Littler trout out of littler creeks

[BAKPAKR]

This kind of solitary tiny stream dink fishing is some of the best.

Plus, then creeks tend to stay pretty cold when everything else has turned to bass water.

I used to pull a lot of these little gems out of creeks in Shenandoah NP while I was schooling in the area back in the day. Often got away with using the same fly for hours at a time.
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I fished a couple of small streams in Shenandoah NP one weekend and had a blast.

 

[Beignet]

I fished a couple of small streams in Shenandoah NP one weekend and had a blast.

There’s some fantastic creeks in there! According to the park biologist all of the streams in the park (excepting one, maybe two) are home exclusively to native brookies. Pretty cool that they’re still thriving in the hills.

Also some great brookie fishing in the national forest on both sides of the WV/VA border. Lovely part of the country.

 

[Beignet]

@BAKPAKR - Since you live o’er yonder, Chris Camuto’s A Fly Fisherman’s Blue Ridge is doubly worth checking out.

 

[bowhuntmontana]

Got out for a few hours again this evening. Weather dropped 20 degrees in the past two days, making it a little more tolerable out there. Still warm enough for wet wading.

Do I get a prize for the tiniest fish? A Dundee or something?

 

[Scott85]

There’s some fantastic creeks in there! According to the park biologist all of the streams in the park (excepting one, maybe two) are home exclusively to native brookies. Pretty cool that they’re still thriving in the hills.

Also some great brookie fishing in the national forest on both sides of the WV/VA border. Lovely part of the country.

Tons of great places around reddish knob.

 

[Newman's Own]

I love small steam fishing.

same. the solitude-ness of it and just getting lost in the creek noise and escaping head space. most fishing is like that but on small streams it's even more so.

 

[CPAjeff]

Love little creeks:

 

[Newman's Own]

Love little creeks:

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the other really cool thing about small creeks, other than just being out and exploring and catching fish, is that they CAN hold big fish. big as in 20-inch browns!!!! and 15-16 inch brookies or rainbows. it's exciting when you have your 4wt glass rod and it's bent all to hell with a slab of butter on the end.

 

[CPAjeff]

the other really cool thing about small creeks, other than just being out and exploring and catching fish, is that they CAN hold big fish. big as in 20-inch browns!!!! and 15-16 inch brookies or rainbows. it's exciting when you have your 4wt glass rod and it's bent all to hell with a slab of butter on the end.

I couldn't agree more! My 7' 3wt makes every fish seem like Moby Dick.

 

[Irrelevant]

the other really cool thing about small creeks, other than just being out and exploring and catching fish, is that they CAN hold big fish. big as in 20-inch browns!!!! and 15-16 inch brookies or rainbows. it's exciting when you have your 4wt glass rod and it's bent all to hell with a slab of butter on the end.

... not in WA they don't.

Which is something I've tried to read up on. The best answer I've found is that WA rivers lack sufficient aquatic life to support robust trout populations and sizes, you can trace that deficiency back to water quality, where we typically lack mineral constituents needed to support aquatic life, mainly dissolved calcium, which is the result of our volcanic geology vs much of the Rockies which have uplifted sedimentary geology.

 

[Newman's Own]

... not in WA they don't.

Which is something I've tried to read up on. The best answer I've found is that WA rivers lack sufficient aquatic life to support robust trout populations and sizes, you can trace that deficiency back to water quality, where we typically lack mineral constituents needed to support aquatic life, mainly dissolved calcium, which is the result of our volcanic geology vs much of the Rockies which have uplifted sedimentary geology.

for sure. and not all small creeks are the same....including Montana. it's nice to find the big ones when you do but it's not the reason we are out there blue-lining