"small brook", Catskills, New York

I went back to my favorite small brook in the Catskills this week. It was my first time back since, the hurricane, Colorado, and England. The small waters, like the brook were in good shape. But some of the other larger rivers and streams were dark and turbulent. I tested my new Hardy 6' 3 weight glass rod. I had many hits and hooked fish over all this day, but only brought in one.

I was surprised to see a young Rainbow on the small brook

England

I took a day off from a work related vacation to London to go fishing on an English chalk stream.  I took a train and hour south of London to the town of Winchester.

The River Ichen

The River Ichen is a chalk stream. A chalk stream is a spring fed stream with an under laying level of chalk. The spring water is filtered through the chalk beds to create a crystal clear stream. Fishing is only permitted from the bank on these rivers. You must quietly walk along the brushy bank sight fishing, casting to holding fish from downstream.  This portion of the river, or beat, was filled with Brown Trout, Grayling, and even a 50lb Pike.

The Arctic Grayling is in the trout/salmon/char family. It is distinguished by its dark gray and almost purple color, and the extended dorsal fin.

This big boy Brown trout was caught off a little nymph dropper. A good fighter, he was about 5 pounds, 24 inches. It was fun hooking him with my lighter weight outfit.

Colorado

Cony Creek

The hike to Cony Creek is 5 miles each way, with a 3000 foot elevation change both ways. I decided to hike up to the creek and fish all day, sleep, then hike back to the truck.

The creek was definitely worth the hike.  Completely secluded, Cony Creek is small and fast, but offers some nice slow, flat pools, like this one above. I didn't see a single person all day and night. There was room for one more at the near campsite, but i was the only visitor.

Cony Creek was teeming with Greenback Cutthroat trout, a sub-species native only to the pristine, high mountain waters of the Colorado Rockies. The Greenbacks i found here averaged around 5-6 inches. They love large terrestrials like, olive hoppers.

After a long day of hiking, fishing, and getting used to the altitude, i went back to camp to eat at my private high mountain lake.

Fall River

I took a day hike up to the Fall River to fish for more Greenback Cutthroats. It is a fast, little river, with lots of boulder pools and brushy banks. It requires stealth and creative casting to present to the fish here.

Like Cony Creek, The Roaring River boasts a large population of native Greenback Cutthroats. How ever, the Greenbacks in the Roaring River were much larger, averaging around 9-12 inches.

The Greenback on the left is laying next to my Grey's 7'6'' 4 weight rod, and Orvis CFO reel.

Ouzel Creek

This is the view from above Ouzel Falls. The main trail takes you below Ouzel Falls for a nice photograph spot, and then  continues on to a lake, and bypasses Ouzel Creek.  However, if you leave the main trail and climb the rock face beside the falls, you come up to a beautiful open valley, with a beautiful creek running right down the middle. Up top, above the rest of the day hikers, there are no trails, besides the animal trails, and light foot paths made by the few other anglers.

A wildfire wiped out all the trees years ago, giving the creek a valley-like setting. This cold mountain creek, was no bigger than 10 feet wide and no deeper than 2 feet. It was made of fast riffles with undercut banks, boulder pools, and some small flat glides dropping into small plunge pools.  The best spots to fish were the slow, deeper glides with large fallen dead trees cutting across.

Ouzel Creek is filled with plenty of these transplanted Brook Trout. Brook Trout are native to the Northeastern United States. Out west, they are starting to compete for Cutthroat trout territory. Although, considered an intrusive species out west, the Brookie is a very beautiful fish. The Brookies i was catching in Ouzel Creek were bright with their fall spawning colors.

"******" River, New York

A small river, part of the Croton Watershed, is one of my favorite places to fish near the city. It has a healthy supply of brown trout. These 10" and 15" browns were tricked by a size 16 henryville special that resembled the unknown hatch or spinner fall that was talking place, causing the fish to rise one late afternoon. The fish were rising in a slow moving, flat glide pool.

Further downstream there are some good rocky runs and riffles. I've caught browns similar to the 10" shown above behind rocks in runs, by inducing rises with dry flies. In some, even smaller sections of the stream, in the rocky lips of some glide pools i've taken some medium to smaller sized trout. Needless to say, this small stream is a gem of a spot, and most anglers look it over, as i am usually the only visitor.

"Small Brook", Catskills, New York

This brook is a small tributary of a larger river in the heart of the Catskills mountains. The brookies and browns that hold in its small pools are very spooky and require a stealthy approach.

I caught this young brookie off of a size 16 rusty spinner. He and a few other brookies were holding right next to the bank of a 4" deep, slow moving pool. I had to roll cast to them while hiding my body behind a bush.