Happy Anniversary! Nice rod holder. I was planning our NY trip, looking at a northern NY waterfall website and it made me want to try some of those holes since I know from experience that those CRIKs in Tug Hill are home to native Brookies.
Your NY brookies ARE native (Eastern Brook Trout). From US FWP: Brook trout are the only trout native to much of the eastern United States. Historically, they ranged from eastern Canada west to eastern Minnesota and south down the Appalachians as far south as Georgia."
Montana FWP: "The "brookie" or brook trout was introduced to Montana from eastern North America in 1889. It too, was extensively propagated and stocked in the early half of this century, although seldom so today. Brook trout favor small, cold, headwaters streams and ponds, particularly those that are spring-fed. Brook trout are common throughout most of the western two-thirds of the state in all major drainages. Many an angler learned to fish for brookies as a kid. Spawning occurs in typical trout-like fashion with eggs deposited in a gravel redd during the fall. Brook trout are frequently able to spawn successfully in ponds which have upwelling springs. Brook trout will eat nearly any living organism, and larger fish can be voracious predators on other fish and even their own young. Brook trout are a handsome game fish in their own right, but indiscriminate stocking in mountain lakes has resulted in irreversibly stunted populations in many cases. Trophy brook trout up to 9 pounds have been taken in Montana waters."
One of the things I like about brookies is their lack of scales so they can be cooked right out of the crik. Catch and release is not a practice in which I partake (at least for brookies). Daily limit in Montana is 20/day and 40 in possession. Anything under 10" goes back (my standard, not the law) and a 10" brookie is pretty big by today's standards I've read. Our crik record is 16" caught last year with several 15" released over the years (10 - 12" are dinner but only enough per day for a meal). IMO, pound for pound, they fight as hard or harder than any trout. And are they tasty!
A rancher in the area I fish told me last year that the brookie population is being purged of brook trout, upstream from where I fish. They are trying to clear them to facilitate the return of the native cutthroat (a story all it's own - used to catch the snot out of big cuts back in the day, too). So that's a good thing if successful. Maybe they'll migrate their way downstream. They are very picky in the alpine lakes and not easy to get the big ones. Easy to see, hard to catch.. and the do get very large.
Let's get a fishing category going for photos of fish, big and small, regardless of specie. Seems like every other member is involved with boats so some of them must also be fishermen. Unless you're like my boss with his cigar boat; no shoes, no fishing gear, no guts on board.. what a waste of watercraft.. LOL.
At 100+ degrees here in the high desert (5500' at my house) I'm definitely anxious to get moving north, where it's still 100* but there are trees AND water.
Waiting on the 303 to show up.
http://missoulian.com/lifestyles/re...cle_ce2d8610-24a8-11e0-bc28-001cc4c03286.html
And this might be the best possible tip for what I call "nymphs" and how I have always fished Montana streams, since the late 50s. We always fished Mites with one on the end of the leader and the second on a dropper leader (4 - 6"), 3 -5' back (depending on the size of the stream). Sandy Mites and Lady Mites (there were Buddy Mites, Mickey Mites, etc.) but as this article states Sandy and Lady were the best. I caught rainbow, brown, brook, dolly, bull on these in the Madison, Jefferson, Big Hole, Rock Creek and every stream I fished in Montana. I rarely used anything else. Methodology is as stated in the article but with the 'dorsal' fly, we'd keep the dorsal fly on or near the surface, which would keep the lead fly an inch or so below the surface. Of course, you focus on whichever fly you can see at any given time and watch for the strike (no strike indicators for me). Now is where it gets to be a fish story. I can't count the times I caught, or at least hooked, 2 fish at the same time. Get a hit on one fly, hook him, and as the battle begins, a 2nd fish takes the 2nd fly. That is not the goal of the dorsal fly but it happened a lot. I'm here to tell you, imagine the combinations: one rainbow/one brown.. now those of you who've caught both understand they fight in two different ways. I've nearly wet myself with laughter (or joy) when it happens.. it's just ridiculous. And yes, I've landed both fish. So, see if you can get your hands on any Pott flies or a reasonable imitation and give it a whirl. I'm thinking the Madison inside Yellowstone might be a good place (catch and release but still big fish). A River Runs Through It - my Irish posterior.
Like in the article I still have a collection of Mites from the mid-70s. My cousins hubby about dropped his jaw when I opened the fly book and he saw them. He still fishes the Channels of the Madison, where I really learned to fly fish, and offered me pretty good money on the spot. Of course, the answer was, not on your life pal. I was unaware there were any to be had until I pulled this article just now.
I get the impression from the fly fishing 'culture'.. they have one now.. that dry is the artful way to fish.. can't say. I've had rainbows come all the way out of the water and take a nymph on his way down. Don't know how that can be beat regardless of the hair on the hook.
You guys can shut me down if you'd like.. I can go on.. or chime in.
