"Finally"

Saturday morning I had the pleasure of fishing with Mark. It had been about six months ago we last ventured on a small stream together. We met around 10 and Mark so graciously provided coffee and muffins, corn muffins that is, such a treat. While enjoying that snack we discussed the brutal summer and hoped that the recovery would continue. A few other issues were put on the table and we resolved everything to a wonderful conclusion. We then rigged up and headed for the stream.

I had a dry fly on, a "Cinberg", which is a soft-hackle dry fly, Mark had on a dry also a Adam's Parachute. During the entire outing I believe we only used two flies.

Mark stalking brookies. Low profile, some camo, and the rest earth tones.

My first brook trout of the day. There was no resisting the Cinberg. That fly continued to produce, but I knew the fish were there just in a different portion of the stream like the bottom.

Tough fishing, but the rewards are enormous. In that pool a rising brook trout was observed...eventually Mark hooked him on a Elk Hair Caddis but the fish slipped the hook.

Beauty along the stream. Mark and I agreed that to fully convey the experience of a small stream is hard. We try to convey that experience in photos as best we can.

The fish were holding in tight places, but I managed to coax a few to the fly.

Wild brook trout....New England small stream fishing at its best.

This was the last place I would fish on the way up. The little foot bridge provided shade, and the sun was low enough that the undercut bank was in shade. I made my cast upstream of the bridge but was unable to get the fly near the undercut. I moved to the other side of the bridge while hoping I did not scare any fish. I cast the fly to the bank and suddenly a fish darted out and took the fly.

Moments later I slid my hand under this marvelous fellow. I could not believe how dark he was, almost black. His orange flanks seemed more pronounced in comparison to his very dark body. Another feature of this male was his black mouth.

It was a great day...we enjoyed each others company, we were rewarded with some fine angling, and found a good deal of hope for this stream and it's residents.