DFoster

I'm told that at the time of the pilgrims landing Brook trout were much larger and far more prevalent. I was told in a fly shop one day that eating all the large ones in the 1800's effectivly ended the genetic strains. I'm not sure if that is true, but a state biologist told me that farmers clear cutting their land caused many rivers that held brookies to warm beyond their tolerance. The tree canopies have returned but in some areas not the brook trout. Many fly anglers including myself wish our state would spend some of the stocking budget reintroducing brook trout to these streams instead of dumping thousands of Rainbows into warm water rivers where they die out in 3 months. That said I do have the Swift River nearby and the brook trout in there are wild and can grow large. Here are a few of my better ones but I have see people catch them even bigger. few

Wow that's quite a combo all in the same stream! Great day!

I've been struggling with nymphs on stocked water this spring. With the euro nymphing craze dominating the sport I think the stockers get wise to nymphs almost as quickly as they do to rooster tails. Whatever the reason I've been doing really well this spring with winged wets and soft hackles. As they are not typically sold anymore in fly shops maybe it's simply because the trout haven't seen them? I got this one on a light Cahill in the Leisenring Lift.

Thank you- The largest I've caught on that stream were maybe 8"? 6" to 8" is about average for Brook trout in most of Massachusetts streams. Larger ones can be found on our larger rivers but for those of us that blue line natives in New England do so on very light tackle with low size expectations. Small they may be they still can be one of the most challenging fish to hook. Usually there is no beaten path to reach the streams where they live. I guess most anglers don't want to put in that much effort to catch such a small fish? Once you get to the stream you're more often than not greeted with overgrown brush and brambles. Really tight casting is made more difficult because they are typically hyper spooky. The photo above is an unusual part of the stream where it's really open for about 175', I thought I was in Yorkshire England for a while. 😃

Nice fish Steve- I see what you mean about the spot pattern being different from our stocked bows.

Sure it's simple to tie but these they catch fish! PARTRIDGE AND ORANGE HOOK: #12 1XL NYMPH THREAD: PEARSALS ORANGE SILK ABDOMEN/BODY: PEARSALS ORANGE SILK HACKLE: HUNGARIAN PARTRIDGE HEAD: SH HARD AS NAILS

I had the same thought! Maybe it was a bad (really bad) cast and the line was over the limb when the fish hit? In any event it will be an easy meal for a local eagle.

This is a small river not to far from my home.

Friday after work on a stocked river near my home and I happened to noticed something out of place- Do you see it? I'm thinking a kid armed with 30lb test on a spinning rod and a manly Bass Masters hook set? It's got to be 25' to 30' over the water.

Nicely done Steve- my wife has the green thumb, I'm the labor. 😲

I’m told (I live in Massachusetts) that Alabama has some really big Largemouth bass and lots of them. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of streamer and popper fly patterns specifically created to fish for them. I’ve even caught them here on Atlantic Salmon flies. Bluegills are hard fighters, really great fun on a light fly rod and they will take any thing that a trout will eat. Trout are great but pretty hard to find in a lot of the South so fish for what you have swimming in your waters. Nothing will push you to keep moving forward with the learning process of fly tying like catching fish on a fly you tied. Once you have the basics down you’ll start substituting materials and creating your own designs. Some will work and some won’t but that’s all part of the fun (my wife would say obsession) of this sport. I wish you the best in this journey.

I agree with Chug- besides most kits will include a lot of materials for flies you may never need or want to tie. So, assuming you have a species of fish your planning to target the best advice I can give you is to find a local fly shop. They can guide you in on exactly what you need. It's real easy to get overwhelmed when your starting, remember flies are tied for salt water and fresh from 150lb Tarpon down to 6" Brook trout and everything in between. Give yourself a starting point by picking 3 known patterns for the species your targeting. obviously you will need to know which materials are required for your patterns A good fly shop will help you with what you'll need to get started well as offer you advice on which ones are the least frustrating for a beginner. Another great resource is youtube. Just look up the pattern there. Besides learning how to tie the fly almost every video has a list of materials and the tier will show you what they are using. You will need a vise and a basic took kit- again a good fly shop is the best way to go but if that's not possible here's a couple of basic review vids aimed at beginners that I hope will help you out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6OjaJcdy6E&list=PLKgBFFHhdX5YkBTsLl0MUUgO0kAVwMCMX&index=3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IUeuXWfpQo&list=PLKgBFFHhdX5YkBTsLl0MUUgO0kAVwMCMX&index=13

I certainly have no issue with technology especially when it comes to improving safety. I use the various web-based mapping services to locate new rivers and use GPS to get there. I’m primarily a wade fisherman on small rivers so tech really isn’t needed to locate fish. For those fishing the big water from a boat it’s a necessity but where is the line between useful aid and unsporting advantage? I wonder would an angler on a stream in 1912 have considered polarized sunglasses, heated socks or flies with holographic tinsel cheating? Technology will continue to advance and eventually state fish and wildlife agencies will need to make some decisions about what is allowable.

That's a good day right there!

Nice!

I've seen it twice. It's available free on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twxJlmHTajI&list=PL-x7IXRms3aXWSjxKfCsFp6CqTUdr740W&index=7

When I spin fish for bass from my Kayak I never use a fish finder much less a "live scope". I kind of enjoy looking at a pond and making an educated guess as to where the bass should be based on what I can observe. Maybe I'm in the "fun is in the hunting" group? I'll admit it's not the most productive way to find them but It's rewarding when you get it right. For the same reason I'm not into site fishing when I'm wading for trout. There's almost a zen/meditation thing that happens from having to focus on the entire drift because the strike could come at any moment.

For me catching any fish stocked or not, big or small is just fun. Like most of us here I enjoy it to the point that I've spent a lot of money, time and effort to become proficient at fly angling. Where I live, most of the area's that the state stock are heavily pressured for about 2 weeks by the catch and keep crowd. The trout that survive the 2 weeks of rooster tails and worms become pretty tough to fool and are great sport. I have no prejudice against fishing for stocked trout, I do it often but wild fish are my favorite.

These Bows are complements of the State of Massachusetts. We have native Brook Trout and wild populations of Browns here but most are fairly small 6" to 10"s. They fight twice as hard as the stocked fish and I personally would rather catch a 6" brookie than a 12" stocked bow. The nice thing about the stocked fish is they are only a 10 minute ride from my house. I haven't found accessible wild trout water any closer than a 30 minute drive so I save them for the days that I have a little more time. I have caught wild rainbows but they are fairly rare here in Mass.

Same here- What is "Livescope"?

I had a really enjoyable couple oh hours on Saturday early morning. The weather was perfect, 45 degrees at first light and warming as the morning went. I decided to fish a spot that I have never been to before. Massachusetts classifies this area of the river as a "cold water fishery" and therefore has the potential to hold wild trout. We'll see. The most likely part of the river to hold natives has a few miles of thick tree canopy which begins just past the abandoned rail road dam in the photo. To get in and fish it will require some bushwhacking unless I can find a trail. I had lots yard work waiting for me on Saturday and didn't have the time to really explore. Still I hooked 3 rainbows. The 2 that made it to the net gave great accounts of themselves, hard fights with many jumps. I got careless with the 2nd bow and he slipped from my grasp before I could get a pic. Several fall fish and a yellow perch made for a fun couple of hours.

Of the fish that haunt me all except one have been lost due to a clear error on my part. Poorly tied knots or using to much force on a light tippet in fast water have resulted several long car rides home. Loosing a great fish is frustrating but at least I can review what I did or didn't do and put them in the "Lesson learned" category. Doing every thing right and still losing a trophy fish because of equipment failure is much harder to live with.

A few unweighted nymphs for the shallows. NAME: FLASH BACK PHEASANT TAIL NYMPH HOOK: #12 - #16 1XS 2XL NYMPH HOOK THREAD: BROWN TAIL: PHEASANT TAIL ABDOMEN: PHEASANT TAIL RIB: FINE GOLD WIRE WING CASE: PHEASANT TAIL, HOLOGRAPHIC TINSEL WITH LOON UV THIN THORAX: PEACOCK HERL LEGS: MALLARD FLANK HEAD: LOON U.V.

The last time I looked the Tiemco could be had for about a grand. Here's another option- coming in at $900. https://www.flyfishfood.com/products/fnf-talon-vise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3JoqeFTqDM

These are definitely stocked fish, maybe that makes a difference in their appearance? I vastly prefer wild trout but that requires a 30 minute drive. This river is 9 minutes down the road so it's perfect for after work. Other than the first 2 weeks after stocking I haven't seen another angler.