I had the pleasure of fishing with Toby Lapinski earlier this week and even though it’s that time of year, our quarry was not striped bass, but rather small wild trout and char. This brook was new to me, so I was stoked to be on undiscovered waters. The stream is overgrown with briars and saplings, to say nothing of the broken limbs and downed trees that seemed to be everywhere. It had riffles, glides, plunges — a nifty combination for a brook that is in some places small enough to jump across. (That’s, of course, if I could get a running start. And not be wearing waders. And be 20 years younger.) Funny thing! I’ve driven past this brook hundreds of times and never knew it was there.
I was hoping these schools of fry in the sunlit shallows were YOY browns or brookies. But no. They’re black nosed dace YOY, maybe a couple centimeters long. Did you know that some scientists think that the eastern BND spread after the last ice age from a single colony in present-day Connecticut?Not a bad bit of camo. You get the sense of the wildness of the place. I’d estimate the water to have been medium-high — remember, this was my first time here — which is a good spring flow, but we had bright sunshine and no canopy working against us. We saw midges, and there was also a decent hatch of small (16-18) tan caddis. Some of the sexiest runs and holes were surprising blanks, like this one. There’s always next time. Photo by Toby Lapinski.Toby captured the largest fish of the outing, this vibrant char. We both fished a dry/dropper, and while Toby had some takes on the dry, all of my action came on the dropper, which was 2x short size 18 BHPT. I also tried some micro streamers, but had no takers. I highly recommend a dry/dropper setup on a new stream. It’s the fastest way to find out what the fish want. Photo by Toby Lapinski.Small stream wild browns like this are fearsome fighters. It’s almost like playing a minute smallmouth bass. I pricked several more little browns on the tiny dropper nymph.
Of course, precious gems that they are, we never discuss small stream names on this site (and I encourage everyone to extend that practice to the entire web). 🙂
Can you let me know what state this is in? I’m a Mass resident and hoping to find something like this here. I live in the northeast though so NH streams like this are probably just as close if not closer.
currentseams.com 
Beautiful well fed little char!
For sure. A giant for a brook this small! 🙂
Hi Rich, Just wondering, did Steve just fish in one of your fav ‘hidden’ streams??
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Of course, precious gems that they are, we never discuss small stream names on this site (and I encourage everyone to extend that practice to the entire web). 🙂
Sound like a ideal stream to give a Tenkara rod a try
I can’t say since I don’t Tenkara. I leave it to you. 🙂
Can you let me know what state this is in? I’m a Mass resident and hoping to find something like this here. I live in the northeast though so NH streams like this are probably just as close if not closer.
Hi Miles, it’s in CT. I’m sure there are hundreds of streams like this in Massachusetts and all over New England, for that matter. If you haven’t yet, read this article, which might help you in your search.
https://currentseams.com/2013/02/03/stalking-wild-trout-on-connecticuts-small-streams/
Great second article, thank you. I will be on the hunt.