First Taste of Brook Trout Fishing

Last weekend I fished the North Fork Moorman's River, near Charlottesville, Va. and caught a nice, feisty little brook trout. Throughout the day -- a long and not altogether warm day of fishing -- I got a number of bites, but only actually took into my hands and voluntarily released one fish. That has always been my measure of whether a fish has truly been "caught"; did you actually take the hook out of it's mouth, or did the fish spit it out before you landed it? The former is a catch. The latter is a miss. 

How does brook trout fishing differ from fishing for rainbow trout or brown trout? Well, the fundamentals are basically the same, except for the fact that brook trout almost always live in tiny, somewhat remote streams (or brooks...ha) and are usually native, or wild, meaning they are bred and born in the wild, as opposed to being bred in a hatchery and stocked into the stream by the fish and game commission. 

This makes brook trout fishing different in a couple key ways. First, since the streams in which they live tend to be smaller, the fish themselves tend to be smaller, which means you need to use smaller tackle. Normally, I'm accustomed to using a 6-weight rod (this will mean nothing to you if you're not an angler, sorry), which is a fairly big rod for trout fishing, but I like it because it can handle heavier flies and works better in the bigger, faster streams and rivers I end up fishing most of the time. Occasionally, I'll use a 4/5-weight rod, which is a bit smaller and more suitable for the delicate business of dry fly fishing. However, for this past weekend of fishing for brook trout, I had to go even smaller, down to a 3-weight rod, for the first time ever. To imagine what this is like, think of hitting a baseball with a regular bat vs. hitting a golf ball with one of those souvenir bats they give out at baseball games. It's the same motion and mechanics, but reduced in size and therefore a little bit trickier. 

Secondly, brook trout fishing is different because, due to the small size of the stream, you can almost always see the fish, which means -- unfortunately -- they can also see you. And they spook very, very easily. In fact, usually by the time you've crept up to the spot where you'd like to fish you've already scared them away. It took me an entire morning of fishing to really get hip to this idea, but I finally got it. 

I discovered a spot where the stream split into two evenly-sized and still pools, with a sort of peninsula between them. Now, keep in mind, the "peninsula" was no more than the size of your kitchen table, and the pools on each side were about the same size and barely 8" - 12" deep. Not a lot of space to work with. 

Naturally, creeping up to this peninsula, I spooked the little school or pod of fish -- maybe about 4-5 of them -- that were hanging around in the right pool. I noticed they went over to the pool on the left and disappeared. They would return after a few minutes and I would try to cast to them, only to spook them again the moment I raised my rod. I knew I had to go a bit more stealth. 

Sitting cross-legged on the rocky little peninsula, I set my rod out over the right side of the pool in a way that I knew I could just sort of slingshot my fly out into the water when the fish came back, so as not to move a muscle. When they came back this time, I was ready. 

I sling shotted my fly out over the right pool and it landed right over the group of fish. When they did not flee in fright, I knew I at least had a chance. Then I began to notice one of them edging up to the fly, inspecting it. Sure enough, the fish made a darting move and took the fly. I had caught my first ever brook trout.

Brook trout may be tiny, but what they lack in size they make up for it in aggression and pure spirit. I've caught rainbow trout twice as big as this brook trout, who did not put up nearly as much of a fight. And actually, I may be imagining this, but I swear the little devil tried to bite my finger off as I was taking the hook out of its mouth. 

Fish was caught on a No. 14 (or maybe a 16) tan stimulator.