3 Days of Fishing

I fished three days recently; Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.

On Wednesday, I went to a limestone stream that I know well. I started on the lower end of the creek and fished upstream until I saw another fisherman. The action was fairly slow, but steady. I caught 26 trout in that section; 23 browns and 3 rainbows. The biggest was 15 1/2 inches.

I drove to another section of the creek. The action was incredible to start. I caught 8 trout in the first 15 minutes and lost 3 others. It slowed down from that furious pace, but was still excellent.

I caught 54 wild browns in that section, all on spinners. The biggest trout was 13 inches. A large brown followed my spinner in twice without hitting. Later a hog rainbow followed my spinner, but didn't hit.

At that point, I was tired but decided to keep fishing. I went to another section. I caught
14 more browns to finish the day with 94 trout.

On Friday I went to a well known large limestone stream. I pulled into the parking area and there was another fisherman getting his gear together. His name is Jim Rudick. He is also a spin fisherman, but does not restrict his fishing to artificial lures like I do. He asked about the upper part of the stretch, which he had never fished. He said he wanted to fish it, so we went to the upper end and left my car there, then drove back to the lower parking area.

I caught a 15 inch brown to start the day but the fishing was very slow, at least with spinners. We had to skip several areas due to other fishermen. There were also quite a few kayaks and canoes. Jim started out fishing with spinners but switched to live crickets, and then used red worms. He did much better than I did. I don't know exactly how many trout he caught; my guess would be between 40 and 45. He caught four trout over 16 inches, with the largest being an 18 inch brown. While I was in a different channel in a split in the creek, Jim told me he had seen a rattlesnake and asked me if I saw it. I had not.
I caught 24 trout, all on spinners. All of my trout were browns. The biggest was my first trout of the day, a 15 inch brown. I enjoyed introducing him to new water and seeing him catch nice trout, but I didn't enjoy the crowds on the stream. I don't like fishing behind other fishermen. I much prefer to fish undisturbed water. If my car had been at the lower lot, I probably would have walked out and gone somewhere else. Still, I enjoyed fishing with Jim and seeing him do well.

After driving Jim back to his car, I went to a small stream nearby and did very well. I landed 40 wild browns in a little over two hours. Most were small. The largest was 13 inches.

On Saturday I went to a stream known for having large brown trout. The conditions were ideal for catching large trout; elevated water level and cloudy skies. I had done well there in the past under those conditions, but also had poor outings in the same conditions. It's the most unpredictable stream that I fish.
Unfortunately, the action was terrible. I fished three different sections, the last two briefly, and only caught five wild browns. The biggest was a 15 3/4 inch brown. I had follows from two large trout, which kept me from leaving before I probably should have.

I drove to a small mountain stream nearby and began fishing in a light rain. The action was better there. I caught 28 trout; 18 wild browns and 10 native brookies, all on spinners. The biggest was a 12 1/2 inch brown. Two browns of similar size cleared the water and threw the spinner.
I caught a good number of trout over the three days, but am disappointed that I didn't catch any trout over 16 inches. I anticipated getting some big trout potentially all three days. Still, I covered a lot of water and enjoyed being out. During the course of the trip, I saw several deer, heard some turkeys, saw a porcupine, and a beaver.