I added some more info about Pennsylvania brook trout fishing spots in northeastern PA including Lackawanna State Forest, and also a new section for New Jersey brook trout resources. I will visit some of the areas mentioned this summer, notably the places I’ve marked, “Might have some brook trout.” Gotta find out.
If there is any info you have that may be useful just contact me and I’ll consider adding it to the resources page.
I think he lives in Michigan, but almost no matter where you go a sixteen inch brook trout is worth a dance. He did note:
If you’re new to fishing or haven’t fished for brook trout, a 16 inch brook trout is a big deal. It may not sound big, but the average brookie, especially in small streams, is about 6-8 inches. Ten is a nice fish, 12″ is big, 14″ rare and makes your season- 16 inches, in a small stream? Lifetime. It’s roughly equivalent to a 24 inch brown. There’s bigger fish out there, but not many, and there’s only a handful of areas, usually remote, such as Labrador, northern Quebec and Ontario that regularly produce fish bigger than that. Thus my excitement.
Orvis News has posted the second item about catching monster brook trout at Riverkeep Lodge on Atikonak Lake in Labrador. I mentioned part one last week.
Ho hum, just shockingly huge brook trout that you’ll never see unless you go to northern Maine, Quebec or Labrador.
Bonus stocking of 500 brown trout on Owens Creek in the catch and release section on June 1st. That’s about it.
Bonus troubling news, in case you hadn’t read this, is that whirling disease was found in 8,000 rainbow trout stocked in western Maryland streams. Maryland has a real campaign to prevent the spread of invasive species and whirling disease, which includes a ban on felt soled wading boots and the maintenance of cleaning stations for waders and boots at many streams throughout the state. Heed their advice and be responsible.
Nice compendium of stocked Maryland streams on the map below…
View MD Frederick Co Trout Management Areas in a larger map
Uh oh. It’s that time of year. Summer approaches, and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries trout stocking program tapers off until the Fall. It’s light this week for sure.
Meanwhile, in the mountains the brook trout are hitting dry flies to the maximum extent. Go there now. Have a great weekend!
Orvis News has the first part of an article about fly fishing for monster brook trout on Atikonak Lake in Labrador. Writes the author, Erik Rickstad, “[S]ince I hail from the Land of the 10-Inch Trophy Squaretail (aka Vermont) I’m not yet acclimated to the absurdity of the place,” and goes on to describe brook trout that need two hands to hold. Like a normal sized fish, I guess. We’ve covered all that before. I think it was John Gierach who wrote that the objective may not be the size of the fish you catch but the smallest sized fish you’re happy to catch. Certainly true for those of us who love catching brookies.
You cannot call this fish a “brookie,” though. Too cutesy for a brute like that.
Atikonak Lake is right about here:
Yowza.
MidCurrent has a good video of how to tie the non-slip mono loop knot. A little more involved than a simple clinch knot, this is another knot I have not tried. Looks like it would be good for streamers and, as mentioned in the video, nymphs. Lifelike action and strong.
I wonder how this compares to the Duncan loop, the other loop that I am familiar with but rarely use. I am a clinch knot man (improved clinch knot really) and that serves me well for almost everything. But I can’t help thinking I’m missing some fish by not using a knot that can make a fly work with a little more life in some circumstances.
Along with the Davy knot, I now have two new knots to play around with this month.
A new knot for me to try, the Davy knot. The claim is that it is not only very simple and quick to tie but is among the best knots for breaking strength and wastes very little tippet.
We all get habitual about our knots. You learn two or three knots well and those are the ones you use forever. I’ve tried to learn new knots regularly, but usually they are more complicated than the ones I already know (the improved clinch knot, blood knot, nail and needle knots, surgeon’s loop and perfection loop are my go-to knots) and are usually for more specialized situations. But the Davy knot is worth a good look. I’m certainly willing to try it on small dry flies for brook trout. If I get some confidence with it then the next step is to try it on flies for larger fish on which I’m much warier conducting experiments.
Maryland has stocked fish in sections of the North Branch of the Potomac and the Youghiogheny.
No one in the world not from that area can spell Youghiogheny, and if they could, they couldn’t pronounce it (“yock ah gain ee,” in case you needed that).
| Garrett | North Branch Potomac River at Barnum | May 23 | GO > |
| Garrett | North Branch Potomac River at Westernport | May 23 | GO > |
| Garrett | Youghiogheny River at Friendsville | May 19 | GO > |
| Garrett | Youghiogheny River, Oakland Area | May 19 | GO > |
The water levels are dropping from muddy and raging to fishable on all the rivers around here. Even the Shenandoah is clearing up, finally. I stopped by Passage Creek last weekend and it was wild. I even saw two whitewater kayakers putting in at Rt. 55, downstream of where the fish are stocked, but they could have easily run the sections upstream. Looks like they just stocked Passage Creek this week, so might be worth checking out.
The fish stocking in Virginia will soon be slowing down for the summertime.