Favorite small stream tactics
Anyone else love small stream fly fishing for trout? Its my calling. I would like to start a discussion about favorite techniques, why we love fishing this way, gear selection, or anything else you would like to discuss.
There is something about fishing a small stream that just grabs me. I love stalking brook trout with a fly rod in my hand on streams that most fly anglers would never consider fishing. You know, the kind of fishing where you never make a long cast(or even a traditional cast), or stand up straight.
I have a few small stream rods. A 7-1/2' 4 weight, a 7-1/2' 3 weight, and a 6' 5 weight for really brushy streams. None of them are high dollar rods, but they all perform their given task nicely. I don't get fancy with my reels either. For line, I like a quality, dark colored floater. Preferably a double taper.
As far as flies go, I fish the classic small stream patterns. Mainly because they work very well. Yellow humpies, adams, EHC, fur ant, hares ear nymph, prince nymph, and wooly buggers. Nothing too technical.
I don't get real technical with my casting either. I don't even have a name for some of the cast I have performed. And some of them i could never duplicate. They are just something I pulled off to fish a certain pool. There more like "flips" and "flings".
I always try to stay low when approaching a stream, and wear drab colors. False casting is a no-no alot of the times, it spooks too many trout. I kind of crawl up to a stream, read the pools, and fling my fly to the closest trout hiding spot. Works for me. Well, some of the time.
I have been away from this kind of fishing for too long. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of NY's season. April 1st is the opener. It will probaly be closer to May, or even in May, before the fishing is good for how I like to fish. Until then I only have books and the internet.
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