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Well we had planned on celebrating opener up Fort Irwin way but the dang late ice out/road wash outs blew those plans away. We decided despite our advancing years that we would stick around home,fish a small stream(Urg, all that kneeling and stealth is a young man's game) and anyway my son volunteered me to oversee getting his first car checked out before he buys it(2003 Focus). So we didn't have a lot of time. One of the perks of my job is a lot of time spent driving around the area on back roads.All this winter, no matter how cold it got, I noticed this creek that would be frozen solid for a lot of its length but it had a trib that came in through a cedar bush that remained ice free and in fact had steam rising from it on the coldest of days. A great sign of serious groundwater influx. From the confluence of this trib down, the creek remained ice free all winter. The possibility seemed pretty good to me that brook trout would be present but obviously more research was needed. What did I do? Did I come on OFC posting ,asking or PM'ing folks to spoon feed me what I needed to know? NO. I consulted readily available resources to narrow it down and did some legwork. First I consulted this religious tome http://fisheriesreports.org/wp-content/uploads/Atlas-of-Brook-Trout-Streams-Rivers.pdf Then one day mid-winter I stopped my vehicle and walked the banks right beside the road to see if I could kick any trout into action and sure enough Vroom there goes a dark shadow. While doing this I notice that downstream of where the apparent influx of groundwater enters- a NO BUZZING sign nailed to a tree. Another good indicator of trout being present. Did I swear and curse and make a post about can I fish posted water if I don't touch bottom? Again No. I waited till Thursday two days before the opener and drove up to the landowners house and politely introduced myself. Gave him my name ,my business card and informed him of my fishing habits(strictly catch and release, will pick up any toteable garbage that I find and leave no trace that I was there) could I have his permission to fish the stream running through his property on opening morning. He said, "Sure no problem thank you for asking. Could you please park your truck at the barn a kilometre up the road so people will not know that someone is fishing there." I willing accepted the conditions neccessary to gain access to what I hoped would be PRIVATE TROUT WATER within 20 minutes of my door in a booming urban area. Alarm goes of at 5 am. Buddy gets to my door at 5:30. Off to Timmy's . No time for the usual(XL) so small black only, still haven't got it finished by the time we park at the barn. Walk down the road loaded with dewage, ultralights and tackle. Fishing before six am. First Drift TAPPA TAPPA TAPPA SMILE SWEEP On the bank First trout of the 2013 season and it was like opening my Mattel electronic football game Chritmas morning when I was 11. Couldn't have been happier. Suspicions of trout presence confirmed. We hammered them and despite their lack of size, their beauty was magnificent. I wish I was better with a camera to catch their wonderful colours. All in all we landed 28 specks in 4 hours of fishing. and I couldn't have asked for a better way to start my 2013 speck season. This was probably as big as they got Here a nice action photo of the stealth technique Everyone do the research, don't look for shortcuts, always ask permission, You will be rewarded. (Throws fishing rod down at his feet/leaves room)