My first brookie trip

[splashhopper]

I mentioned in my post yesterday about my first RIVER walleye yesterday that I was joining my friend, Dutchy, for brookies this am.

 

AM came waaay too early. I had to be at his house by 3:50 am and I couldn't sleep a darned wink....Tossing and turning. Not really out of excitement either. Like how can u get "excited" about puny little fish when rainbows are still in the river and pike season just opened

 

After a two hour drive, we arrive at our destination. There are five of us and a whole lot of river bank to walk without being in each others way. The four of them take off upstream and I work a pool at the bottom of the walk in point with my ultra-light 5 foot rod and reel. Half dew worms and a very small split shot about 18 inches up were my weapons of choice for the first little while.

 

The first pool is full of chubbs so I move to the next hole that two of the others had abandoned a few minutes earlier.

 

First drift and tap tap tap. Another chub But Dutchy had pre-warned me about all the chub so I decide to work the hole for a few more minutes. A wise decision.

 

FISH ON ! my first brookie.... it slammed that worm like a fright train and then b-lined in to the rapids.... no worries, I am in my waders and fight him like a champ " don't lose him, don't lose him" is screeching through my brain.

 

 

I screamed out to the guys and they gave me the thumbs up for first fish of the day too.

On to shore he comes and a photo is on order. ( only had my Blackberry for a camera)

 

 

Pure beauty...the picture just doesn't do this fish justice. The dots and the orange colors were brilliant.. yep, Dutchy and all those other speckie hunters are right... it truly is a beautiful little fish.

 

I had no idea if brookies would school together and I wasn't even sure if I was fishing in the "right type" of water. But a few more drifts and WHAMMO.... another one.....

 

 

This picture was waay easier to take as I hadn't put my phone away yet.

I got that pic just as the fish squirmed out of my hand and shook the hook on it's way back to its watery home.

 

The guys had dissapeared around the bend and I wasn't really sure which "fork in the river" they took. So I just followed the creators spirit and walked the river bank as I seemed to be directed to.

 

The next three holes didn't produce for me, but it was a good time to practice pitching the 4lb line and tiny shot as far as I could to different targets in the river. Next time I will bring my 10.5 light action rod though. Or not? Don't really know what rod I should use with such a light bait to work with.

 

I worked the river and walked the water and the rocks and just enjoyed the experience. Very peaceful up there and with just the odd bit of on/off rain, the mosquito's that I was forewarned about just didn't materialize on me.

 

 

As I came across another log jam across a deeper section of river that i was unsure about crossing, I decided to tie on one of the "cheapie spinners" that I bought at Angling Outfitters yesterday. The boys told me to throw it directly at the wood and just up stream and to be prepared to lose a bunch of them.

Ok, this was gonna be the sacrificial lure, I thought.

 

First cast and bam, a BIG CHUB. OK, TRY AGAIN.... ANOTHER CHUB.

 

No problem, I move up river 20 yards and try again.

 

First cast UP IN TO the rapids and work the spinner down and across stream below me with a taught line all the way.

 

WHAM !

 

another brookie for me!

 

 

This experience is planted in to my mind.... toss the spinner at everything that "looks" like it might hold a fish in those rapids.... I have no fear and I am armed with lots of cheap spinners to learn on.

 

Walking the river and just tossing the spinner in to water that was anywhere from a shimmer over rocks to about 3 feet deep was fun in itself. I had no idea that a spinner could be worked like this in the rapids. Look out rainbows! lol

 

As I rounded the next long bend, I put the worm and split shot back on to work what looked like a long slow DEEP pool. I was "rewarded" with a BIG rock bass....but didn't know it was a bass until it came up. I was pretty sure I was in to a "trophy" brookie for a moment there !

 

Voices came from up river and I decided to give my recently sprained ankle a break and retreat slowly down river. The guys were making a lot better time than I was and I ended u fishing with them back down to the starting point. Two of the guys were using spinners with worm trailers.... hmmmm??? that looked interesting.

 

I put a half worm on and the chub are back.... lol

 

Persistence paid off again though. The boys stayed on the same side of the river that they had walked up on, so I decided to walk the other bank. Damned glad I did too.

 

As we got to our starting point, the river splits and has a pretty strong and narrow chute that was only accessible from my side of the river.

 

I got snagged up and stepped in to the chute to loosen the spinner. Another "twist of fate" was presented.

 

When the spinner shook loose it went down stream and I decided to try fishing it back up to me with the sloooooowest retrieve possible without snagging up again. The spinner was about 10-12 feet down stream from me when i saw TWO brookies chasing it down. TWO! I couldn't believe it.

 

Then, one of them hit it... CRRRUNCH in the rapids is very different than in the slower water.

I set the hook and slowly start side stepping back to shore.

 

And here it is>>

 

A real beauty.... probably the best looking one of today's, bunch.

 

After reloading another worm I wonder. Is that other brookie still in the rapids?

No pain no gain! So I slowly walk back to the middle of the rapids and work the spinner down to a spot where I think is well below the "strike zone" of the first brookie.

 

Unbelievable TWO MORE CHASING IT!!!

 

Yep, one of them NAILS IT and I take the same precautionary trail back to shore for a quick photo>>

 

 

And this time, I remember to take a release shot too

 

Wondering if a third time is a charm I trek back out there to see if there are more where those two came from. Not to be..... no biggie.... That's OK fishing god...this was a blast..

 

The boys didn't work the river too far down this time so i stick to one more small shoot and with a small shoot came the smallest brookie of the day for me >>

 

 

What a day! I am exhausted but can't sleep again.. can't wait to start trying some streams closer to my home that " have heard " have brookies in them.

Edited May 23, 2011 by splashhopper

[hurraylien]

nice work sounds like you had a blast!

[danc]

That's awesome Splashhopper. Stream Brookies are a blast indeed. Really nice report Bud.

[spincast]

Love river fishin' on light tackle. Awesome day for a first time

[spinnerbaitking]

Very nice report, was this in my direction by any chance, Congrats on your 1st very successful Brookie trip, one of the locals got a 20" Spec last weekend one of the guys at work told me he saw it

SBK

[beginner]

good report!.. thnks for sharin

[Rod Caster]

May long weekend produces a lot of good reports!

 

Those cheap spinners worked well. Good bang for your buck.

 

Great report!

[splashhopper]

Very nice report, was this in my direction by any chance, Congrats on your 1st very successful Brookie trip, one of the locals got a 20" Spec last weekend one of the guys at work told me he saw it

SBK

 

about an hour north east of you Richard

[BillM]

If you are releasing those beauts make sure to pinch your barbs!

 

I agree with you as well, nothing beats chasing some stream brook trout. I was out in Grey/Bruce last night with the 4wt, caught about 2 dozen on dries.

[Dutchy]

Had a blast yesterday. 13 brookies, quite a few around 10 in, and a few smaller. First brookie of the day was this 14in bruiser:

 

Beautiful colors on it. First time I have ever had a brookie peel line from my reel.

 

Never ceases to amaze me how determined these little brookies are chasing down size 1 panther martins:

 

Between the 5 of us, we probably got over 50 brookies which is good for that stretch of river. Splash stuck closer to where we parked. Why was that Ron :whistling:

Edited May 23, 2011 by Dutchy

[BillsTheBassMan]

The very best kind of fishing Splash! I'm glad you had a good time.

[Leecher]

Nice work on those pokadot beauties Splash

and congrats on your first

Leechman

[splashhopper]

Had a blast yesterday. 13 brookies, quite a few around 10 in, and a few smaller. First brookie of the day was this 14in bruiser:

 

Beautiful colors on it. First time I have ever had a brookie peel line from my reel.

 

Never ceases to amaze me how determined these little brookies are chasing down size 1 panther martins:

 

Between the 5 of us, we probably got over 50 brookies which is good for that stretch of river. Splash stuck closer to where we parked. Why was that Ron :whistling:

 

Sprained ankle kept me close to the drop off point ! u knew that though... lol

[Dutchy]

Sprained ankle kept me close to the drop off point ! u knew that though... lol

 

How did you do that :whistling:

[splashhopper]

How did you do that :whistling:

 

Fishing with YOU ....