Trout Stream Reflections

October is a good time for streamer fishing. Perhaps it is because the bugs have completed their seasonal aerial mating displays that drew trout to surface feeding. Maybe it was the streamer patterns in your fly box that were little used during the season that now need exercising. Sometimes though I just need a bit of advice that is usually liberally doled out in a fly shop.

Matt, at the Driftless Angler shop, succinctly shared three streamer fishing techniques: a rapid jerky retrieve simulating an escaping forage fish, moderately fast variable length retrieves simulating normal fish swimming behavior and lastly, the slow drift and retrieve of a wounded forage fish tumbling with the current –  Matt called out “it’s just fast, medium and slow stripping“ as I left the shop.

Knowledge is a good thing, especially when coupled with opportunity. The opportunity was to fish with a friend for brook trout in a regional stream described as having good sized brook trout that will break off streamers if you are not on your fishing game. We had heard that tale before, but while being skeptical, a group of us made a weekend of brook trout fishing.

To the causal observer the stream looked bleak from a trout perspective; however, on closer examination woody debris and toppled trees created habitat ideal for large brook trout in current sculptured holes. The water was comfortably chilled and clear and flowed with sufficient momentum to carry a weighted streamer deep beneath logs into debris dams.

The turkey leech streamer, tied with an articulated body, undulated nicely in the water and responded well when stripped in all manners described by Matt. The tap tap tap of nipping trout was assurance enough that trout were hungry. Retrieve, roll cast, swing and strip was the order of the day while wading downstream.

The deliberate pause of the swing, a momentary dangle of the streamer, brought the shocking take. After anxious moments of challenging runs my friend’s net was bulging with a larger than life brook trout. A quick picture and release assured a continuing future for this brookie.

Later at camp the fire held back the darkness and in the warm glow, we reviewed the day. We had witnessed that sometimes fishing stories of certain streams do come true, even for those of us on a steep portion of the learning curve. The fact that my friend caught the best brook trout of the weekend gave me latitude to retell the truth about how good the fishing was without self-aggrandizement.

I probably told the tale too many times and caused a bit of embarrassment on my friend’s behalf; however, it’s hard to hold back the delight of good fishing. This was a natural out-come of experiencing the gift of our local trout streams.