Out in the Mountains Again
We did it again, Brian Duffel and I did another fishing trip in the mountains for wild Brook Trout. I hope you like the story.
Rocky Branch above Forest Service Bridge
Out in the Mountains Again
by: Lee Goldsmith
Lee's Fishing Page
It was a cool start to the day but was going to be perfect later on, and it was. Bright sun but low in the sky, it is that time of year. Picked up Brian around 6:30 am and we were off. One short stop at the Eaton Country Store for a coffee and we were gone. Arrived at the Sawyer River around 8:15 am and got ready to fish. The water level was almost perfect and the temp was very low, 55 degrees. Needless to say you did not stay in the water too long or your feet would be ice.
Sawyer River - Water looks great but we found no fish.
We tried about 100 yards of river above the place where we parked and did nothing. I was wondering if the cold water and early time of day had anything to do with the poor showing on the Sawyer. I know the river has a good population of fish and we just did not find them. Next time I think I will try some nymphs to see if that is the problem. We tried one more spot on the Sawyer a little further down stream but again no fish, except one small Brooke that did bat the fly.
So we decided to go to the Rocky Branch River, just a few miles back from the Sawyer River. We got there about 9:15 am and again the water levels looked good. We parked at the end of Jeraco Road, in a small parking lot and put the car in a shady spot.
Rocky Branch River
We walked down river for about 3 tenths of a mile and started fishing our way back to the car. That is something I really like, get the walk over with at once then when you are finished you have a much easier time of it. The fishing in the Rocky Branch was much better then the Sawyer. Water temp was 60 degrees, a little warmer and the fish were there. We started to catch some fish right away.
Me with a small wild Brooke
We fished up stream for about 3 to 3 1/2 hours and we must have encountered at least 25 to 30 fish. All of the good ones seemed to know how to shake the fly lose because we landed none of the good ones. I missed one right off, came out of a small pocket but was a very good fish. Brian missed several as well and all together the two of us must of had 6 good fish strike. But the day was beautiful and just right for temperature. I have to tell all about the one fish that Brian hooked into. It was almost the last pool we fished on the Rocky Branch and it looked real good. Brian drifted the Elk Hair Caddis over the run a couple of time with nothing then all of a suden a fish came up. That little 6.5 foot 4 wt. was almost doubled over that fish pulled so hard. Brian had the fish on for about 15 seconds then lost it and was very surprised by how hard the fish fought.
Brian very relaxed at the side of a great pool.
After fishing back to the car we broke for lunch and then decided to try the Wildcat River in Carter Notch.
It was a very short drive over to the Wildcat River but this river needs rain bad. The Wildcat was as low as I have evr seen it. Water temp was 64 degrees, not to bad but must have been very high during the hot spell we had. Managed to hook one small Brooke and that was it. It was now 3:00 pm so we decided to go home and stop and have an Ice Cream on way.
I have posted a slide show of all the photo's so enjoy.
Lee
NOTE: Click on any photo in the story to see it larger.
Pictures from our Fishing Trip
Rating: 4.00/5 (1 vote cast)
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