Call us toll-free at 1-800-661-6954
Call us toll-free at 1-800-661-6954
I kept telling myself, just one more bend, just one more pool and over time I had worked myself several miles back into the bush of Lone Teepee Creek. As I was lost in the rhythmic feel of hiking and fishing, I heard a crash in the bushes ahead of me and my heart skipped a beat, then another. A flash of large brown fur caught the corner of my eye and a shot of adrenaline rushed through my body. It was some thirty feet away and moving. Bear! I prepared for an encounter, but as my eyes adjusted I saw it was no bear at all, but instead a huge, and I mean huge beaver. It took a couple minutes for me to come down off the adrenaline high, but as I did, I approached the area the beaver exited and found a maze of channels and a deep beaverpond. It was all secluded in the bush and I'm sure a chopper flying overhead couldn't have seen it if it tried, but there it was and it was mine to discover. A beaver dam is the trout fishing world's equivalent to a gold mine and I had found a gem. Included in it were rising trout and floating beavers. In fact, I had come upon an active beaver dam and there were nearly a dozen beavers out and about. The interesting thing was that they didn't slap their tails as is usually the case, but they rather floated on by to get an up and close look at their visitor. Me, I got to see my first two baby beavers ever. They were perhaps eight inches long and they floated by with mom at their side. They were perhaps a rod length in front of me. It was really cool. After watching the beavers for a spell, I started dabbling a little fly under a small bobber and ever few seconds the bobber would dip and I would lift up into another trout. There were plenty of rainbows and brookies biting and several approached 12 inches. It was terrific fun. I spent a good hour at this newfound beaver pond and having caught my fill, I retraced my steps and returned back to the highway and home. Small stream fishing is fun and rewarding. It offers up adventure. It can offer up solitude or friendship. It is the perfect classroom, presenting a small, easy to figure out piece of water that help anglers find trout and the places they like to call home. As for tactics, when it comes to small streams I employ a mobile approach and typically try one or two presentations going one way and then try a different presentation on my way back. That gives me a couple cracks at each pool with a couple different presentations over the course of my outing. My standard approach is to cover water with either a small spoon or spinner on the way out. This picks up any aggressive fish on the first pass. On the way back I'll resort to dabbling bead head flies off a spinning rod. This picks ups the less aggressive fish. In some areas all it takes is placing the rod over the hole and dropping the fly in. In larger areas, like the beaver pond I mentioned earlier, suspending the fly under a small bobber is an excellent fish catcher. There are plenty of small streams around and spending some time and getting to know them will provide for some tremendously satisfying fishing outings.
