What a treat to be able to fish a small stream again. It’s hard to believe that this was my first fishing-for-fun-only outing of 2025. Surfcaster extraordinaire Toby Lapinski and I spent a few hours last week exploring a woodland gem. Although we fished mid-afternoon, dense canopy blocked the sunlight and the water was surprisingly cold. Water height was on the low side of medium. Although I fished a dry dropper system, the local char showed a clear preference for the dry. Toby fished a size 10 hopper, and they attacked it with wanton ferocity. We pricked a bunch, landed several, and left feeling happy.

Given the daylight and shallower water, I found it curious that the fish weren’t that interested in subsurface offerings. Besides the dry/dropper, I also fished the Squirmy Jiggy Thingy. I felt many nips and tugs, but those were clearly generated by smaller fish. (By the way, we saw/spooked dozens of fingerlings, which portends for a bright next year.) The moment of the day, however, was when we witnessed a 3-foot long northern water snake capture and kill an 8″ brook trout. I’d never seen anything like it. The snake took the fish out of the water, and clamped down on its “neck” to suffocate it. There’s a theory which states that on small streams, terrestrials become a huge part of the trout’s summer diet. Apparently, the tables are sometimes turned.