A Nice Inland Trout Trip

For anyone that follows Guys, Flies & Pies on Facebook, you might know that I was planning on sliding my kayak into a local creek to see what I could find. Honestly, it was a toss up between going solo in the kayak, or calling my friend Brian to see if we could attack together somewhere else. The only reason the kayak won out over Brian was because the kayak is a fair weather fishing companion, and I know Brian doesn't cry at the site of snow.

But plans change.

I got the 2 straps out of 4 on the kayak on the top of my car.....and fate prompted Brian to call. He offered an invite to an inland trout stream. I accepted. "40-45 and I'll be there." I quickly took the kayak down and put it back in the garage. Yes, it put up a fight and called me a traitor, but I didn't care, I had trout to go catch with a friend that knew how and where to catch them.

Sure, I've been to the creek before....that's kinda how I got to use the name of the creek in my email so many years ago when Al Gore first invented the internet. I just don't get to the creek often.

45 minutes later I'm on the side of the road squeeeeezing into waders bought over a decade and 50 pounds ago. Yep, I don't wade nearly enough.

We hiked in, past cows, turkey, vultures, trolls, over mountains, and a bunch of other things to throw you off our scent. We were in search of one pool. One pool that is deep enough to hold trout and covered by a tree and fed by a cool spring. Paradise...if you are a trout.

We traded back and forth in the prime spot where I saw at least 6 fish shoulder to should in a 12 inch space....and 6 fish was just a small sampling of the fish that were in that one spot.

14.75 Brown trout (photo: Brian Bradfield)

I foul hooked a fish and we found a fly left behind by some unlucky angler (if you are reading this, your bead head prince nymph worked....he was fair hooked.) We claimed the hook and I tied it on and proceeded to catch a beautiful 14.75 inch brown. Likely this is the largest inland brown I've ever caught. 

(photo: Brian Bradfield)

Brian managed to catch 2 and foul hooked 2 others. Foul hooking was expected because of the way the fish were so stacked up.

One thing I love about the Guys, Flies & Pies event I put on each year, is the people I meet. I've met some great people and had the pleasure of fishing with a few of them. It's a great by product of such a fun event.

Thanks again Brian for the good time out fishing! 

Brian's fishing reports can be found at Brian On The Fly.