Pretentious Snobby Bastard Fly Fishing!

Fly Fishing BS => The Gravel Bar => Topic started by: Dee-Vo on February 11, 2020, 21:03:33 PM

Title: A Good Read
Post by: Dee-Vo on February 11, 2020, 21:03:33 PM
http://www.flytyermike.com/2020/02/line-like-beast-next-level-small-stream.html?m=1
Title: Re: A Good Read
Post by: Sedition and Pockets on February 12, 2020, 07:22:57 AM
Some good info on interpreting topos, but it does reinforce what I view as the misplaced obsession with stream gradient.  I want to know whether a creek is likely to hold water and stay cold, but I also want to catch fish that aren't fucking dinks, and ladder-type plunge pool streams are not a good place to seek out real ones.
Title: Re: A Good Read
Post by: Big J on February 12, 2020, 09:24:59 AM
Quote from: Dylar on February 12, 2020, 07:22:57 AMSome good info on interpreting topos, but it does reinforce what I view as the misplaced obsession with stream gradient.  I want to know whether a creek is likely to hold water and stay cold, but I also want to catch fish that aren't fucking dinks, and ladder-type plunge pool streams are not a good place to seek out real ones.

This.  Some of the flattest streams can produce the biggest trout.  I feel like headwaters with a healthy cold spring system and ability to hold water trumps stream gradient any day.
Title: Re: A Good Read
Post by: Dee-Vo on February 12, 2020, 10:41:53 AM
For the majority of my fishing, I just like to see what's there in terms of trout species and size and also scenery. Comparing scenery/trout/geology/flora has become a favorite activity of mine. Sizable trout are great, and I'll gladly take the largest offered, although it's not everything to me. At times I'll get large fish on the brain, still though, I usually have slid back to new water ideology - regardless of fish size/reputation before I even turn around.
Title: Re: A Good Read
Post by: Woolly Bugger on February 12, 2020, 11:30:04 AM
http://www.flytyermike.com/2020/02/line-like-beast-next-level-small-stream.html?m=1

Direct like bypassing Facebook
Title: Re: A Good Read
Post by: Dee-Vo on February 12, 2020, 11:33:06 AM
Quote from: Woolly Bugger on February 12, 2020, 11:30:04 AMhttp://www.flytyermike.com/2020/02/line-like-beast-next-level-small-stream.html?m=1

Direct like bypassing Facebook

Done.
Title: Re: A Good Read
Post by: Sedition and Pockets on February 12, 2020, 17:41:16 PM
Quote from: Big J on February 12, 2020, 09:24:59 AM
Quote from: Dylar on February 12, 2020, 07:22:57 AMSome good info on interpreting topos, but it does reinforce what I view as the misplaced obsession with stream gradient.  I want to know whether a creek is likely to hold water and stay cold, but I also want to catch fish that aren't fucking dinks, and ladder-type plunge pool streams are not a good place to seek out real ones.

This.  Some of the flattest streams can produce the biggest trout.  I feel like headwaters with a healthy cold spring system and ability to hold water trumps stream gradient any day.

High gradient usually means low fecundity.  I do map research, but mostly to make sure creeks have a sufficient catchment area to hold water.  Otherwise, I'm mostly after the infallible signs of fertility (chiefly, historic or ongoing human habitation).
Title: Re: A Good Read
Post by: Dougfish on February 12, 2020, 18:34:59 PM
But some high gradient streams do deliver some big fish. They may be fewer and farer in between.
(But our average VA brookie crushes those NC southern strain fish  :wave )
And I like the challenge and the beauty of a tumbling stream.
Yeah, you have to have dependable year round water, but after that, pH, nutrients and bugs rule the roost.
Only 10%? of streams have all of the above?
Title: Re: A Good Read
Post by: Mudwall Gatewood 3.0 on February 13, 2020, 08:37:08 AM
Interesting discussion.
 
Several years ago, there was a huge flood isolated in a certain VA high gradient watershed.  Macroinvertebrate, temp, pH, etc. historical data were available for this brookie stream.   The flood opened the canopy in much of the stream, allowing abundant sunlight.  Temp remained good from the upstream intact riparian cover.  However, the inverts changed in the newly opened reaches, as well as the growth of the fish.  Those brookies grew fat and sassy from the new macroinvertebrate assemblage.  This continued until the vegetative cover returned.

The biggest brookies I've ever seen came from slower moving habitats (beaver ponds, landlocked brookies in human impoundments, or flushed brookies that ended up in larger streams).  I believe these more placid, sunlit habitats offer greater food biomass and less energy requirements.  If temp is good, open and calm flips my cookie.  I don't think brookies will be forced to join Jenny Craig after eating critters that consume deciduous leaves and hemlock needles – slow turnover in the food biomass.  Sun = biomass = bigger brookies, if temp endures.   
Title: Re: A Good Read
Post by: Sedition and Pockets on February 13, 2020, 08:48:25 AM
Quote from: Mudwall Gatewood 3.0 on February 13, 2020, 08:37:08 AMInteresting discussion.
 
Several years ago, there was a huge flood isolated in a certain VA high gradient watershed.  Macroinvertebrate, temp, pH, etc. historical data were available for this brookie stream.   The flood opened the canopy in much of the stream, allowing abundant sunlight.  Temp remained good from the upstream intact riparian cover.  However, the inverts changed in the newly opened reaches, as well as the growth of the fish.  Those brookies grew fat and sassy from the new macroinvertebrate assemblage.  This continued until the vegetative cover returned.

The biggest brookies I've ever seen came from slower moving habitats (beaver ponds, landlocked brookies in human impoundments, or flushed brookies that ended up in larger streams).  I believe these more placid, sunlit habitats offer greater food biomass and less energy requirements.  If temp is good, open and calm flips my cookie.  I don't think brookies will be forced to join Jenny Craig after eating critters that consume deciduous leaves and hemlock needles – slow turnover in the food biomass.  Sun = biomass = bigger brookies, if temp endures.   


I don't think there's any question that brookies prefer lower current environments.  Roaches want that big push, but brookies, not so much.  Anecdotally, even less than browns do.