I've had this desire to catch Brookies ever since I learned about their place as the only native trout in the region. I'm a new fly fisher (1 year with my own gear), and I recently moved back to Appalachia. I scouted out some smaller streams online in higher elevations, and hit the road the other day in hopes of fulfilling this goal.
It took some work. It was my first real blue lining experience, and it's quite different from parking your car on a shoulder over and over to cast in pools. This place was virtually untouched, and I found no signs of previous anglers other than overgrown trails to the stream off the main trail.
I spooked a fish at the first spot where I was tying on my fly. I went to the next run, and within 3 casts I caught my first Brook on an Elk Hair Caddis (last picture). Pure elation. Even though it was a small fish, it's wild, native, and likely not descended from any stocked trout, which feels like a rarity in WNC to me.
I hiked about 1.5 miles of rough terrain to a gorgeous waterfall (that I won't post in case it's recognized) with a large, slow, deep pool below it. I hooked a larger Brook on the same Caddis, but it swam under a rock close to me, and I didn't land it. I worked the pool for 20 min before deciding to change tactics. I didn't feel like rigging a dry dropper, so I tied on a classic size 12 wooly bugger, and caught an even larger Brook. It fought valiantly, and was a hoot on the 4wt glass rod. After 5 or so more casts I hooked into a slightly larger one on the bugger. This fish fought decently hard for its size. Wild fish are built different. The stress of the fight took a lot out it, and I held it under water for a long time before releasing. I know that it's part of trout fishing and fishing in general to inadvertently harm/kill fish, but it still hurt that I may have done so to a species that I revere (as well as my PB Brook lol).
It was getting dark, so I went back the way I came, caught a tiny one on a dry, and hit the first pool where I spooked that one fish, caught it on the 4th cast, and hiked back to the car.
Overall, I had the whole trail and stream to myself. That's hard to beat. Knowing that my pinky is 3 inches, I'd guess that that PB Brook is around 8 in. What do you think? Does anybody have a similar first Brookie experience? Thanks for reading!
Posted by ndoms