Connecticut's Wild Brown Trout

There are many color variations in wild trout here in Connecticut. The small streams will produce brook trout that are striking in color. Some are light and some are dark, dark to point of being black. The reason for this is the type of water they live in which causes their skin to adapt to the conditions.

On the other hand the wild brown trout that inhabit our streams also have pronounced differences in color as well as spotting. These wild fish are from stocks that were brought over here from Germany in the 1800's and have noticeable differences. In a wild trout stream I fished last week I caught 3 browns within 100 yards of each other and they were all different.

This brown has a steel-gray color and dark and red spots. The dark spots are quite large, and the red spots have pronounced blue halos.

In this section of stream which is not far from where I caught the brown above I caught this one.

You can see the difference here. While the body is gray it is not as dark. The belly has a soft gold tone. There are many more black spots. And the halos are not as rich as the other brown.

Both of these trout were in great shape. I did not get a photo of the third one for he managed to say goodbye before the camera was on him.

Brown Sugar

Brown sugar is that wonderful sweet product we put in our oatmeal, chocolate chip cookies, baked beans and lots of other things. Brown sugar was not always the best choice for sweeteners at one time. But as we learned more about it we changed our ways and accepted it as part of America.

So the same can be said about the brown trout. He is not native to America, but has gained a wide and profound following among anglers. He is wily and very selective. And he is quite the bulldog when hooked. We have many streams in Connecticut that have wild self sustaining brown trout populations, and I enjoy targeting these fellows at all times of the year.

A wild brown can be taken on all types of flies. They're love of meat makes them a fine choice for streamers.

My choice of flies for this handsome guy is the dry fly. While brookies will smash a surface offering, the brown seems to rise and look, then take the fly with resolve and if hooked give a fine accounting for himself. So if given the chance to fish for sweet brown sugar, I'll take it.

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Old Times, "Not Forgotten"

Several years ago while posting for the first time on a local website here in Connecticut I was sort of introduced to this gentleman. We traded comments on various posts and got to know one another. He was very good at wrestling blues and stripers from the surf in Long Island Sound, his screen name was Penfield Reef Rat. It was not to long until I saw him posting on a site that was dedicated to fly fishing. We picked up on each others posts and began to get to know that there was a liking of small streams and wild trout that we both shared.

Well after several attempts to get together and fish, we were successful at meeting. It was a stream that he suggested, sort of a middle point for both of us. It was a stream that held both wild browns and brookies. Here is an account of that outing.

This is the stream we fished for the first time. A beautiful piece of water. It had everything a small stream could. Long boulder filled pockets. plunge pools, and those classic slow dry fly runs.

We fished this stream in late June I believe, but with a well shaded stream it was cool.

This is one of several wild browns that came to hand on this outing, taken on a "Bomber".

This is John, aka, Penfield Reef Rat, and Apache Trout. He is attempting to persuade a rising brown to take his offering.

Another handsome wild brown, taken from a stream that is known to a few as the best wild brown stream in Connecticut. Thanks "John" for giving up your secret and allowing me to fish it.

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