Tiny Baetis mayflies are perhaps the most commonly encountered and imitated by anglers on all American trout streams due to their great abundance, widespread distribution, and trout-friendly emergence habits.
Shawnny3 on Jul 27, 2007July 27th, 2007, 2:12 am EDT
Hello, Smallstream. Nice pics. We'll have to compare notes sometime.
-Shawn
P.S. By the way, Smallstream, don't read any of the stuff about me in the "New Posters" thread - it's just the slanderous babble of a few demented individuals, not to be taken seriously.
CaseyP on Jul 27, 2007July 27th, 2007, 4:06 pm EDT
hey, Tim, what a magic place! with a little cutting and pasting, i found your photos. someone has done a lot of work to make that little stream a wonderful home for some really pretty fish. was that you? and you're absolutely right--small is good. :-)
Shawnny3 on Jul 28, 2007July 28th, 2007, 2:08 am EDT
Hey, Smallstream, I hope I haven't scared you off. My post was just a joke - I would never ask you to divulge any of your spots. I realize it might be hard for someone new to the forum to know when I'm kidding.
Wbranch on Jul 28, 2007July 28th, 2007, 4:04 am EDT
I'd be interested in learning what the allure is of waters that one can often step across and where the trout, however wild and beautiful, are 6" - 8" long and an 11" is considered a giant. I'm not being facetious just curious to try and figure out what, other than the few other anglers, keeps guys so enamored by these little rivulets.
Martinlf on Jul 28, 2007July 28th, 2007, 9:12 am EDT
Matt, there's an old song that has a refrain, "when you've been eating steak for a long time, beans, beans taste fine." Its verses ask things like, "why do you go out with an older less than gorgeous woman now, when your previous lovers were young, blonde, and beautiful?" Each question is followed by the refrain, "When you've been eating steak for a long time, beans, beans taste fine." The idea is that we all seek variety. Now, if I lived on the Delaware, The upper Missouri, or the Henry's Fork I might not seek out small streams as often as I do now. And if I lived in Labrador I might not go looking for tiny brookies in step-across streams, so I'll also have to admit that location, location, location (along with limited time and funds) is part of the reason I fish small streams for small fish at times. But I sometimes have the choice of fishing for bigger stocked fish or small wild ones, and I take the small wild ones most of the time. And I'd also say that the beauty of the streams, and the birds and flowers along them also draws me back into the less-traveled paths. Then there is the challenge of casting in close quarters, finding a way to deliver a fly when it appears to be impossible. So the reasons are complex for me. I'll close now to let other small stream fans add their reasons.
"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"
CaseyP on Jul 28, 2007July 28th, 2007, 11:58 am EDT
how do i love small streams and small fish? let me count the ways:
1 those little fish are just plain prettier--brighter, shinier, cleaner
2 they were born there and live there--man has not put them there
3 they are just as hard to catch as their big brothers, but a whole lot easier to land and release.
4 over-equipped folk don't go after them
5 magazine cover fisherfolk don't go after them
6 the scale of it lets you really see it all, with wonder at the whole experience: water, bugs, flowers, trees, mammals, reptiles--the whole nine yards
Every year we go to Montana, and every year we ask our guide to take us to a small stream, and every year it's the most fun. And every year the rest of the group looks at us funny and doesn't ask to join us.
7) some of us are just contrarians!
Wbranch on Jul 29, 2007July 29th, 2007, 9:29 am EDT
JohnW,
Actually it does look like Lake Lenore but is in fact the tail of the Fireman's Field Pool on the EB in Hancock. I have a picture of a larger female that I did catch in Lake Lenore but hesitate to post the picture as I held the fish out in front of me and it appears like I did it to make the fish look larger than it really was. It was 23". My biggest dry fly brown.
Wbranch on Jul 29, 2007July 29th, 2007, 10:44 am EDT
All viewers,
I really didn't push my arms out on purpose. It is just one helluva big brown. I was in my Hyde and my partner was in the bow seat trying to take the picture. He kept telling me he couldn't frame me and the fish well and I just unconsciously pushed my arms out a little. You can see my elbows are still bent. I had this picture on another site and had to delete it as so many guys were dissing me.