Brookies

[samsonboi]

Seems my stream has recovered! I hadn't been catching much in my favorite pool and think the fish moved to the spring hole I don't fish much (so they can have a nice peaceful place most of the time, although I do fish it occasionally) but on my first cast today I accidentally killed a brookie. It was like 2-3" and I set the hook a bit hard on my tiny hopper. He flew into a wooden fence post and he was flopping but when I put him in the water the poor guy was turning a corkscrew. I hope he recovered but it seems doubtful. I feel absolutely horrible. On the plus side I raised (but not hooked) a very large beautiful male brookie in his spawning colors (I catch the same one each summer or fall, he's like a little friend- last year he was 15-16") to the Usual and caught another smallish one upstream on a Haystack-like emerger. Then I raised a fish on that fly even farther up but switched to a brown Bivisible and caught him- a beautiful 12" (pretty large for the stream) male in spawning dress. They're hard fighters in this stream- even the little ones. If any of you're ever passing through the area shoot me a PM and I'll try to arrange to take you brookie fishing. Plenty of room for social distancing on my little stream and pond. Plus I have the best water on the East Branch of the Au Sable a few minutes from my house and the West Branch a little farther. (10 minutes)

[jburnett]

Hello Samsonboi,

I'm a new guy and just saw your post. I like the Au Sable a lot. I've also fished Bear Creek (I think - it might be Big Creek). I love it up there. I'll touch base next time I'm coming up your way from Cleveland. John.

[novisor12]

Its been a while since I've been that way but I always thought the trips to the east branch of the ausable fished much better for ST than the trips to the west branch.

It is a really cool area.

[samsonboi]

Yeah, I really love here too. Just caught another brookie (13" male with extremely bright spawning coloration; he was bullying a pair of smaller mating trout so I felt compelled to drop a Haystack over his nose )

[Seabowisha Salmo T]

Yeah, I really love here too. Just caught another brookie (13" male with extremely bright spawning coloration; he was bullying a pair of smaller mating trout so I felt compelled to drop a Haystack over his nose )

hello, samsonboi;
i really enjoyed fishing the ausable and other streams while at saint lawrence. we had an olympic ski jump and lodge at placid. the cheese hatch below the factory at malone with enormous brook and brown trout was a riveting experience to a seventeen year old in 1956. i broke a couple of rods on the salmon. i even rode the canoe down the ausable chasm like any tourist. was on whiteface mountain on the fourth of july in a 1958 ford sunliner in a snowstorm in 1959. loved being there but i overslept one year and missed Summer entirely. glad you are catching fish.

regards, jim w