Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving I found myself fishing a stream I had not visited in a long time. I wrote about it a couple of years ago. The stream flows through lots of private land and a couple of issues with a few landowners made for some interesting conversations. I'm glad that I received permission to access the stream. It is not like other streams I fish in the sense that I never know where the brookies will be found. They move quite a lot on this stream which I can't figure out why. But this day was a good one as far as weather issues. While not sunny it was still bright. Temperatures in the mid forties and not a breeze. The stream was in great shape and many of the pools were deep in places.
Places like this held brookies in the tail section.
I did catch this one despite scarring the rest of his mates.
A very nice plunge pool. These places hold nice fish. This one had an awful amount of twigs and branches within it. Usually I just pass by and let it be, but today I stopped and did a little house cleaning. Three or four branches pulled and that made all the difference. Obviously I could not fish it then so I moved on upstream for an hour or so. More active brook trout, and quite a few of them slipped off the hook. On my way back I stopped to fish that plunge pool. Several casts and no response. I think it was the fifth one when the fish struck. It went berserk. Airborne and a zigzag like a jet avoiding a missile. I finally got control.
I don't know if he was in the pool before I cleaned it out a bit but if so I'm glad he returned.
Nice post Alan, love the picture of Pete below. So are there wolves in CT?
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He was fishing that shady spot near the bank, and he hooked two trout. I say yes. While coming home from that fishing outing I saw a big gray animal. He was much larger then a coyote. I could not get a photo because of the traffic. Big animal for sure.
Always enjoy your posts Alan. I'm certain there aren't any wolves in CT, although one may encounter a "Coywolf," an increasingly common cross breed between eastern Timber wolves and Coyotes that are beginning to be seen further east. These fellows appear larger than the common Coyote.
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Dino
Anonymous
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Dino I have encountered many a coyote and this canine was not one. Now as far a cross breeds I'm not certain, but I certain he was quite large.
Nice Brookie. Well worth trying the pool on the way back.
ReplyDeleteMark Kautz
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Mark I figured there would be a few in there but not like that one.
Alan,
ReplyDeleteT don't know about the land animal but that big brookie is the wolf of that hole! In the photo of Pete is that a spare rod and reel on the rocks behind him??
JJ
Beaverdam
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Joe that guy ruled that hole.
Pete often fished with two rods but in that photo he had only one. I remember that day, it was in late June and on the hot side. We were fishing the Farmington river with not much happening. Pete worked that shady spot right on the bank and in short time had two browns. A hell of a fisherman.
Lovely little stream and brookies, Alan.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes do a little housekeeping on tiny creeks that I often fish. Not too much,just enough to allow an imaginative cast.
I hope that there are wolves in Connecticut just as I hope that there are still Tasmanian Tigers in Tasmania. With the latter, the logical side of me says they are now extinct but the romantic, hopeful side likes to think that there are still some living in the more isolated parts of Tassie. There's more chance of that than seeing a Yowie--the OZ version of Bigfoot and Yetie!
Kindest Regards,
Steve.
Steve
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Steve a little gentle grooming is OK. You have to watch those Tigers, and bigfoot, I believe. New Jersey Devil is one that you should do a little research on.
We kid about such things but there just may be some truth to them.
That is a great looking brook trout - you really know your CT waters! I have no idea about wolves in CT but as you know have we a real coyote issue in NJ. I have never seen a wolf in my fishing or hunting adventures in the Northeast but I would not be surprised if a few were around giving the over abundance of deer in our region.
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Pat he was lovely fish. I have spent a great deal of time in NE PA. and there is a lot of woods. I'm sure NJ has it's share of heavy woods to. So a wolf is not out of the realm of reality. Lots of deer to.
Brk Trt, hear is a link to the Hartford courant on your wolf's in Ct subject. Actually its in reference to a gray wolf shot by a sheep farmer in Shelburn mass a few years back. Believe what you want to believe, but DNA doesn't lie??
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the read....Phil
http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2008-03-14-0803140020-story.html
DRYFLYGUY
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Phil I knew one of my readers would have some proof. Thanks for that link. And DNA is solid.
I've fished that area quite a bit.
Being that I've personally seen, at very close range, an adult mountain lion in CT, it would certainly be hard to deny the possibility that a grey wolf could make the same trek that I mountain lion would to reach CT. As you well know, even as one of the most densely populated states we still have a lot of woodlands.
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Rowan as much time as we spend in the outdoors we are bound to see some things that most wouldn't. Tunxis Forest is pretty vast and dense and some of the signs I've seen in there over the years leads me to believe that anything is possible.
Alan, I saw that report re: wolf killed in Mass. Proved beyond a doubt. With our overpopulation, of simple minded deer, seems logical they would move in. Deer in my backyard have no fear. They cannot be chased away from my apple trees. I don't mind them taking some apples but they eat the low branches, as well.
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John you are correct, in some areas of our state the population is out of control. As beautiful as they are the destruction they cause can be expensive.
Alan
ReplyDeleteNice brook trout; the first image in your post is worthy of framing. Thanks for sharing