Brooktrout fishing 2 weeks ago 4/26/14

Two weeks ago, I went fishing at a stream in Waukesha that has a healthy population of wild brooktrout. Usually I am not shy with fly fishing locations, but this creek is very dear to me and I feel obligated to do whatever I can to ensure that these trout remain protected.

The stream is gem clear and so beautiful. It is no more than 15ft wide, while most of the stream is about 7ft wide. Upon arrival, like usual, I was the only fisherman there. Selfishly, I'd prefer to keep it that way :P, with the exception of the few individuals I trust will protect these fish.

Thankfully, the grass is still low. In the summer, the grass will grow over 6ft which makes fishing quite difficult.

Here are some pictures of this beautiful stream. I didn't get as good of pictures as I'd have liked.




Fishing on this stream is very difficult because there is barely any room to cast. Although the water is gem clear, trout are usually nowhere to be seen. This stream has a lot of undercut banks which is where the fish seem to be most comfortable. I first started out nymphing, but the fish did not seem interested in nymphs at all so I switched over to dead drifting a size 10 black woolly bugger a few inches from the undercut banks. That was a clear winner. Out of undercut banks, brooktrout started darting out for my woolly bugger. Further upstream, I must have missed about 5 fish because they are a bit smaller and kept seeming to miss the fly. After about and hour or so on the upstream stretch, I decided to make my way downstream to a spot I've caught fish before. On my first drift, a brook trout darted out and aggressively took my fly. I took a few snapshots and released the beauty quickly.



After releasing the previous fish, I thought, why not drift the fly one more time in the same spot? Well...immediately, another gorgeous brookie darted out and took the fly! Boy did that make my day!


My time on the stream was running low, so I ended up leaving shortly after this. I will be back soon before the grass gets overgrown.