Trout Stream

TROUT STREAM.......

(written Sunday, May 25, 2005.. by me... FisherMOM)


Fishing. When I hear that term my heart skips a beat and I ever so slightly gasp for a breath. It always puts a grin on my face and a smile in my heart. Even in my mind’s eye, fishing can take me to a place of seclusion and peace. I envision a lazily flowing stream, dogwood trees, round and flat stones, and Brown Trout. If I sit long enough, I can even hear the gentle gurgling of the stream. Usually it’s a quiet stream, but once in a while, it’s almost as if the stream pushes some water a little stronger than before, making a big gulping sound. And at night, you would swear that God turns up the volume on the creek. With the silence of night, the creek’s gurgling is amplified and the soothing effect is intensified. Regardless of how many different species that I love to fish for, the trout stream is usually my first vision of fishing.

I fished a trout stream this weekend. As a matter of fact, most summer weekends, that is where you will find me. I have trout fished since I began to fish four years ago, but this weekend, I believe that I learned some important things about trout fishing. Things that I have read about, but have never had luck about. I tried things that I always believed would hinder my trout fishing, yet they enhanced it.

When I fish for trout, I try to be as camouflaged as best I can, and I do believe that helps. I wear green or brown waders, and a shirt that blends in well with the background. If it is not a camouflage shirt, then it is a natural green T-shirt.

Years ago, when I started fishing, I was told by a local man that the trout stop biting when the sun hits the water. And for the most part, I never had much luck when the sun was out. I tried something different this weekend. Usually, when the sun is out, I stand away from the shade and cast into it. This weekend, I stood in the shade and would cast into the riffles in the sun. That technique paid off. I was using a size 2 yellow Panther Martin inline spinner. I stood downstream and would cast the lure upstream into the riffle and reeled the lure back at a moderate pace… just fast enough to make it spin in the current. I believe that the sun shining on the blade helped to attract the fish to them.

I also learned a couple of things just by chance. After I had fished in the sun for a while, I decided to run the lure along the bank under the shade. It’s all rocky and rooty here and very easy to get a snag. So in the creek I got close to the edge and would cast upstream. On my second retrieve, the lure snagged a little on a rock that I could see. With a tug, I freed it and the lure bounce up over the rock and from the backside of the rock, from somewhere I could not see, a trout came barreling after the lure, but missed. I was awed! I mean, I knew that trout hid in places like this, but I just never realized how small of a place that they could hide, undetected. I thought maybe it saw me, I was pretty close, but I had to try my luck again. So I cast again and brought the lure back, but missed my target. With a second cast, I brought the lure back over the rock and BAM, trout on.

It was incredible! It was almost at point blank range and it didn’t know I was even there!

So this brings me to my second lesson for this weekend. That is that I CAN sneak up on them from behind and fish them at close range. I had a few more chase the lure after this, but they swam past me, mouth open.

Later on in the day, it came time to carp fish. David, Celeste and myself went downstream to fish for carp. Here the creek runs more slowly and you can barely hear it, if at all. After getting my carp rod set up and waiting for a while, I decided to go further downstream to where the creek splits and turns into the most beautiful place that I have ever fished. I have never caught a trout down here, but I wanted to change all of that with some of my new found techniques. Plus, I had bagged four trout already; I needed five to make it a personal best day. I got into position and started to cast upstream in the middle of the stream. Nothing.

I stopped and began to seriously survey the creek. To the right of me was a little shade made by some small trees and brush. Here, the creek bent and this caused some uneven undercut in the bank. I have always heard that this was a trout’s haven, even though I had never caught a trout in an area such as this.

Slowly I made my way deeper into the stream to reach my destination. The creek only came to about my knees. When I was about six feet away, I crouched slightly and gently casted the lure upstream. On the third cast, it was very close to the bank, and on the retrieve, I caught a trout!  Nothing huge, but a nice spunky brown trout that was about 10 inches long. What a feeling of accomplishment!

First of all, I was very close to my quarry and secondly, I caught a trout in an area that had never yielded to me before, yet I knew that they were here. I continued upstream and had another bite but didn’t catch it. My motto became “No guts, no glory” as I fished dangerously close to fallen trees and limbs. By the time that I reached the mouth of the creek that opened into the wide flat that we were carp fishing in, I spotted some kayakers, helping me to decide that it was time to end my fishing day anyways.

I caught 5 brown trout that day, but saw many more chasing the lure that I didn’t catch. You say 5 trout… blah, that’s nothing. But for me, 5 trout in a day, in a part of the creek that is not stocked yearly, is a personal best. I cannot stay in the stream all day because, well, I mean, I COULD, but my family is camping with me. BUT, I do spend as much time as I can in it!

On Sunday, the creek waters had fallen and the current wasn’t as strong. The same retrieve speed of the lure on Sunday, ended in it getting stuck because it sank too quickly. I am sure that the trout still stay pretty much in the same places, but the lure retrieve changes as the creek level changes. Who knows, I may go back next week to higher waters, and have to adjust again. You can almost never fish the creek the same way two days in a row.

As I reflected on my Saturday of trout fishing, I was very content. Content with my catches and content with all that I had learned. I learned things that I knew by reading, but had never truly been successful at accomplishing. I also learned that even though I may think that I am fishing in a dry area, chances are, there are many strikes at my lure that I do not see, and that the trout are there, just waiting. I know this now because so many times that day, I saw trout chase the lure and never touch it.
They didn’t touch it only because they didn’t catch it.