The middle section

Nice lunch time trek to what I think of as the "middle section" of a local stream.  it's got lots of hemlock, though mixes with laurels and oak forest along it's banks as well.  It's a stout gradient overall, surprisingly cool water even in August, and the clarity would make gin look dirty!  Ah, I shouldn't talk that way, I'm not a drinker, have never even had gin... So I'm going solely on the way it looks on TV or on shelves!

Point being, this stream is a pleasure to fish.  The coolest thing is that it's probably only 3-4 miles from another wild brookie stream which is much more sandy and much more pressured by fly, lure and bait guys.  Why people have not found this one, I dont know... I only know one other guy who fishes it, or has even considered it - Hi Coleman!

Any way, I usually fish where it crosses a road up as far as I have time to explore.  Sometimes I fish this middle section - basically below the road.  I really need to do it more, it's an amazing stretch of stream and the number of fish I clumsily spooked on my hurried trek down stream so I could dry fly my way back up was amazing in the clear pools.  I'm sure a more cautious approach, or, if I'd swung wet's on the way down I'd have caught a lot more fish.

In the end, I got maybe 6 on an orange dry with a deer hair wing.  I noticed it on the Small Stream Reflections blog - snuggly in BrkTrt's fly keeper prior to fishing one day... Given the experience he has, I did my best to replicate that fly, and I think my last 8-10 small stream fish have been on that fly!  Thanks BrkTrt!

The fish above came just the left of the main current on the left side of that boulder.  The fish struck on 2 casts in a row.  The first it flipped out of the water like a small mouth missing a popper.  the next drift it ate the fly and came to hand.

 This fish did a cool "levitation" thing.  It shot up from the bottom, and hovered for a second below the fly in the current right in front of the root ball on the far bank below.  I could see the fish perfectly for about a half second before it took the fly.  Wish I'd got a picture of that!

Got a couple in this nice run, from mid way up to the head.  Most of the fish today were mid run or at the head... didnt get a strike in a riffle  or at the tail of a pool or run.

This guy and his twin came out of the last spot - where the stream crosses the road.  it's a really great pool with maybe 3-4 feet of water and some great rock's to hide around for the fish.  I spooked a few at the front of the pool, but where it went under the road, the fish found refuge and I have no doubt that if I'd stuck round I'd have caught more.  Pretty amber tinted fish I thought!

Have a super day

Will