A few brookies caught (and lessons learned) on a picture-perfect day | Trip Report
The trophy brook trout from this trip…
In fishing, you can learn a lot of valuable lessons that apply to wide swathes of life. On this trip, I re-learned a few that, at least when it comes to fishing, never seem to stick.
Among them: Don’t try to recreate great past experiences; and, everything can change overnight.
After a dream day of brook trout fishing on a Friday, and with mid-February temps sticking in the high 40s, I decided to run it back on Saturday.
With the same weather and water conditions on the same streams using the same flies and techniques, I was confident I would be able to have another wild brookie day for the ages.
And I was wrong. But the trip wasn’t a complete waste, far from it.
The New Jersey park I had in my sights held two wild brook trout streams. I had the most success on Brook #2 the previous day, but I only fished it for an hour at the end of my session. I usually don't advise fishing the same small streams too frequently, especially in a short amount of time, but I’d only explored a small portion of Brook #2, so there was plenty of water left un-harassed.
My day started with a 30-minute hike up and along a steep ridge, with mountains looming in the distance.
A pleasant hike opened my day…
Once I arrived at the stream, I headed to the my favorite hole from the day before to get started on the right foot. And pretty quickly it seemed like a solid decision.
On the first cast with my hooper-dropper combo, the chubby chernobyl got smacked by a photogenic brookie immediately, getting me on the board early.
The first catch of the day…
Within a few more casts, I’d hooked and lost a really nice fish on the nymph and brought another tiny one to hand.
Then it was time to move on down the stream. Every 10 yards or so there was a great-looking hole. But none of them seemed to hold any willing trout.
POSTED signs marred one side of this stream…
As I continued on my way, the stream started to drop altitude severely, creating waterfalls and sketchy hiking and climbing conditions.
Nothing biting here…
Photos don’t do justice to how steep and sketchy some of the hiking was…
Still, I found a way to fish dozens of little spots, but no more fish wanted to make their presence known.
After a few hours of fruitless casting, I decided to hike back to Brook #1 to try one final spot before leaving. And it was another good decision on a difficult day, resulting in my third little brookie of the outing.
With my lessons hard-earned, I headed back to the city. For my next trip out, it was time to explore some new brook trout water. And I had just the place in mind.
SONG OF THE TRIP
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