Catching Native Brookies Comes Down to How You Stalk Them

Epiphanies, revelations, eureka moments—whatever you choose to call them, those flashes of insight when essential truths of fishing or hunting suddenly become clear are times we sportsmen live for. My eureka moment with stream brook trout came years ago, on a day in which I spooked fish after fish with errant wading and by hurling flies into overhanging vegetation.

Frustrated and with only one tattered pattern left in my fly box (and too tired to “attack” another hole), I slowed my pace greatly and gently dropped the by-then nondescript fly into a run. The brookie that struck wasn’t all that big, but its impact on my fishing strategy was huge. After I released the trout, I realized several important aspects about what it takes to be a competent brook trout angler. First, we can’t wade too slowly or carefully for these highland fish. And that threadbare pattern indicated that delicately casting any old dry fly near a trout was more important than matching the hatch.

EASY DOES IT

Brett Boberly, a guide for Elk Springs Resort in Monterville, W.V., agrees about the importance of careful wading.

“It’s extremely important to wade properly when you’re after native brookies,” he says. “These are wild fish that are very easy to scare, not only when you’re wading but also when you’re approaching from the bank. When I’m nearing a stream, I slow down and am very careful to walk softly. Many people don’t do this and spook the fish before they even get into the water.”

Once he’s entered a stream, Boberly is careful to keep his feet submerged.

“I never lift my feet out of the water unless it’s to step over a rock,” he says. “I move across the bottom very gently, slowly sliding my feet along. I don’t move often and never move far or fast when I do.”

Boberly also agrees on the point that fly selection is relatively unimportant.

“How you approach, wade and work a stream is far more important than the fly you tie on,” he says. “Small-stream native brook trout live in a harsh environment. Fish in shallow water have all kinds of predators and not a lot of food sources. They can’t survive if they’re picky eaters. Drift some size-12 or size-14 dry fly by them and they’ll likely strike it—assuming you don’t spook them first.”

READ THE WATER

The typical Eastern highlands brook trout stream features plunge pools, pocket water, undercut banks, current breaks (created by rocks and fallen trees and limbs) and runs and riffles. Learning how to read this water is another aspect of fishing for this char.

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“Pocket water is one of my favorite places to cast for brookies, and there are all kinds of pockets in a stream,” Boberly says. “One of the best is below a plunge pool where there’s a drop-off at the same place where the water slows. Another good place would be a row of rocks below that same little waterfall. The backside of those rocks could hold several nice trout.”

Jim Bernstein, who operates the Eldredge Bros. Fly Shop in Cape Neddick, Maine, explains that shoreline cover often conceals quality brookies.

“Very few streams have undercut banks, so when you come across them, work those places hard,” he says. “What you’ll find along many banks, though, is rocky cover. Retrieve your flies all along that edge, as those rocks offer excellent hiding places.”

Bernstein adds that on many occasions, in Maine and throughout the East, for examples, the deeper into the backcountry anglers trek, the better the fishing will become.

“Some of the best streams are only 5 or so feet across,” he says. “You’ll find these little pools, maybe 10 feet long, where the bigger trout will lie at the top and the smaller ones at the bottom. Work the downstream fish first.

“Also, in some of these pools, the water will only average 6 inches or so deep, with the deepest spots being maybe a foot,” Bernstein continues. “Those slightly deeper places will be where trout are.”

FISH EVERY INCH

Tommy Lawhorne, co-owner of the South River Fly Shop in Waynesboro, Va., stresses the importance of covering as much water as possible.

“Plunge pools are the glory holes for brook trout fishermen,” he says. “Everybody recognizes them, and everybody fishes them, but by no means are they the only places to work. I started fishing brook trout streams when I was a kid, and one of the things that I learned early on was how little water it takes to hide these fish. If there’s 4 inches of water, and if a rock and current are also present, then there can be a trout there. My best advice is to fish every inch of a run. An area the size and depth of a wash tub can hold several 10- or 11-inch fish, which are good-sized native trout just about everywhere in this region.

Given the inherent wariness of Eastern brook trout, Jim Bernstein believes that clothing selection is another important element to success.

“Matching the background behind you is more important than matching the hatch,” he says. “For example, I wear a camo hat and a camo shirt, as well as black or green pants. And don’t use any of that new Desert Storm stuff, either. Use camo with lots of green and brown in it.”

Tommy Lawhorne sums up questing after the East’s small-stream wild brookies with simple recommendations.

“If you know how to wade properly and read water, all you need to do is take along some Parachute Adams, Royal Wulffs, Stimulators and Chubby Chernobyls—two or three colors each and size 12 to 14—and you should do just fine.”

BROOK TROUT BASTIONS

Likely locales for tangling with wild trout.

• WEST VIRGINIA: Guide Bret Boberly (elkspringswv.com) says that the Elk River Drainage features a number of quality brook trout streams. Many of those streams lie in the Monongahela National Forest and average only 10 feet or so wide. But their isolated nature means many of them rarely receive any fishing pressure.
• VIRGINIA: Guide Tommy Lawhorne (southriverflyshop.com) says the Shenandoah watershed is his pick for the best brookie fishing in the Old Dominion. Many of the streams course through the George Washington National Forest. Two major Shenandoah tributaries, the South and North Forks, also feature brook trout streams entering them.
• NEW YORK: Mike Crawford operates Upstate Guide Service (upstateguideservice.com) and spends a lot of time in the highlands. “The Adirondacks is ground-zero for native brook trout fishing in New York,” he says. “That watershed is where brookies have existed since the
last Ice Age. There are, of course, brook trout in other parts of the state, but very few of them are purebreds.”
• VERMONT: Nick Mahood, director of the fly-fishing program at the Woodstock Inn and Resort (woodstockinn.com), believes the Green Mountain State offers some superb destinations. “We guide on the White River and Ottaqueechee watersheds, and both of them have quality brook trout streams,” he says. “We also have a permit to guide on the Green Mountain National Forest, where many of those streams originate. Clients will have to do a lot of hiking to reach many of these streams, which are often just 5 feet wide, with hemlocks growing along them.”
• MAINE: Jim Bernstein (eldredgeflyshop.com) says some of the Pine State’s premier trout streams don’t even have names. “Half the fun of native brook trout fishing is visiting streams that are nothing more than blue lines on a map,” he says. “You have to hike for miles, meanwhile hoping that you find fish. But when you do find one of those streams, you’ll find the effort was worth it.”