Friday I went out on one of my favorite of my small NJ wild trout streams. 70 degrees and sunny. Early black stoneflies were coming off steadily, and fish were rising to naturals frequently. They were taking them in the fast water, which meant the turbulence obscured their vision, making the fishing a lot easier.
I took 6 fish on the first run then lost count, but estimate I took about 25 in two hours. That by itself is nice, but not extraordinary.
What was special was the size of the fish. A nice fish on this stream is 12". In 100 outings I think I've rolled one fish larger than that, a big brown by the looks of it, maybe 15" though you never know 'til you land it, and once landed a skinny but honest 14" rainbow in a deep plunge pool. On a "good"
On Friday, the last six fish I caught were all 12" (all 'bows). 5 of 6 were holding in a deep pool, which was below some fast water. The first I caught in a long cast across the pool, to fish rising in the foam line, in the deep part of the pool, below an overhang. Second was caught to another rising fish in the riffle about 3 feet above the first. Third was caught holding against an undercut a couple of feet behind the second. Fourth was holding in the same undercut, but a couple of feet further out, feeding off the next current line. Fifth was holding in a back eddy, within some foam. The foam allowed me to come in almost right on top of the fish and high stick a natural drift right over him. The sixth was on the next deep run, casting to a rising fish.
I broke off my fly on the next cast, missing a strike, and getting my fly tangled in the tree canopy above me. Decided to take this as a sign, and stopped fishing after a little more than 2 hours. I had caught another 2 12" fish before the last hole, so roughly a third of the fish I caught were that big.
My best day ever on the stream I fish the most.
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