Fall Fishing- Small Pond Edition

I have to apologize that I have not been keeping up with the blog as much as I would like to. A lot has happened recently that has kept my mind elsewhere and since this isn't the "listen to Drew whine blog", I won't bore you with that. I haven't had a lot of time for fishing, but the time I have spent on the water has been very productive!

15 1/8" brook trout. It's a wild one too! A rare beast in VT.

I did my homework on where to find big brook trout and headed out for them a bit over a  week ago. I did something I don't do a lot of, but enjoy now and then- I trolled from my canoe. Best way to work a pond sometimes. I used a clear intermediate line on my 6 wt. I had a few false alarms and lost some flies to the brush. Then I switched the rod from the shore side of the canoe to the outside and brought the canoe closer to shore. Then the rod bent and started throbbing. I had a feeling it was a nice fish from the start. I got it close to the boat and it made two good runs before I netted it. It was just a bit over 15 inches which is exactly what I needed for the Master Angler program. I continued to troll the edges but once a powerboat started to zip around it was time for me to head out.

Nice big pickerel! Gotta love chainsides!

So I headed to a spot I like to fish pickerel at. Fall is big pickerel time and this is the place to be!  I headed to a weedbed I know of and started working the edges. It is pretty deep so the key element was to use a sinking fly and I went to an old favorite- the Clouser Half and Half. Such a great fly!  Apparently the pickerel think so too. I thought my first take was actually me getting caught in the weeds, but it showed me that it wasn't quickly. It was an awesome fish of 23". That is no joke for a pickerel, but it isn't Master Class until it is over 24.  

Esox niger- a big fella!

The next fish took right next to the boat. I got to watch it pounce the fly. Man did it hammer that thing!  I could tell this was a really nice fish too!  Once I got it on board I knew I had what I needed there- 24 1/2".  Another MC fish for me! I finished up the day with another 23" fish. I love getting those big pickerel. 


The other thing that was really cool was watching a mother loon teach her youngster to chase fish. I got to watch that for quite some time and they came very close to me several times. Both ponds I was on had loons and I got to see them in both locations. Loons are such cool birds and when you are on a lake or pond in Vermont in autumn when the leaves are just starting to change, a loon is one of those final details that just makes things picture perfect. I really love living in Vermont.


I did some fishing this past weekend too... but that is a story for tomorrow! Stay tuned (only if you want big fish stories).