Merry Christmas....gifts for you.

To those who visit this blog, and take the time to read it, comment on it and generally fill it with insightful and meaningful words, I have a few gifts to show my appreciation.

All you have to do is comment on this post. On the 21st of December at 7am I'll put the names of all who commented in a box and I'll have Jeanette draw the winners. The names of the winners will be posted soon after. Merry Christmas friends.

The first gift is a plastic fly box. Double-sided with ample space for enough flies for a day on the water. In the box will be 9 of my soft-hackles including my newest pattern which I have not tested as of yet, but I have high hopes on it.

The second gift will be the streamer "Labonte"....Tied in the Rangeley style.

A Shared Stream, Brook Trout And Dry Flies

In the small stream angling community secrecy is probably the best piece of equipment an angler can possess, and if the stream contains wild brook trout that knowledge would be harder to get from the angler than a secret from the CIA. Tuesday one of those secrets was shared by a fellow small stream addict with myself and Kirk. Rowan from "Connecticut Fly Angler" was gracious enough to show us one of his gems.

We chose a place to meet and the time was 9am, which is about an hour before the brookies become active. In winter they love to sleep in and breakfast is when the sun warms the waters. The air the night before was cold and the frost that formed on everything was very picturesque. We got ourselves geared up and a small walk brought us to the stream. Splitting up, Kirk wet downstream and Rowan upstream, and the senior angler was given the easier, kinder access run to fish.

The easy access I fished is in the first photo and as it turned out to be my best run of the day. I tied on a "pinkie" which is one of the better flies for winter stream fishing. Several casts were made but not one honest take. What I did notice was that while retrieving the fly several times I saw a slight interest in it as it came to the surface. A look in the fly box and a Stimulator" was plucked from it and tied on. The second cast and my first wild jewel was at hand.

Rowan working one of many "fishy" looking runs on this stream.

I continued my way downstream, slowly working all of the good trout water. The stimulator still attached. As it turned out that was the only fly I would only need. I tried a few soft-hackles which worked but not like the "stimi".

Another Connecticut wild one. These brook trout were strong and well fed.

The little 4'10" 2wt was bent pretty good by the brookies in this stream....is that green grass?

I never give the names of streams I fish, but in this case I will. The reason I'm going to tell the name is because I believe no one will want to challenge it's defence. So the name of the stream is "Thorn Brook" I have several gashes on my hands and fingers that still throb.

These fish are worth bleeding for.

Kirk working a good run.

This run-pool owes me a giant....I had a beauty on here and lost him.

My last jewel of the day....hook barely in has lip. Take a good look at this "buck"...the hooked snout, that kype. the shape of his head as well as the shoulders...this will be an awesome fish come next October.

The day was pretty much ended when we stopped for a coffee. Kirk and Rowan fished a few other areas but I chose to go home. Thanks Rowan, and thanks Mr. and Mrs. S. Fontinallis, for a fine day.

"Labonte"....A Streamer

I have a yellow saddle that is now pretty short on prime feathers. Looking at it the other day I said to myself maybe there's one more set of feathers on there to allow for one more nice streamer. In searching for a matched pair I actually found several, which is good for the fly fishing shows are a few months away, in which time I'll probably find another yellow saddle to my liking.

Below is a streamer tied using the yellow feathers as well as a few others.

"Labonte" is a streamer fly tied in the "Rangeley" style. It is named for a lovely place I frequent.

A Winter Outing...The First Of This Year

A mid December cold snap moved into southern New England Friday, Saturday and Saturday night. The day temps were around 30 with a very strong wind. Sunday's forecast was for sunny skies through mid-day with the clouds taking over, temps about 40. Not what you would call prime weather. I decided to fish anyway and my starting time would be after ten. The stream had a thin coating of ice in places along with some very slippery rocks. There were areas of water that were ice free and if you were able to get the fly into them the possibility was there to hook a fish.

Not that fly patterns make a big difference in a small stream but in winter it's even simpler. Today I used a small bead head fly.

As I would cast the fly I observed it drift some and then just hang on the bottom. At times movement could be seen and the figure of a brook trout would be on the fly. Even in cold water they are aggressive.

An example of how rewarding winter fishing can be. In times of cold, with air temps at or below freezing it's best to keep the fish in the water.

Luckily my day turned out to be a good one. The air seemed to warm up a bit, and I was fortunate to fool two wild ones.

I could have followed the stream back to the car but chose to walk the long way back through the woods. The extra time gave me the opportunity to "reflect" on the time just spent along a "small stream"....