First Winter Day & Trout Stream Play

With the afternoon high stretching well up into the 60s, the sky dark, the air misty and heavy rain on the way, I decided that I needed to hit a trout stream. Asher didn't argue, so I tossed him in the truck, along with a couple of rods and bit of other junk, and off we went for a couple of hours of afternoon play.

Forty-five minutes later, we were creekside. In Forty-six minutes, Asher had already set the hook on his first trout, which turned out to be a brown. He'd never caught a brown trout before, so that was cool, and as it turned out, all except two of the trout we caught yesterday were browns. (Two were brook trout.) On the way to the creek, I had told Asher that browns are more likely to bite on really dark days, especially if the water is a little high. I also suspect the most recent stocking might have been brown-heavy, but we don't have to dwell on that part!

An added appeal of yesterday's outing for me was that I caught all my trout on an Ugly Bug (a jig I had tied). I actually started with a crawfish pattern that I thought looked pretty nice, but it was a little heavy and fell too decisively for the size of the stream and wasn't drawing interest. I switched a flashy little pattern with a tinsel body and a pink tail and never had occasion to go back into my box again. By day's end, the tinsel was beginning to unwrap a little, so I still have work to do on my craftsmanship, but I was happy to catch fish on one of my creations.

Asher had fun climbing rocks and stomping in the creek, and it was a good thing it was so warm because he fell over at least three times and ended up soggy from his shoulders to his feet, despite the fact that he was wearing waders!

Overall, it was a great outing for celebrating the first official day of winter.