The Stealth Bomber Bass Killer

In my last post I mentioned the Stealth Bomber Fly but soon realized that I had failed to add any pics of this fly in the mouth of a bass or any instruction on how to tie this little wonder bug.  So with the purpose of getting a few bass pics with the fly in the mouth, I took an hour off and hit the local pond.  They are not the biggest fish I have seen hooked with this fly but with the hour I had to fish in the heat of the afternoon, they ain't a bad catch.

From what I can gather, the Stealth Bomber fly pattern was created by Kent over at FlyFishGA.com who I come to find out was a native of my area of SC.  Gotta love the local boys.  On his website you will get one of the best in-depth descriptions of not only how to tie up this bad boy but also how to cut the pattern for the foam as well as how to fish it.  This site came in especially handy for me since the first few hook sets I tried while fishing this fly very nearly ended up with the hook being neatly set in my right eye.  I soon learned that a strip set is best despite the automatic reaction most of us have to raise the rod tip.

Anyway, click over and check it out, especially the PDF on how to tie this fly.  Great fly Kent and thanks again to Kev for getting me hooked on this fly.

Tying Flies And Catching Bass

Despite the pressures of work and household duties I did manage to get a few hours at the vise the other evening and discovered something about myself.  I believe that I am the slowest fly tier there is.  In just less than two hours I only managed to tie up a pitiful six flies.  That's right, SIX.  Granted that there were a few other distractions present and I was not fully concentrating on the task at hand but still, It was a disgraceful showing.

So what was so complicated that it took me so much time to make six flies?  Truth is the flies were not that complicated, I am just that slow.  First up was the bass and bream killer known as the Stealth Bomber.  I picked up a few materials to create this little effective bug at the Fly Fishing Show in NC this year and later got some instruction from Kevin.  I tied a few up in white to augment my box and then a few more in black.  I have to admit that I had to consult the instructions a few times during the first tie job - my memory for specifics of each fly is a bit hazy and I tend more often than not to just wing it.

Of course even when I have the directions and material lists in front of me I also tend to substitute my own material at hand for the recommended materials.  In fact that is how I do most everything.  I guess that deep down I just think I'm smarter than the expert.  More often than not I come to find out that the expert is called an expert for a reason but when it comes to my own flies that I am going to fish, I don't really care.  They are mine so the Bombers you see are not the recommended way to tie them up but for me they still work just as well.

Next up was a foam popper, the inspiration of which came from an old bass book from the 70's.  Of coarse they used a different foam back then and the eyes where painted on but what they lacked I filled in.  This little guy is actually not so much a popper as it is a skimmer.  When played on the water, it dives just a few inches under the surface and then pops back into the film.  Tied in on a #10 or #12 hopper hook, this little guy is a true and tested bream killer.  I do however recommend (as you will read about later) that it is tied in something other than white.  For some reason the bass and Bream around me shy away from white unless it is streaking through the water.

So how did these flies do on the water?  This morning I hit the pond to test them out and the black Stealth Bombers worked great and got a lot of attention.  I was excited to even get a few tailing fins as eager bass tracked it in on a faster - frog swimming - retrieves.  The white Bombers were snubbed and I found myself wondering why I even bother with them.

The small poppers got a little action with the bream and once again I found that white is a very unpopular color choice.  Green and especially black seem to work the best.
As the hours passed I fell back on the good old Woolly Buggers and rabbit strip streamers and hooked into a few bass.
Overall it was a morning well spent even if it took me so long to tie those flies up.  One things for sure, I would never make it as an expert tier.  How those guys whip out dozens upon dozens of flies in as many minutes as it takes me to set up my vise I'll never know.

Panfish Are Just Fun!

   I had a few hours between dropping the kidos off at school and having to leave for work so I tossed my 4 W in the back of the car and headed out to do a little panfish angling on the fly.  Small poppers, spiders, and inchworms were the weapons of choice and as the sun began to heat up the pond, the fish responded in kind.

 I think panfishing is so fun because they always take stuff off the top.  rarely if ever are you going to test your line strength on these fish (though I have landed a few that could have easily filled a standard sized skillet) but you are never going to be disappointed with their takes of stuff off the top.

   I once read an old article on 'fly fishing in the south' from a magazine dated around 1910 (I enjoy reading how the old timers did it back then mainly because they knew how to tell a good fish story) and although it primarily focused on the 'Black Bass' it did have a little to say on the good times of tossing flies to all-to-eager sunfish, bluegills, and bream.  It went on to say that if an angler was so inclined, he could easily line a stringer with 30-40 of these fish in less than an hour and feed the family well that night.
   Back then they would have scoffed at the idea of catch and release primarily because food was never something you threw away.  In fact I imagine if you would have asked about their catch and release views they would have looked at you for a long minute and say something to the effect that 'occationaly one got off the hook but with a good set you can easily bring them in.'

   Part of that is true today; a good hook-set will easily lead to more fish but most fly anglers today are strong advocates of catch and release instead of the classic 'stringer of fish.'  The reason I suspect is that cleaning these fish is tedious at best, food is easily retrieved at a local grocery store instead of the pond, and most of us believe in the sustainability of our local waters.  Of course all that is a bit high minded to some and it doesn't stop some corn fishers from raping my favorite pond of big bass and bream by the bucket full, but I digress.
   Don't get me wrong, I would never pull a bugger out of a big bass's mouth in favor of hooking a bluegill and I would always choose a trout water over a bream pond if the two were side by side but for a few hours to kill and no time to head to the mountains, fishing for these little (and sometimes skillet sized) panfish is non stop action at its finest.  All fly fisherman can agree that any fish that consistently takes dry flies off the top is a worthy and fun species to catch.

Been A Long Time - This Is A Big Post!!

It has been far to long since my last post.  Actually it has been far to long since I have done a painting, thought about trout, or for that matter, done anything on the web besides checking Email.  The reasons are many including family emergencies, a whole lot of traveling, an art show I did that took a large chunk of time, and probably most of all a complete relapse into laziness.  So to jump-start my interest in the web I knew that I had to do a decent painting to get back into the game.  I have had some decent luck with bird lately and my experience with fish... well you know how that has gone.  So I finally decided to combine the two with the only bird worthy to pluck large rainbows from mountain lakes - The American Bald Eagle.

As always, I started off with a detailed sketch and worked in color as I go.  I have been asked how I get the ideas for paintings and in this day and age it is quite easy.  The web is a great source for color photos and reference material to work from.  It is however quite difficult to find the right composition I want so I end up finding a number of photos and drawing inspiration from them all.

I call this work:

"Fishing Master"
Watercolor on Paper
11in. x 14in.
For Sale


I also thought that I would give you a quick photo montage of my activities of the past weeks.  It is the least I could do for my absence from the blogging community.
First thing was a trip to the beach with the family and a few friends.  We got rained on one night really hard but the kids and I loved it.  The raccoon that stole my sausage from a cooler five feet from where my wife was washing the camping dishes also loved it....  We had grits for breakfast the next morning.

I tried for about ten minutes to surf fish but my heart wasn't in it and I soon found myself looking for shells with the kids and hassling a few horseshoe crabs that we came across at low tide.  When I go home I did however manage to hook a few sunfish.

Next was a few days of hunting for turkey.  What you see is exactly what I saw the entire time I was hunting.  Lots of trees and no turkeys.

I squeezed in a few hours of fishing for sunfish here and there..... again.1

I also did an art show in the town of Pendleton SC and managed to get my name a picture in the Greenville Paper.  It wasn't a huge success but I did manage to sell a few paintings and come out ahead.  Since it fell on Masters weekend as well as Easter, the show was not as well attended as I would have hoped for.
One thing I did get was an nomination for best in show.  I of course didn't win anything but it was just nice to be noticed for my first show.

I also received a whole lot of feedback from other artists at the show who were surprised that this was my first showing.  They had great things to say about my collection of art and seemed to really appreciate it.  Overall the experience was an encouragement for me and my art and I hope to find time to try another showing sometime in the not to near future.

I also got some time to do some bass fishing on a fly rod.  No biggies but It was still fun to wet a fly.

And last but not least is my book.  Okay, its not really my book but my name is in the credits and my art is scattered throughout.  I am also unable to read a lick of it because it is entirely in Spanish (I wish now I would have payed more attention in school) but I am still excited to have my work finally in print.

The book is on carp -barbel- fishing around Spain and it comes fro a fellow blogger from across the pond.  You can check out his blog at Barbos con Mosca for your own copy of the book.  His publisher was kind enough to send me a few copies for myself and a few close friends but if you want one then you will have to look to him.  If you have time, at least stop by his site and check how they do it over the pond.  He has some great pics and great advise if you have a translate option  on your computer.
I did do a whole lot more in my blogging absence but most of it was mundane or personal and would bore you to death so I'll end on a high note.  I think was the longest I have gone in three years without posting or checking blogs.  It was good to have the down time but now it feels good to be back at it.  I hope you survived reading this post and if you didn't then your not reading this anyway

Mayflies In March!

This weekend found me on the banks of the Mississippi River where I spotted this rare site; a beautiful May Fly in March.  I was having a beer on my in-laws deck in upper Illinois when I spotted this little guy.  I instantly began to snap pictures with my cell while my wife made sarcastic comments in the background.  Most people wouldn't call these bugs beautiful (my wife included) but to a fly fisherman these are a sight to behold.  I tried to explain that spotting these bugs so early in the year was a real event - especially in Northern Illinois - but that did little to impress her.  I guess to the not fly fishing public, these little guys will be nothing more than another ugly bug.

  On the painting front, My sister-inlaw is getting married in a few months and she gave me a special project.  Instead of a guest book, she wanted a piece of art featuring a tree.  The idea is that the guests leave their thumb print as leafs on this tree, so the other day I spent a few hours painting this large tree.  My wife then found  a selection of ink pads for the guests to use to decorate the tree.
   When she first mentioned the project to me I was a bit confused but after she explained it to me I began to get the vision in my own mind.  I hope it turns out like she imagines because if it does then she won't have thirty years from now some forgotten book with a bunch of names but a piece of art to hang on her wall for years.  I know that this has nothing to do with fishing but I thought that I would share it with you anyway.

Crappie With A Fly

    The water must be warming up because the other day a buddy and I got out early to hit a friends pond and I managed to hook into a pair of crappies.  I was really struck by the silver sides on these fish because last year when I hooked into crappies around this time of year, they where a much darker color.

    Perhaps my fellow bloggers can help me with this but I have always believed that the colors of these fish are strongly influenced by the temperatures of the water and how deep these fish are.  This conclusion has been supported by the fact that early in the year I usually catch darker crappies since they have been at the bottom of the pond all winter.  As the weather warms and the ponds temperature increases, the fish spend more time at the surface and I end up catching crappie that are a much lighter color.
    The other day we rolled up on this remote pond as the sun was cutting through the deep morning fog.  I took this pic of the morning light cresting the pines and if you look closely you can see my buddy on the bank tying up a top water lure.  He eventually ended up with a frustrating goose egg for a fish count.  I on the other hand managed to hook into a good six fish but only landed a pair of crappie - both of which were a striking silver color which leads me to believe that the water has been warmer than normal this winter.  Both fish were caught on a woolly bugger made from Hareline UV Ice Dubbing and a rabbit strip tail.

    As we headed back to the truck I casually mentioned that once again my fly rod fishing out did his spin rod and he once again dismissed it.  Eventually I hope to convince him to at least give the fly rod a chance but for the time being he is stubbornly holding on to the believe that his spin rod and bass jigs can out fish a fly rod.  I suppose I will just have to continue to out fish him until he relents.... or ends up refusing to fish with me.
    Either way, a bad day at the pond is always better than a good day at work.  We headed back home with our heads held high and the hope that the next time we hit the pond we will have more hook-ups than we can handle.

Hitting The Pond

I have been trying my best to try to hit the ponds lately despite the amount of work I have doing lately.  I really would like to get myself up the mountain and hit some trout but when I only have an hour or two free between trips and housework, the trout are just going to have to wait.

  It also seems like the bass want to wait.  I have not been getting much luck lately.  It was only a week or so ago that I finally got a hit on my line when a big bluegill took a #1 frog imitation but the bass seem to still be sleeping.  That is until the other day when this young bass darted from the dark shadow of a log and snatched up my red headed rabbit strip streamer. It wasn't a big guy but it was still a bass and my first of the year.  It was also the only hit I was lucky to get in the two hours I fished.

The ECS Loadmaster - One Tough Case!!

Loadmaster ECS Case

A few weeks ago while surfing the Outdoor Blogger Network I entered a chance to test out a few products.  I was excited to learn some time later that I was selected to review this Footlocker for ECSCASE.  As any outdoor enthusiast will attest, the pursuit of getting out in nature, whether it is hunting, fishing, hiking, or camping, has a way of building so much spare equipment in your garage that actually parking your car in there becomes an adventure.  Needless to say, I was anxiously waiting for my opportunity to test this case out.  Little did I know that the UPS man was also willing to do his part to test this cases durability.

  I was at work when this package arrived but according to my wife the UPS man was not very coordinated and dropped this case literary out of the back of his truck.  In his defense, it is a large case he was in a hurry as they often are.  Truth is, this case could have been dropped out the back of his truck while he was doing 70 miles an hour and it would have been non the worse for wear.  Even if the John Rambo himself tossed this case from a chopper, this case would survive.

Seriously, this is not your grandmas Rubbermaid container.  This case was built to withstand just about anything (including being dropped from a truck), but then again what would I expect from a company that specializes in cases built for the military.  I know that this company makes a whole line of other cases including rifle cases and cases for music, emergency equipment, and sensitive technical equipment.  I doubt Rambo would opt for the music case but as far as a case for his machine gun, I have no doubt the ECSCase would be his choice.

Loadmaster Footlocker

  Not only is this footlocker tough (I stood on the lid and jumped up and down and it didn't even move) but it is also water tight.  There is the thick rubber seal that lines the case lid that when shut and latched with the four turn tight hasps seals the case tight.  One of these heavy duty hasp clamps also has a padlock feature so that you can secure any valuables in this virtual vault.  Believe it or not, this case when closed is so tightly sealed that there is even a pressure relive valve installed.  I am not entirely sure why there is a safety valve but like I said, this case was designed for the military so I'm not asking to many questions.  I'll just take it that the safety valve is there for a reason and leave it at that.

    The toughness of this case got me thinking of the tough men that might like to have it as well.  Perhaps if I were a Mad Max type of character, I might toss this case in the back of my apocalyptic vehicle, load it with shotgun shells,  and roam the desolate roads looking for trouble.  I don't plan on going toe to toe with Master Blaster any time soon but like Max, I will be using it to store my Shotgun Shells.  I will also be storing some of my fishing gear and various outdoor gear.  Not the most glamorous use of this heavy duty case but then again I'm not really a hard core kind of guy.  I am however 100% positive that anything I store in this case will be completely safe and protected.   If I had to find fault with this case, the only down sides would be that it is a little on the heavy side.  The self stowing handles on the sides help a lot with moving the case around and I believe they have the option for wheels on some of their cases which I would recommend if you plan on stowing anything heavy.  They are also a bit on the pricy side but if you have expensive equipment then the cost of protection is minimal.
   In the future I will probably use it on camping trips as well and I have no doubt that it will perform wonderfully, I just wont be moving it a lot when it is fully loaded.  Despite the weight issue, if you want a tough case to protect your stuff in any weather, and still be able to toss in the back of your truck, then look no further, the ECSCase is IT!

Pair Of Mallards

Mallards have always been attractive to me.  Nine times out of ten they are the best looking ducks on the pond and they are so common that you can hardly pass a pond this time of year without seeing a few lazily swimming around.

    Until recently I was a bit hesitant to try to paint these birds.  They are such a colorful and unfamiliar subject that I didn't believe my skills were up to the task.  But with my recent success painting a Golden Pheasant as well as a California Quail I thought that could continue to expand my wildlife resume and try my hand at these classic masters of the pond.
    As always I started with a basic outlined sketch of the pair of them. I never add to much detail to the rough sketch, only the basic lines and a few softer lines to designate the areas of different color.  I then begin to add color to the paper, gradually building up darker hues on top of lighter backgrounds to give the painting more depth.

You can see with the female mallard in the back that the initial color is a very pale washed out color.  The male mallard was first painted like that - with lighter shades of his finished color - and then I added the darker colors on top of the base coat.
    I have been asked where do I get the references from.  For my fish often it is from photos I have taken or even sniping a few picks from fellow bloggers.  I often use these photos as references for color and details that my mind can not recall.  For this painting I found a photo of two mallards I surfed the web for photos of the pair.  Luckily I found a photo with a male and a female in the same photo.  They were not in this pose - in fact they were separated by some distance and looking the other way, but they did provide a good reference for details.  I then sketched out the pair in a classic pose.  This pose not only provided a look I wanted but it fit both ducks into a painting that could easily be framed while still giving the necessarily details of the female mallard.

    For my fly fishing blog followers, I appreciate your understanding as a deviate from the 'fishing' part of this blog to paint a few of our feathered friends.  That being said, the feathers from birds like these provide a great resource for tying materials so in a weird way these birds have continuing connection to fly fishing.  These birds are also great additions to any cabin decor.

A Pair Of Mallards
Watercolor and Gouache
On Watercolor paper
@ 8" x 10"
For Sale

Finally!!!

    Some of you might have been wondering where I had gone.  It has been well over a week since my last post and to be quite honest it was not only work getting in the way of me posting, It has also been the fact that I was feeling a bit down in the dumps with my fishing so far this year.  I have been out on the water over a dozen times this year so far and as of yesterday I had failed, and failed miserably, to hook into any gills.  I mean I have been seriously lacking in ANY hook-ups and I was feeling really bad about not being able to post one single fish photo on this blog since late last year.  After all this is a fishing - and art - blog.  But without the fish my inspiration lacks a little something.

    That all changed yesterday when a friend took me out to set up a turkey blind, pop off a few shots in preparation for the upcoming season, and wet a fly in the farm pond nearby.  So loading up my 4 weight, a box of bass bugs, my Remington 870, and enough ammo to start the Civil War all over again we headed out.  I was eager to try out my new shotgun but when I saw the farm pond I kind of forgot about the guns and the turkeys.  All I wanted was a chance to redeem myself with a gill on the end of my line but that had to wait since after all the main purpose of the trip was the turkey blind and sighting in the guns.
    Grudgingly I left the pond behind and helped load the tools back into the woods where we set up a prime spot for targeting gobblers emerging from a stand of pines.  After checking the game cam and clearing a field of fire we headed back to the truck where without waiting to see what my buddy wanted to do, I grabbed my four weight and hoofed it over to the pond and immediately started to cast a few new bugs I had recently tied.  I was hopping for a big mouthed bass but the first hit surprised me even more.  I had tied on this mega popper I carved out of wine bottle cork, blue fluff, and a leather tail.  All this was on a very large sized stainless hook.  On the fourth cast something exploded out of the water and sent my huge popper flying through the air.  Frankly I was a bit surprised since I honestly wasn't thinking anything would hit such a garish and over-sized popped.  I was really only fishing it because I wanted to see how it performed on the water.  After all I had spent a whole lot of time on shaping the wine cork, painting and tying it up, the least I could do was fish it right?

    Well after a few more casts with no result I resigned myself to the fact that it might have been to hopeful to actually hook into something with such a big profile so I switch it up to another creation of mine simulating a frog.  I had created this pattern for just this type of pond and thought that if the popper got a good response, the least I could do was toss a frog into the mix.  This frog was tied with the same size hook (Mustag #1 2x Large) as the popper but with the foam I was hopping that it might be easier for a fish to take instead of tossing it into the air.    What I never thought was that such a large hook would be taken by a bluegill.  I mean it was a 2x #1!!  Its a big hook, but that is exactly what happened.  When that bream took that popper it was as big an explosion as any bass I have ever had.  I know what some of you are thinking, "Why is this guy so excited about a common bream?"  Well to them I say, you go fish-less for nearly three months and begin to contemplate why you even head out to practice fishing futility and then you will understand why a single bream gets me excited.  I now have that fish 'stink' on me and hopefully its enough to continue the rest of the year.

    Well after only about ten minutes of fishing I was urged to go and fire off the guns.  We packed the fishing gear away and drove off across the farm to the 'gun range' where we sighted in the guns, fired a few fun shot at a stump, and then practiced cutting down saplings with various fire arms.  The Remington 870 performed wonderfully with a turkey load and the fun with my buddies 45 was a great way to spend the rest of the afternoon.  I could have stayed all day at that pond and perhaps I will return with only my fly rod but for that day, the ten minutes with a rod in my hand and a single fish on was enough to renew my faith in my abilities as an angler.  Hopefully I will not have another fish-less streak but If I do I just need to remind myself that they never last forever and the fish will one day return to brighten my day.

Do You Look the Part - And A Brown Trout

Continuing my series of classic trout painted on parchment I give you the brown trout.  Not the first one of these fish I have painted but just like catching them, I just cant get enough of them.

I also cant get over how great these painting look on the rich colored parchment paper.  I love old things and I think this is why I love the parchment paper look so much.  I think that it gives the painting a look of age without having to artificial color white watercolor paper to give it that patina.  An added bonus of using high quality parchment is that it comes acid free so the painting wont discolor with time.

Do You Look the Part?
I also decide to add a few thoughts and rules on how we fly fishing fools should look.  Many of you have followed these rules without really realizing it and some of you are not quite there yet but if you are truly a die hard fanatic there are a few basics you must pay adherence to.

    1.  Your vehicle must have a minimum of five fly fishing / outdoor related stickers on the back window.  Of course the more stickers you collect the bigger fanatic you appear to be.  Notice I said appear because if you look closely at an angers stickers as you pass by on your way to the river and you do not see at least a few faded or pealing stickers then the guy might be an impostor.  You do not have to have all the gear you promote on your window (for example I have a Hardy and a Simms sticker, neither of which I own or can afford) in fact you can classify the collection of stickers as a wish list of gear you would like.  True fanatics may have so many stickers that the cop that pulls them over an the way to the river might issue them an additional citation for a sticker induced 'blind spot' in addition to the speeding one they already got.

    2.  You must look the part.  I am not saying that you need to order every L.L. Bean POS that comes your way (and if you do then you will stand out like a poser anyway and we will all be laughing at you behind your back) but you must have a few of the basics.  A hat is a must.  Be it a faded ball cap, cowboy hat, or a fedora, it needs to be missing a few stitches from the flies that have been hooked into it over the years.  Of course if there is a still some ragged flies that are permanently attached then that's okay as well, however you must not place the fly on the hat for looks.  It has to be attached out of necessity.  Always wear dark colored clothing on the river and leave the wife beater tee at home.  You can always sport that ensemble while drinking a PBR and mowing your yard.

   3.   A gear holder is also an essentially piece of equipment.  I have discarded the vest years ago for a minimalist approach Fish Pond pack.  Occasionally I will go out with a chest or backpack as well.  Whatever you use to store your gear DO Not Show Up to fish the river with a tackle box weighing in at over 20lbs.  Fly fishing requires mobility and you cant be very mobile if you are lugging a tackle box around.  (of course there is a few exceptions, float guides for example can bring anything they want.  They are there to have anything you need to hook fish and a tackle box might be the way to go.  Besides, they are the ones lugging it, not you.) Also for the record - I have never been on a guided trip because, well, I am a cheep Dutchman and cant' afford it.
   4.    There needs to be at least one feathered creation on your cars dash, head liner, or sun visor.  It will usually get there because on the way home you realize you've got a hook sticking you in the scalp so you stick it in the visor and say 'I'll get that later' but you never do because, well... it is tough to extract and you got extras in the box.  It will also come in handy for that time that you bust out of the house at 4AM, drive an hour + to the river, and then realize that all your fly boxes are on the bench at home where you left them.  (Additionally for the record - I have done this and it sucks!!!)

    There are plenty more 'rules' but as far as the basic rules go, these should get you going.  Feel free to add a few comments on what rules you would institute to identify a die hard fly fisher.

The Brook Trout & MickyFin

My last painting of a trout was one I did on parchment paper.  In that post I explained the difficulties in painting on such thin paper so I will forgo the explanation on how I painted this Brook Trout.

Instead of the usual dialog on how I laid down the paint, I will give you my thoughts (and a few facts) on this wonderful tout.  First off, the Brook Trout is not actually a trout at all.  It is in fact a salmon.  Its official name is Salvelinus fontinalis  and is one of a select few of the salmonoid species that  never sees the ocean.  A native of North America, the Brook Trout is one of my favorite species to hook into.   I not only love how this fish fights after its hooked, but I also love what it takes to hunt this salmon down.
For scientists, the Salmon is a good barometer on how healthy a streams ecosystem is.  the reason for this is that the Brook trout only like cold clean water and will not tolerate pollution.  It is for this reason that I love to stalk these fish.

Usually to catch the native species of brook trout, one has to hike into the mountains and secluded streams far away from population. In the south, this takes a little effort but it is well worth it.
The brook trouts average life span in the wild is 4 -7 years with some species reaching as long as 15 years in the right environment.  At a year old the brook trout reaches sexual maturity and begins its spawning cycle between September to October where the female can lay thousands of eggs.
Even tho the brook trout has been known to be one of the best tasting of the 'trout' one can fish for, it is advisable and highly recommended that when fishing for native species, catch and release practices should always be implemented.  As for taking a few stalkys out of the so called 'put and take' stream for a tasty dinner, there is a bit of battle over the ethics of this.

Regardless of the controversy surrounding 'harvesting' , fly fishing these wonderful fish is something every angler should try.  Drys and midges always work well and Tenkara fishing for these trout is a great way to get a hook into them but every know and then I like to toss a streamer to them.  This seems to excite their predatory instinctual drive and make the fight all that more fun.  One of the best streamers I have found for these fish is the Black Nose Dace or the classic Micky Fin Buck tail Streamer.  I make mine in a variety of sizes including a #12 for those really small freestone pools that dot mountain streams. Sometimes I even add heavy hire for the ribbing in order to get the fly down in the water.
Brook Trout on Parchment
13in. x  5in.
Gouache and watercolor
on Acid free Parchment
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