Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing Caught our supper this morning..

Haven't fished much this summer.. A salmon trip to Idaho, and a bit of creek fishing in the Bighorns..

This morning I decided it was time for a supper of fresh brookies. So I grabbed my old Fenwick, the dogs, and headed to the hills. The creek I wanted to try was clear, but still pretty high, and made wading difficult.. So I tried a new area..

A side channel came down though the brush, and it looked like it would have some brookies in it.. I decided to give it a try.. LUCK WAS WITH ME.. Hiked down about a quarter mile and fished back up.. Got into a part of the stream I had never fished.. Apparently it hasn't been fished much this year.. In a couple hours I had enough for supper for the wife and I..

My goldens were quite unimpressed.. They voted for gopher and prairie dog shooting tomorrow.. But they are not as good in the pan as brookies.. My favorite fish, after bluegills...

If you are catching brookies that size in there that still have par markings, you might be onto a good spot. Id keep that one under my hat and fish it like a fiend in Sept�...

That looks like more fun than one man should have in one day.

Wow! That looks great! Water here is low, slow, and warm for about the 3rd year in a row. Envious.

You dirty dog!

I spent the day mending the old shed I store my firewood in.

I sympathize. I spent last Sat/Sun filling my wood shed and then cleaning up the splitting area.

I do have some steelhead angling scheduled though in about 2 weeks.

Field and 1, while the brookie fishing is good, you guys have the real fun stuff.. Upland game birds: pheasant, forest grouse, and quail... Talk about lucky.. But the fishing was fun, but I am hunter who only occasionally fishes.

Me too,,, cept I'm a pretty poor fisherman.
Funny part is,,, I live about 200yrds from one of the best holes on one of the best Steelhead rivers in the country but when I do fish, I prefer Smallie's and panfish on lite tackle or a fly rod.

Field, that is fine fishing.. Bass and panfish are out standing fishing.. Those panfish are wonderful in the pan also.. You are luckier than I realized.. Give that little cur dog a pet and treat for us..

Yea,,, that river's pretty to look at but I have no interest in Steelhead or Salmon cept for eating when my Salmon fishing friends stop by with a fresh Salmon fillet now and then.
Nothing better than fresh caught Salmon but even then I only take enough for a meal or two. Once it's frozen I don't really care for it.
Steelhead's OK smoked but I'd rather have Raman noodles than baked, broiled, boiled, saute'd, or pureed Steelhead for dinner.

Here in tn to catch brookies you have to go way back into the head waters and they are always tiny. All the rainbows and browns are stocked in tailrace waters below our dams but they grow big. Smallies are in all our rivers in spades but big bluegills are not as plentiful as they once were.

That pic made me green with envy. I nice mess of fish on a flyrod, life can be good!

I grew up catching mostly Brookies (except in a couple of streams where it was bows and Cutthroats) and I love the little rascals.
Course then I did it the coarse way and used garden hackle peacocks.

There are few fish that can beat the beauty of a Brookie when they get ready to spawn.

Looks like the result of a great time on the water and the 'fixins' of a great meal.

Amen!

ingwe, those are indeed beautiful fish.

If you would hurry up and retire, I can show you a few of them! Gonna start getting after them next week!

198 mo' days and i'm outta there. That picture was too good for me to even make a crack about them making catfish bait.
I'm headed up your way soon as I retire..

ingwe, I saw a couple of the outstanding brookies you caught.. Those guys are like little footballs.. Truly an awesome fish..

The pic doesn't show it but those brookies were 15 and 16 inches�


This one, while not as big, really shows some spawning color�

Beautiful.. a 15 in. brookie is B & C size... I have only caught one that size in a creek..

Heres a 17 incher from a creek..





And an 18"

You have some truly awesome brookie fishing.. Lucky fellow.. Do you eat brookies that large?? Mostly I like the smaller ones for the pan, but then I never took one that nice..

Usually not�the best ones are about 8 inches long...

That is what I thought, but the large ones are really trophies, and very beautiful..

Most of the time I practice "Catch and Release", but then there are those times where the plan is specifically for "Catch and Grease".

I would love a nice meal of those Brookies about now.

Most of the time I practice "Catch and Release", but then there are those times where the plan is specifically for "Catch and Grease".

I would love a nice meal of those Brookies about now.

You can say that again. ^

I like to fish for them from Sept on till deer season, there is quite a bit of brook trout fishing to be had in CT if you know were to look and are willing to walk some, wild fish too. I like my 8' Scott Fly Rod for a 2 weight line, small Hoppers Cricket, wooly buggers , hare's ear nymphs, Adams and a few brassies and copper johns, all in the size 12 to 16 range with some of the dries and nymphs down to 20, 5 to 7 x tippet and 10 foot leaders. I don't keep many for the black Iron skillet, I keep some just once a year, usually mid Oct, its a real treat. Now I have fished for Brookies in Labrador, and those fish are measured in pounds not inches!

I don't remember how long this one was but check it out! My wife caught it in her cousins pond next to their cabin outside Lewistown

DeerTracker

From here I am saying 15 - 16".

Nice fish. From the body shape I would say the pond has plenty of whatever they are using for a food source.

If you will note of the earlier fish had a big head and small body that happens higher up in watershed/elevation as the food supply gets slimmer.

Beautiful fish...

WyoCoyoteHunter: I also enjoy fishing for Brookies.
My favorite small stream set up is a tiny Fenwick 6' #2 weight ultra-light flyrod with an Orvis Flyweight Model reel afixed to it!
Even a 10" Brookie is fun to catch on this rig!
It is a tiny outfit and I can only cast it 35 feet or so but that is more than enough.
Imagine my concern when I hooked a 17" Arctic Grayling on the upper Bighole River near Wisdom, Montana with this set-up a couple years ago.
It was like a water war.
It must have taken me 10 minutes to land that bruiser Grayling.
Great pictures by the way and many happy returns of the day.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Some nice sized Brook Trout there!

This was last weekend in the Cruses Basin Wilderness. Caught a bunch of them this size and released them all

VG & rc, glad to hear you are doing some brookie fishing.. We are out of state for a time visiting.. Been doing some warm water fishing and have a salmon trip line up.. But I am anxious to get home and catch some brookies before hunting season kicks off in Sept.. Keep fishing..

VG, is that Fenwick a newer model rod??? I have the older Fenglass models and really like them.. Have a couple new model rods, but my casting is not that great so I stick with my old stuff.