You don’t fly fish small streams for the big trout or the chance that a raft full of drunk college coeds will float by, but you do fish them for scenes like this:
Fly fishing a small brook trout stream
Today is launch day for a client website, so instead of writing about the weekend’s fly fishing trip, I’m throwing a teaser photo at my readers. Tomorrow we’ll get to the real thing.
If fishing becomes all about size, you will enjoy less of most the fish you catch. Trophy trout or any other fish is about enjoying the moment at hand and the comradery and solitude the moment provides. These however are my principles and beliefs and should’nt be bound by fellow fishers. While it’s pleasent to catch big fish and am thankful to the fish gods at times I do. I am just as thankful for my health of being there and to my spirit which will ride with the fish I release, BIG or small…….
JJZ(Quote)
And there is something to be said for being somewhere beautiful…
Tom Chandler(Quote)
Tom,
I am so glad you posted on this subject. It really gets old guiding clients who only care about catching big fish. JJZ really drove the point home, right on man.
Another point people need to understand is the classification of trophy size fish is dependent on the specific trout stream your fishing. A small wild trout stream trophy fish may be 14″ on some water. Let’s forget about the trophies and try to concentrate on the beauty of the fish we’re catching. Respect to our finned friends.
Kent Klewein
Kent Klewein(Quote)
You can see how small this water is, so when Older Bro caught what looked to be a 13″ fish, I figured we’d just seen the trophy of the day (and we had).
A guide friend tells me his least favorite client is the one who can’t stop comparing the trout he’s catching with the “big” trout he’s caught in the past in Alaska/Chile/Russia/whatever.
I mean, why even go fishing if you’re always going to be disappointed by what you catch?
Tom Chandler(Quote)
One of my best fish ever was 1.5 inch trout fry at Mossbrea Falls. I thought was some moss at first until I realized it was a fish. Just amazing that that little guy attached a fly about a quarter of his size. And yes was released unharmed
Brian(Quote)
Good books in the winter and trout fishing in the summer, nothing better up here in the mountains.
Punahele(Quote)
It’s not about size!! HA!HA!
I’ll never forget going mountain stream fishing with my best pal and coming across a pool about the size of my bathtub, maybe bigger. We each cast a fly at different times and pulled out beautiful brook trout, each about 6-8 inches. It boggles my mind to think that for those fish, that pool WAS their world (in the middle of nowhere!), and possibly the only world they would ever know.
There’s something cozy about small stream fishing, and the hike in following /searching for a stream a part of the experience; the experience is what flyfishing ‘catches’ (YIKES!), not the number and size of fish.
To eveyone out there, there’s more to life than the obvious. Strive to find something beneath it all. And if you’re having trouble going deeper, put on a sinking tip! HA!
Cheers!
Bad Luck Larry(Quote)