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I went to a mountain freestoner yesterday.
I knew it was a risk since the overnight low temperatures were in the low 40s. I hoped for good action and to possibly catch a big trout or two.
That stream has produced some big trout for me over the years.
I started near the parking area and fished a long way upstream. The fishing was very slow as I feared. The water temperature was 51. I only caught one in the first hour, a 12 inch wild brown.
The next hour was better, yielding 7 trout, but it slowed down again. I continued to catch trout, but the action was never fast. Normally I would walk out and go to another stream, but I continued upstream to two spots where I've caught big trout before. Unfortunately, the two spots only produced small trout.
I fished that stream for 6.25 hours and only caught 30 wild browns, all on spinners. The biggest was 13 1/4 inches.
I left there and went to a small freestoner that I had never fished until last year and had quite a bit of action there. I caught 15 wild browns and lost 5 or 6 more in an hour and a half. The biggest trout was a brown just over 16 inches, which came as a complete shock to me.
Overall, I caught 45 trout in 7.75 hours. I would normally expect to do better than that in May, but I was very happy in getting a big trout in such a small stream.

Scenic Stream

Upstream view

Colorful 13 1/4 inch brown

A fat brown with a full belly; not full enough apparently

Miniature waterfall

Biggest trout of the day

Brown with bright red spots
I knew it was a risk since the overnight low temperatures were in the low 40s. I hoped for good action and to possibly catch a big trout or two.
That stream has produced some big trout for me over the years.
I started near the parking area and fished a long way upstream. The fishing was very slow as I feared. The water temperature was 51. I only caught one in the first hour, a 12 inch wild brown.
The next hour was better, yielding 7 trout, but it slowed down again. I continued to catch trout, but the action was never fast. Normally I would walk out and go to another stream, but I continued upstream to two spots where I've caught big trout before. Unfortunately, the two spots only produced small trout.
I fished that stream for 6.25 hours and only caught 30 wild browns, all on spinners. The biggest was 13 1/4 inches.
I left there and went to a small freestoner that I had never fished until last year and had quite a bit of action there. I caught 15 wild browns and lost 5 or 6 more in an hour and a half. The biggest trout was a brown just over 16 inches, which came as a complete shock to me.
Overall, I caught 45 trout in 7.75 hours. I would normally expect to do better than that in May, but I was very happy in getting a big trout in such a small stream.

Scenic Stream

Upstream view

Colorful 13 1/4 inch brown

A fat brown with a full belly; not full enough apparently

Miniature waterfall

Biggest trout of the day

Brown with bright red spots