I don't fish as much as I used to. I used to fish 75 days a year, but I'm now lucky to get out 15 or 20 times with everything else going on. But a comment from a good friend had me thinking it had been too long, and I wanted to do a trip away from the normal road turnoffs. Plus, the weather has been incredibly hot - fishing would be very slow down low, so it was time to head upstream. Also, one of my favorite streams just re-opened after several years of being closed for brook trout restoration. Among all of the fishes, brookies are my favorite. I have the quote up in my office - "Brook Trout are God's way of letting us know everything's going to be alright." Got a tip that the best fishing was starting a bit over 2 miles from the trailhead, so I packed up my gear and headed in. Customized Frost River Mesabi Range pack, Bark River Elmax Gunny Hunter (made it myself last weekend) and a Dave Norling hollowbuilt 8' 5wt bamboo (overkill for this stream, but I LOVE this rod).
Passed a lot of great looking pocket water before I hit the spot to start.
Got in, got wet, and started fishing with a dry only, then added a glass bead soft hackle as a dropper. Had about equal action on both flies. Landed 3, probably had 12 on, most small fish (brookies were only re-introduced 2 or 3 years ago), but one bigger fish came to hand. I don't care if they are tiny, these Smoky Mountain Brook Trout are the most beautiful fish in the world.
Ended up hiking about 8.25 miles all told, plus rock scrabbling. All my gear worked well, but I packed WAY too much stuff. When I reached my turnaround point, I seriously thought about ditching my stove, my emergency food, my small roll of TP, and my emergency fire starting kit to try to lighten my load on the way back down. Thought hard about it. Kept my stuff and sucked it up. Sore now but happy. Great day on the water.
Passed a lot of great looking pocket water before I hit the spot to start.
Got in, got wet, and started fishing with a dry only, then added a glass bead soft hackle as a dropper. Had about equal action on both flies. Landed 3, probably had 12 on, most small fish (brookies were only re-introduced 2 or 3 years ago), but one bigger fish came to hand. I don't care if they are tiny, these Smoky Mountain Brook Trout are the most beautiful fish in the world.
Ended up hiking about 8.25 miles all told, plus rock scrabbling. All my gear worked well, but I packed WAY too much stuff. When I reached my turnaround point, I seriously thought about ditching my stove, my emergency food, my small roll of TP, and my emergency fire starting kit to try to lighten my load on the way back down. Thought hard about it. Kept my stuff and sucked it up. Sore now but happy. Great day on the water.
