September brought the first 3 first frosts, but also 11 days with temps of highs of 80* or more. Still pretty summery in my book. While rainfall for the month was at or slightly above normal in most spots, the long-term deficit kept many flowing waters close to all-time record low flows.
This is typical of how many streams looked for most of the month.
To say the least, it took a lot of foot power to find any holding water and trout that would rise to fly. Stealth was key in the bony water, I sent more fish scurrying for cover than I enticed, but each hook-up of a native, wild, or holdover trout was that much more rewarding.
Around mid-month, "TightLinesMaine" invited to fish one of his home waters, which is spring-fed, clear, and challenging. A good time for sure and more than a few trout
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Any month I can get a new PB of any kind is a good month. I went scouting after some localized rain appeared to bump the flows just north of me. Plans A and B that day were pretty much a bust. Plan C left me little time, so I picked a suburban park setting not far off a U.S. Highway. Sometimes if I get around enough, I step in it
This was one of those times. I landed 16 "unanswered" wild rainbows before hooking a brookie (a lopsided ratio I'd never seen) and ended up with just short of 30 'bows and a handful of brookies in under 2 hours. I have a high standard for the term "non-stop action", but this meets it. Big time fun with dries (Para Adams or EHCs) on the 3-weight.
I had a business trip to Central NY and managed to fit in some fishing. Water was low here, too, but I managed to raise a few wild 'bows. Hiking back along a winding road with narrow shoulders, I was happy that all the drivers I met at the curves had left the texting, dial-a-porn, etc. at home....or at least they were skilled multi-tasking
. It was a treat to run into a group of migrating monarchs along the way.
I closed out the "general" open water season still chasing decent stream flows. It was amazing how much the flows I found varied. These 2 pics were taken at drainages less that 10 miles apart!
The season close-out featured decent action with brookies and browns in spots with the best flow bumps. If this brookie grows into its dorsal fin, it will be dangerous
On to the "extended" season. I've been scoping out the outlets, inlets, and rocky drops for big fish moving up. Not time yet......but soon