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3. Upper Peninsula Brook Trout video... part 2?

I had enough footage for another video. I thought I would share this one as well. I had my release footage from that monster and a few nice photos of some other dandies. I have to say, despite the skeeters and horrendous deer flies this year, this was one of the best brook trout summers I have ever had.

Beautiful, James. Hey, is that a good old Black Ghost streamer I see? That was one of the very first flies I tied, over 23 years ago...

Jonathon

I wanted to use some of the same flies my grandfather and great father used. I am learning how to tie them, yes it was a black ghost! Great of you to notice. Great tie and very effective on brookies!

Sweet Man, as usual! Hey, did you catch 'em all on streamers or were a few on other flies? You know, I have NEVER caught a brookie on a streamer I don't think! All mine have come on dries and classic wets but gonna have to try it now!

Good for you!!


Adirman

never on a streamer?! That's how I get most of them. Sometimes when they are finicky I will strip a nymph rig past them for a take. I never throw dries until I see them actively taking.

Are you fishing for them in more of a river or a smaller stream? From the vid, it looks kinda like a small river , is that right? I fish a lot of small streams and rivers in the Adirondacks for brookies and always just figured that streamers wouldn't work cuz I never see any minnows around but hey, Im game!! Next time I go, Im definitely gonna give streamers a try based on what you said. I find that dries and the classic wets are very effective up in some of these spots cuz theres very few prolific hatches and so the local trout have learned to be incredibly opportunistic (this is my pet theory for what Ive seen BTW, I don't know this for a fact!). Curiously, nymphs are very Ineffective for me in these same spots, especially the bead head but without as well! I don't know why because nymphs are my #1 types of fly down in the catskills to nail fish but up there, they don't seem to work too good. Go figure!

Yeah, give them a shot. Strip them FAST, faster than you think will work. Sometimes they will take them in a slower retrieve, but Brook Trout are just like you said... opportunistic. They have to be especially in smaller streams. They compete with each other when food presents itself.

Yes the stream in the photo is a small river in places. I have been using mickey finn style streamers and my new favorite the "black ghost" which is a classic pattern as well.

Pryal;

Will do and thanks for the advice!

Adirman, I second all of James' advice and recommend brightly colored streamers for brookies. James mentions the good old Mickey Finn and Black Ghost, those are surely good ones. Another I like is the old Royal Coachman streamer, yes it's not just a dry fly! I have also tied streamer variants of the old Grizzly King wet fly, which incorporates red and green like the Coachman. Of course, one can always substitute yellow, orange, or chartreuse for red in any of these patterns...And I'm sure you can come up with your own unique pattern which will just slay them when you figure it out! Tight lines and beautiful brookies to ya, man!

Jonathon

Jmd;

Thank you and you also sir!