Afternoon of May 17th 2010

I wound up not having to work on Monday afternoon, so after tying up some flies I took the chance to get out on a local brook. This brook was about a mile hike from the parking lot, along the course of another brook which flows through a beautiful gorge with several waterfalls:





This brook also has an incredible series of long, deep slow flowing spring pools. Unfortunately for the fishing the high waterfalls coupled with the boulder piles the stream occasionally flows under likely render these pools fairly inaccessible to fish. I also wonder about the water quality, especially regarding it's acidity. This is probably the most tanin stained brook I've ever seen, it's literally as dark as bog water. A lot of rotting vegetation collects in the pools, contributing to the acidity. I also found layers of hemlock needles decompoosing in anoxic conditions under layers of sand, producing methane gas, which is toxic to most fish.



In any case, I was having so much fun scrambling down the gorge and taking photos that I didn't make it to my destination with any time to fish!

When I did get there I found quite a contrast to the first brook, the water was clear, cold, and the rocks were covered in cased caddis larvae:



It looks promising! I'll return another day...


Here are my photos on Picasa