Tiny Water Stalkers - what to enjoy besides the Boo?

[orange caddis]

I just started fishing for wild brook trout, like three times. Hooked a couple but didn't land any. I also discovered just how spooked they get making it more fun challenging actually. Surprised to see just how shallow of water can hold them. Some spots I'm just not able to sneak up on them due to high bank or boulders. Dry flies seem to be good enough guessing it's because the water is so shallow, another plus for me. The undisturbed beauty and solitude. That should cover it.

Enjoy the journey, it’s addicting!

[McHull]

Just because it's Friday.
Cheers!

[Greg Reynolds]

Photos from the high gradient headwaters of a nearby Laurel Highlands stream I fished yesterday. Westmoreland County is 6.5" above normal
rainfall, but the streams are at their seasonal low.



A 7-foot Orvis Superfine and St. George Jr.:






Lycopsid fossil from the Carboniferous Period. They're common here.




This was the first time I fished this stretch. It has a low population density of healthy well-fed brook trout

[rsagebrush]

we've had pretty good water this year and our streams are low but looking better than yours. Fish are very spooky though.

[mjf454]

I enjoy a little creek full of wild Cutthroat trout.





I don't know why the bottom pic is sideways.

[GerardH]

Greg, incredible photos -- you set a high bar.

I fished the main river for tricos in the morning, then took my son-in-law to a tiny meadow stream loaded with hoppers. Many places were completely canopied by grass and jewelweed, but just enough openings to roll cast with my 6'3" PHY Midge copy (maker: Paul Julius). That Midge is an incredible rod in tight corners, it's like throwing darts.

I'm amazed by the color variations of browns in a stretch of maybe 50 yards of stream, they look like entirely different strains (all wild trout, this is a brook trout fishery invaded by browns and the DNR is encouraging harvest). The one thing they have in common is their vivid coloration -- incredibly beautiful even though they're acting as an invasive.

As an FYI, I did not stage that grasshopper -- it serendipitously jumped up on my rod as I was setting up for a shot...I don't think it was impressed with the imitation on the end of my leader.

[Flykuni3]

Those grooved rocks, glacier at work?

[Greg Reynolds]

Those grooved rocks, glacier at work?

No, fossils of the earliest vascular plants:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lepidodendron
https://www.biologydiscussion.com/botan ... ture/46148

I find them in abundance almost every time I fish. I found the largest one I've seen to date the other day--a root & trunk in the round about 4 feet in diameter x 6 foot tall .

I've got a bunch of them in my garden.

[Greg Reynolds]

...I fished the main river for tricos in the morning...

Gerard, those are wonderful photos of a beautiful place. What camera are you using?

Thanks...

[GerardH]

...I fished the main river for tricos in the morning...

Gerard, those are wonderful photos of a beautiful place. What camera are you using?

Thanks...

Greg, thank you for the kind words. The trout pics were taken with my phone (Samsung Galaxy A32). The prop and stream shots were taken with my old Nikon D7000 with an 18-140mm Nikkor lens.

[Greg Reynolds]

...I fished the main river for tricos in the morning...

Gerard, those are wonderful photos of a beautiful place. What camera are you using?

Thanks...

Greg, thank you for the kind words. The trout pics were taken with my phone (Samsung Galaxy A32). The prop and stream shots were taken with my old Nikon D7000 with an 18-140mm Nikkor lens.

Thanks Gerard. The resolution of both is great.

I've been using an aging Lumix DSC-TS1 shockproof & waterproof compact camera. It was best in class at the time but lacks sharpness. I'd like to replace it but haven't found a newer model that's significantly better.

[GerardH]

Thanks Gerard. The resolution of both is great.

I've been using an aging Lumix DSC-TS1 shockproof & waterproof compact camera. It was best in class at the time but lacks sharpness. I'd like to replace it but haven't found a newer model that's significantly better.

It always seems like the waterproof cameras gave up something in optical quality. Up until I got a waterproof case for my phone (which I'm sure compromises image quality too), I always carried an old (2009) Fujifilm compact with me, which did an admirable job. Once in a great while, I'll take a chance and carry one of my Nikon DSLR's on the stream...but one-handed photography with those brutes was something I could never master where fish pics were concerned. But I got great stream shots, so that was worth it.

[Greg Reynolds]

In 2015 I was fishing a high-quality Laurel Highlands brook trout headwater and caught a tiger trout--a sterile brook trout x brown trout hybrid. It was (and remains) a first for me and I was stunned. They're rare and typically occur in streams with high populations of brooks and low populations of browns. Apparently male browns fertilize brook trout eggs.



At that point I'd fished the stream for about 17 years and had never caught a brown. So, were did dad come from?

A few weeks ago, I fished the main branch a few miles downstream and found out:


White snakeroot:






Black cohosh:



Brown-hooded owlet caterpillar:


It's a nice stream to fish with good pools and habitat, but I'd only been there once before. I hadn't returned because of a low population of brook trout and stocking with rainbows and apparently successfully spawning browns.

I've caught rainbows in several tributaries in this watershed and I'm waiting for them to arrive in this one.

[headwaters]

As always, beautiful shots, Greg! Thanks for sharing!

Rupert

[Hellmtflies]

Outstanding Tiger!!! Good for you. They are without a doubt my favorite. Beautiful fish. I have eleven to my name. Most were taken in a wild trout stream in N.J. years ago. The other was in Pa.

[nativebrownie]

Beautiful, Greg - appreciated.
I am sure that I will revisit these pics over and over this winter as I await another spring and season on tiny waters...

[Greg Reynolds]

Thank you guys...

[GerardH]

Greg: Incredible captures of a beautiful stream and its surrounds...thank you!

[Kenneth]

Greg, once again, a feast for the eyes.

Thanks much for sharing,
Kenneth

[ReelPatina]

Greg,

I appreciate the records you have kept as I have previously stated in another thread I believe. Beautiful scenery, gear, and palmables. I agree with the others, this will be food to fend off the winter blues.