LenH
11-04-2009, 04:48 PM
Last Dance
Written by: Len Harris
Photos by: Len Harris
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_54y7o7P0PPE/SvG3kNez8UI/AAAAAAAAELA/s3maPt5rHsk/s320/SecretBrookieHolesz.jpg
The bottom of this hole is bedrock and I could see the minimum of 500 "BIG" brookies cruising. It is about 7 feet in the deep seem.
Yesterday it was really overcast and a little drizzle was falling. I slept in because of the rain. When I got up mid morning it was spitting rain. . I was a little depressed because my season is coming to an end at 11:59 pm on 30 September. I just was not motivated to go out again.
The end of the season is always bitter sweet to me. I usually go out at least 150 times trout fishing from March through September. I took a look at my log book I keep and I have been out 165 times this year. I looked at last year's book and I went out more this year. I paged to the back page of the 2008 log to see the last couple outings I took. The last outing of the season last year I wrote in red.
~explore upstream~
The words stuck in my mind. I need to get out there and do one more outing. I was going to target brook trout. The brook trout is the native species for this area. This time of year they are in full spawning colors and have developed large kypes. Kypes are an extreme upward hook of the lower jaw.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_54y7o7P0PPE/SvHArLsQEuI/AAAAAAAAEMI/zraWjCrGng0/s320/Brookie2sz.jpg
I took my ultra light rig. It is about a foot shorter than my big stream rig and is lined with 4 pound test. The pole is rate from 4-6 pounds and it has quite a wimpy backbone. The short rod is perfect for tight quarters. The rod was perfect for the area. There was no room behind me to cast and a Ultra Light Spinning Rod was the right tool for the job that day.
I began my dance at where I ended last year. The water was skinny and there weren't many trout. I wandered about 300 yards upstream. I was about to quit when in front of me i saw some rock faced bluffs. Just out of curiosity I trudged on. The first bluff was chalked full of weeds with only a small casting lane tight to the bluffs. I winged my size 4 panther martin in the small slot. An instant later I had a 17 inch brown putting a nice bend in my flimsy rod. It dove in to the weeds at first and I was certain I had lost it. I let the bend out of the rod and the brown freed itself from the weeds and battle was on again. I got the brown to hand and let it go and thought..."Where there is one there is more."
Upstream I went. There before me was another bluff hole. This one was not full of weeds. The only problem was it looked only about 2.5 feet deep. First cast in to the hole and the spinner was absolutely destroyed by a powerful hit. The drag on the little
open faced Shimano was screaming. I finally got the brook trout under control and got it to hand. I laid it down by my handle of the rod and made a mark for later measuring. The male brookie was neon colored. It was in its full fall spawning colors and it sported quite a hang belly. I guess it at almost 2 pounds. I fished that hole for a full 30 minutes and landed 20 brookies out of the hole.
21 trout to hand. I wondered if that was going to be enough to scratch my trout itch in mid winter when season has been closed for 2 months. I thought what the heck. I am out here exploring... why not walk a little ways farther.
.
The water really started getting small. There was a sound that I have taught myself to listen for while fishing. It is the sounds of rushing water. I heard the sound in the distance. Not just the typical sound but the louder sound that screams at me and begs me to continue. The sound that says MORE trout ahead.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_54y7o7P0PPE/SvHBmkP7cjI/AAAAAAAAEMQ/OEmvkeJqZuM/s320/Brookie4sz.jpg
I would take 50 more steps and if I didn't see the source of the rush of water I would turn back. There it was 30 steps upstream. A huge rock faced hole with a leave cover. The hole was about five feet deep against the rock face but then it had a another drop off in the middle. The hole looked about seven feet deep in the middle. It looked really hard to fish due to the leaves covering it. I took off my size 4 panther and put a size 6 on. A gold body with a bright orange and black tail. I have found brookies like orange. The panther is called a Panther Martin Fly Spinner. The leaves would need a heavier spinner to get down through and a pause before retrieving..
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_54y7o7P0PPE/SvG_SzLrgZI/AAAAAAAAEMA/pY-zbbhyb7Y/s320/pmcreel.jpg
The spinner the brookies loved is the gold colored one. Go to bottom right corner and on bottom row. The second spinner in going from right to left.
A big brook trout in my neck of the woods is 12 inches. I casted at that hole for one hour. At the end of that hour I only caught ONE brookie that was under 12 inches .I counted 26 more brookies to hand and another 10 lost. All of the brook trout had amazing fall spawning colors and the males had their kypes for battling other trout for spawning rights.
There was one brookie I will remember more than the others. It had company when I battled it. There was a big shadow following it and swimming back and forth behind it. As I got the brookie on my line closer to shore I was in total AWE. It was a GIANT male brook trout over 20 inches following the other. I unhooked the one on the line very quietly and let the 15ish inch brookie go without causing too much of a commotion . I wanted that GIANT. The one I released swam up to the big dog and they both disappear back to the depths. It never came back.
I measured the marks on my rod when I got home. Three 15 inch brookies and one almost 16 inch brookie. In December when I am having trout withdrawals because season doesn't open until March, I will read this log entry and smile. It is titled " LAST DANCE of 2009."
Written by: Len Harris
Photos by: Len Harris
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_54y7o7P0PPE/SvG3kNez8UI/AAAAAAAAELA/s3maPt5rHsk/s320/SecretBrookieHolesz.jpg
The bottom of this hole is bedrock and I could see the minimum of 500 "BIG" brookies cruising. It is about 7 feet in the deep seem.
Yesterday it was really overcast and a little drizzle was falling. I slept in because of the rain. When I got up mid morning it was spitting rain. . I was a little depressed because my season is coming to an end at 11:59 pm on 30 September. I just was not motivated to go out again.
The end of the season is always bitter sweet to me. I usually go out at least 150 times trout fishing from March through September. I took a look at my log book I keep and I have been out 165 times this year. I looked at last year's book and I went out more this year. I paged to the back page of the 2008 log to see the last couple outings I took. The last outing of the season last year I wrote in red.
~explore upstream~
The words stuck in my mind. I need to get out there and do one more outing. I was going to target brook trout. The brook trout is the native species for this area. This time of year they are in full spawning colors and have developed large kypes. Kypes are an extreme upward hook of the lower jaw.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_54y7o7P0PPE/SvHArLsQEuI/AAAAAAAAEMI/zraWjCrGng0/s320/Brookie2sz.jpg
I took my ultra light rig. It is about a foot shorter than my big stream rig and is lined with 4 pound test. The pole is rate from 4-6 pounds and it has quite a wimpy backbone. The short rod is perfect for tight quarters. The rod was perfect for the area. There was no room behind me to cast and a Ultra Light Spinning Rod was the right tool for the job that day.
I began my dance at where I ended last year. The water was skinny and there weren't many trout. I wandered about 300 yards upstream. I was about to quit when in front of me i saw some rock faced bluffs. Just out of curiosity I trudged on. The first bluff was chalked full of weeds with only a small casting lane tight to the bluffs. I winged my size 4 panther martin in the small slot. An instant later I had a 17 inch brown putting a nice bend in my flimsy rod. It dove in to the weeds at first and I was certain I had lost it. I let the bend out of the rod and the brown freed itself from the weeds and battle was on again. I got the brown to hand and let it go and thought..."Where there is one there is more."
Upstream I went. There before me was another bluff hole. This one was not full of weeds. The only problem was it looked only about 2.5 feet deep. First cast in to the hole and the spinner was absolutely destroyed by a powerful hit. The drag on the little
open faced Shimano was screaming. I finally got the brook trout under control and got it to hand. I laid it down by my handle of the rod and made a mark for later measuring. The male brookie was neon colored. It was in its full fall spawning colors and it sported quite a hang belly. I guess it at almost 2 pounds. I fished that hole for a full 30 minutes and landed 20 brookies out of the hole.
21 trout to hand. I wondered if that was going to be enough to scratch my trout itch in mid winter when season has been closed for 2 months. I thought what the heck. I am out here exploring... why not walk a little ways farther.
.
The water really started getting small. There was a sound that I have taught myself to listen for while fishing. It is the sounds of rushing water. I heard the sound in the distance. Not just the typical sound but the louder sound that screams at me and begs me to continue. The sound that says MORE trout ahead.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_54y7o7P0PPE/SvHBmkP7cjI/AAAAAAAAEMQ/OEmvkeJqZuM/s320/Brookie4sz.jpg
I would take 50 more steps and if I didn't see the source of the rush of water I would turn back. There it was 30 steps upstream. A huge rock faced hole with a leave cover. The hole was about five feet deep against the rock face but then it had a another drop off in the middle. The hole looked about seven feet deep in the middle. It looked really hard to fish due to the leaves covering it. I took off my size 4 panther and put a size 6 on. A gold body with a bright orange and black tail. I have found brookies like orange. The panther is called a Panther Martin Fly Spinner. The leaves would need a heavier spinner to get down through and a pause before retrieving..
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_54y7o7P0PPE/SvG_SzLrgZI/AAAAAAAAEMA/pY-zbbhyb7Y/s320/pmcreel.jpg
The spinner the brookies loved is the gold colored one. Go to bottom right corner and on bottom row. The second spinner in going from right to left.
A big brook trout in my neck of the woods is 12 inches. I casted at that hole for one hour. At the end of that hour I only caught ONE brookie that was under 12 inches .I counted 26 more brookies to hand and another 10 lost. All of the brook trout had amazing fall spawning colors and the males had their kypes for battling other trout for spawning rights.
There was one brookie I will remember more than the others. It had company when I battled it. There was a big shadow following it and swimming back and forth behind it. As I got the brookie on my line closer to shore I was in total AWE. It was a GIANT male brook trout over 20 inches following the other. I unhooked the one on the line very quietly and let the 15ish inch brookie go without causing too much of a commotion . I wanted that GIANT. The one I released swam up to the big dog and they both disappear back to the depths. It never came back.
I measured the marks on my rod when I got home. Three 15 inch brookies and one almost 16 inch brookie. In December when I am having trout withdrawals because season doesn't open until March, I will read this log entry and smile. It is titled " LAST DANCE of 2009."