Sunday, October 6, 2013

Super Thin Blue Lines


    Yes, the above picture is of a stream. and as you can see, flows have been down.  
  Yesterday I went out exploring, looking for thin blue lines my favorite way... Google Earth.  you'd be surprised how many streams are in your own backyard.  Those little drainage ditch looking trickles that you drive over without a care in the world may often be a pristine stream twisting through the woods, out of sight from the roadway. 
 Driving around,chasing a stream, many of it's intersections with roads looked promising, but at the same time, the turtles, lilly's, and punk'in seeds deterred me. I did not want to waste my time having 3" pumpkin seeds eat all my flies while scaring all target fish.... move on...
  So this watershed I was following is prettymuch a 10 foot wide stream that is fed by swamps, and other little "roadside ditch" trickles.  I decided to dig deeper.  I was in search of something better, something untouched, something magical.
  While searching a few backroads I nearly drove right past a small access road. The familiar brown post with yellow writing caught my eye. "Parking for Hunting"    I nearly locked up all 16 pistons of braking power!!!  RRRRRReverse....  I had come across a Ct. Wildlife Management Area that was open to hunting. Not being a hunter myself, I had never heard of this one, but acording to Google Earth,,, I was close.  the thin blue line that I was chasing was snaked through the woods of this state land. (or so I thought).  So, out of the car, and a hike began.
  This Hunting area looked pretty neat,   An old farm, (most of New England is an "old farm") setup, there were 9 old fields that instead of corn, were full of tall grasses, and overgrowth. The State had a few tractors littered throughout that it looked like they used to mow/hey this mess once or twice a year. The trails were nice, for the most part, with game birds jumping out of the trails edge all day, but I wasn't here to chase birds. Checking my mobile map, I found out that I was much farther away than I thought.
  I began following deer-trails through the edge of the fields into the woods, where I found remnants of a once busy farm. (piles of rocks)  Trodding downhill, I was scanning the treeline for a clearing, I knew the creek ran along another clearing out in the middle of the woods.  hike, hike, hike,  there were no trails, the deer-trail long gone, at least the tree canopy kept much of the underbrush at bay..   Skip Ahead... About 40 minutes after i got out of the car, I had found the "thin blue line" I was searching. 
 Standing all alone in the middle of the woods, I said aloud 'WTF"  the stream was pretty much a dried up creekbed in a swamp. next to no water at all.  Just as I was about to hike back, a pool no bigger than a dinner-plate made ripples.  again "WTF"  but this time, I said it aloud because of my amazement.  There was fish!  
  I laid my bag down in the middle of the stream to not only illustrate the size of the stream, but the lack of water. It was almost dry. I circled the 'pool' that first gave away the inhabitants.  The familiar darting waves caused by spooked fish, had nowhere to go but in circles.    After finding a un-spooked pool, soon, a fish was at hand.
This wild brookie, maybe a grand total of 3 inches was just as fun to catch as any.  having to bow cast into pools containing maybe 5 gallons of water is really tricky! 
  Downstream, maybe a half mile, I found a little more water, and was actually able to get a small 10 ft. cast in.   These fish are ultra spookable!  30 ft. away, if you step on a stick, forget about it. gone.  all in all, I spooked about a hundred monster 3" fish, landing two.  with the grandaddy of the day being this giant:
I'm naming this creek Rose Hill, after the terrain and hunting grounds that it is on. (maybe it is already named rose hill?)
  Here's some more wild photos that I couldn't twist into todays dialogue.
There are like 2-3 trout in this small pool!!! the 5 gallon pools are about every 10-20 feet, and there are trout in Every one of them! 

so dry, the fall leaves seem to be the only flow

backcast? this stream at this point is maybe 14" wide!

this feeder stream Shewville? actually held water here, and trout that might be 4-5"


this is a downstream look, where Rose Hill on the left, and a Shewville trib on the right, actually flow unconnected along opposite sides of a stonewall for maybe 300 yards before combining waters, and actually starting to resemble a stream

this 5 ft. wide river lol  holds fish!!!  lots of tiny tiny fish







10 comments:

  1. i think the stonewall along the bank of the river is a good location for a mink/coon/muskrat set. Nice fish! the creek is in prime colors

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    1. That's an idea.. I bet the minks/Fisher cats in the area eat quite well. I did see several trucks in the parking lot when I returned, but no people, so the hunting might be good.

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  2. Great site. Glad I stumble upon it.

    Pete

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  3. By the way. Can you give a little background information on your fly reel. It's a beauty.

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    1. Sure Peter, its a Sunnybrook cage made by Union Hardware in Torrington, Ct. (1909??). I've got another in nickel in the box!!!! Love it! Simple, lightweight, and a great sound. I have it spooled with S/L 000 DT.
      Thanks for stopping by.

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  4. Absolutely crazy. Beautiful brookies and talk about technical fishing. Must say I am impressed.

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    1. I never thought I would challenge myself so much to catch a fish so small. maybe this winter I can practice casting into a5 gallon bucket and go back in the spring. Ha. thanks for stopping by

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  5. Man now I'm kicking myself for going home all those times I found the stream in that condition!

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    1. those seem to always be the days magic happens. I'm pretty sure the previous world record for Striped Bass (NJ) was caught in the midst of a nasty storm, in the surf, when nobody else would come out. I enjoy the foul weather, maybe fishing is to blame for that. But a warm summer rain, and no umbrella are awesome!

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