictures certainly do tell the story Brk, a lovely place to fish and some wonderful fish to boot my good man.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. John Wooldridge,
      Thanks.
      The photos allow the viewer to take from them what they see. It may not be whats told in words.

      Delete
  2. It would appear that they love it!

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    Replies
    1. RM Lytle,
      Thanks.
      This time around for sure.

      Delete
  3. I am in agreement with John here, Alan, every picture tells a story in itself! That is an absolutely beautiful trout stream. What a prize that Brown turned out to be!

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    Replies
    1. Gramps(Mel),
      Thanks.
      Mel that brown shocked me when he hit that dry. Strong and what a run.

      Delete
  4. Well done again Alan. I love the fly and certainly the beautiful fish.

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    Replies
    1. Howard Levett,
      Thanks.
      Howard the fly looked real promising when I tied it, and now on several outings it shows that the trout like it.

      Delete
  5. Beautiful fish. I guess I need to tie some Crowningshields!

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    Replies
    1. RKM,
      Thanks.
      Kirk, me too. Problem finding quality yearling elk hair.

      Delete
  6. Beautiful brown trout, congratulations

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    Replies
    1. Mario GC,
      Thanks.
      Mario he was strong and knew just how to use that strength.

      Delete
  7. Ecellent Al!!! I like your field testing strategies!!

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    Replies
    1. TROUTI,
      Thanks.
      Pete those undercuts and woody debris= trout.

      Delete
  8. Alan
    Wow!! Amazing how those wild trout go after dries, as oppose to tailrace trout who seem to feed down under more. You may be hard pressed to beat that nice brown this season; but knowing how well you fish those small streams you could do it! Thanks for sharing

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    Replies
    1. Bill Trussell,
      Thanks.
      Bill they sure hit them that morning. The stream that gave up that brown also showed me some much bigger fish. I saw one dark morning a mouse scampering on some roots along the edge of the stream. Now weather the mouse slipped and fell in or he jumped in and was going to get to the other side I don't know. But what I saw was a slurp and the mouse was gone.

      Delete
  9. Alan
    That mouse is motivation enough to get back on that stream as soon as you can---looking forward to another report from there soon.

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    Replies
    1. Bill, that mouse hit took place years ago and that pool has changed some. But there are still bigger browns in there.

      Delete