brook trout

[Conewago duck'n]

I enjoy fishing for brookies on our smaller streams. Many have pretty good native populations in our neck of the woods, but don't expect them to go over 7" or so.
I don't keep the natives, but the stocked ones get no quarter.

 

[bird junkie]

Trout really are beautiful fish. For that reason I guess I wouldn't mind fishing for them, just to see that beauty in hand. Other than that I have no desire to fish for them. No offense to the guys that do.

They fight hard. We throw small jigs most days. Granted we are catching stocked fish most days it’s like hunting need to sneak and hide yourself.

 

[William Reinicke]

grew up fly fishing. BEEEGGGGIINNG my dad to take me. Wouldn't do it. Had no desire. At the age of 16 I dove in head first. Tied my own flies, had a set up I could take with me to tie by a camp fire had multiple rods for different rivers.... it got nutty. I recorded somewhere around 1500 trout caught on a fly rod in a single summer/fall when I got to college. Went to streams where guys said no fish could be caught and found baby baby trout and tricked them into eating size 24 flies. I just got burnt out by the time I was 21-22. I just felt like I perfected the art, even though I know no outdoor sport can be perfected.

Fast forward to now, my dad is gung ho fly fisherman. Reminds me of me 10 years ago. I now have 0 desire to go, and it rubs me the wrong way he begs me to go all the time but I'd rather be out on my bass boat fishing for crappie, bass, walleye, pike etc. He wont get on the bass boat today. Finally dug some stuff up, showed up to the river with him, fished out of my sitka waders and looked like a goon with all my old stuff compared to all the gear he had. What I found was, trout still eat the same old flies I tied 10 years ago, they still sit in the same areas in a river, and they still fight just how I remember them fighting. Think I caught almost double what he caught in a day. Didn't miss it, not one bit. Sure pretty fish though.

 

[Scobrey]

Loved when I had opportunities to get them in TN/NC. Have really enjoyed some larger ones since moving to Colorado. Always fun regardless. Some of the smaller ones I've gotten out west have been the prettiest fish I've ever seen.

 

[creedsduckman]

They fight hard. We throw small jigs most days. Granted we are catching stocked fish most days it’s like hunting need to sneak and hide yourself.

I guess nothing about it really appealed to me. I'm not refined or coordinated enough to be good with a fly rod. I've tried a little bit bass fishing but I know I suck at casting. I'd much rather bass fish. I guesscalot of it because I fish the same kind of stuff I'd duck hint in, marshes and swamps. Even the stuff I fish on big water is duckblinds and shorelines where I'd duck hunt. I guess that's just where I feel at home. No fancy bass boat. Just a Jon boat with some redneck modifications to makes it a better boat to fish out of but I can also put a rig in it and hunt out of it.

 

[bird junkie]

I guess nothing about it really appealed to me. I'm not refined or coordinated enough to be good with a fly rod. I've tried a little bit bass fishing but I know I suck at casting. I'd much rather bass fish. I guesscalot of it because I fish the same kind of stuff I'd duck hint in, marshes and swamps. Even the stuff I fish on big water is duckblinds and shorelines where I'd duck hunt. I guess that's just where I feel at home. No fancy bass boat. Just a Jon boat with some redneck modifications to makes it a better boat to fish out of but I can also put a rig in it and hunt out of it.

90% of my trout fishing any more is ultra light spinning rod with 4lb on streams.

 

[H20DAD]

I enjoy fishing for brookies on our smaller streams. Many have pretty good native populations in our neck of the woods, but don't expect them to go over 7" or so.
I don't keep the natives, but the stocked ones get no quarter. View attachment 376096 View attachment 376097

I’ll only eat the wild ones. I think the stickers don’t taste good but the wild ones taste great.

It’s funny how in the east rainbows out compete Brook trout in their native habitat and out west the reverse happens. I hope to take the kids out west in a few years and burn down some beaver ponds of their wild brook trout.

 

[California Flyway]

As a boy I read with great interest, Lee Wulff's stories of catching really big wild Brookies in remote areas.

 

[fishmunkee]

A 10+ lb steelie or brown or a 20+ lb laker might change your viewpoint on trout. Some of the hardest fighting fresh water fish. Drag screamers.

I fully enjoy fishing small streams but love trolling the great lakes.
This one looks a little beat up... probably been spawning on the rocky shore line.
Lake Superior in the spring is just awesome.

 

[Woodduck31]

I'm glad lots of people don't like fly fishing, makes things a lot less crowded. As far as fly fishing, most people on guided trips on the Henry's fork or south fork of the snake are not really fly fishing, though they are using a fly rod. It's no more than bobber fishing and lots of times it's literally using a bobber and a nymph dropper. We will drop a nymph from a salmon fly if nothing is going on with surface feeders, but most of the time we are surface or just under the surface fishing. I caught a big brown last spring on the big salmon fly indicator, I always like indicators with hooks in them. Caleb quit guiding, so we spent a lot more time with dry flies and caught more and bigger fish last summer than any year before.

Our best shot at brook trout is on the Teton, but i haven't fished there for a couple of years. The kayakers, paddle boarders and rafters have taken over the river and it's hundreds and hundreds of people on the river now.

As far as casting a fly rod it has more to do with proper equipment and properly matched line. I run 5wt line on my 4wt rod and 4 wt line on my 7.5 ft 3 wt rod. Overlining like that makes a fly rod much easier to cast. I spent the first 30 years of my life with ultralight spinning gear with bass, crappie, white bass, catfish, and even silver salmon. Catching silvers in the interior of Alaska on ultralight gear reminds me a lot of catching big brown trout on a 4wt fly rod in fast water. We have only been out once this winter before the creek froze up, we caught 80 fish that day, mostly on streamers.

I was slow to enter the fly fishing game, Caleb has been into it since he was young. I told him I'd switch when he could prove to me he could catch more and bigger fish on a fly rod and he did. I have a few micro spinning rigs around for the grandkids, but I haven't used a spinning rod in probably 10 years now. We found a good place to fish for smallmouth in the fall, but we were kind of late to the party, something we are going to make up for this year.

In regards to eastern Idaho and the Henry's Fork, though we still had our best season ever, I fear it's going to go downhill fast with the addition of a 4 lane highway. I'm guessing the days are numbered.