I tried but failed to achieve a trifecta in one respect today, but attained another.
My goal was to catch trout on all 3 branches of the Hoosic: i.e., the South (in Adams), North (in North Adams) and Main (in both Williamstown and North Adams).
I started with the South Branch, from Mullen Mayflower to ALADCO, from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM.
It was sunny and warm (84 degrees by the time I finished), with water levels moderately low.
Since it was such a nice day, and the spots I was fishing weren't particularly deep, I did without my usual hip boots or chest waders, and made do with just "crocs" and shorts
I ended up landing two brookie es (one 4" and one 9" - - the second of which I kept because, unfortunately, it swallowed the hook and bled), two browns (one 10" and one 11") and two rainbows (one 12" and one 13"). And, oh yeah, three small (3" to 5") crayfish.
The size of the fish I caught may have been a bit disappointing, but the variety was gratifying - - and gave me a "hat trick" of sorts: i.e., one (or, actually, two) of each of the three types of trout that we have around here.
I headed home to drop off the brookie in my fridge and picked up my younger son, and we headed out to fish the North and Main Branches from about 1:00 to 4:00 PM.
We tried the North Branch from the Natural Marble Bridge State Park entrance down to the bridge past the end of the Beaver Mill parking lot.
I had a hit (our only one for that stretch) beneath the bridge on the lower end of the lot, and hooked a small (about 9") rainbow, but it got off, so we drove down to the roll dam between the Beaver Mill and the Eclipse Mill dam.
There's a long sandbar island about 50 yards downstream of the roll dam. I fished toward the western channel on the upstream end of the island and landed a 12" rainbow, while my son fished the southern tip of the island and caught a 10" and a 12" rainbow.
I waded down past the island to fish by Old Glory Rock (a cliff with an American flag hanging above it) and hooked a 11" rainbow, but it got away, so my son ended up "out fishing the old man."
Next we drove to the former Spruces Mobile Home Park in Williamstown and parked in back to fish the Main Branch. We had a couple slight "taps" (probably dace) but nothing definitive.
Then we back tracked to the Ashton Avenue Bridge in North Adams, where I took a few more casts, but without any takers, so we called it a day and headed home.
Upon our return home, I did a cookout in our fire pit featuring the brook trout that I caught earlier in the morning, a one pound lamb chop, three potatoes (which my wife wrapped in tin foil and baked to perfection in the coals - - whenever I try to do that they turn into charred husks), some kimchi (home made by my older daughter) and pickled asparagus and two small half bottles of home made wine (one a peach and pear blend and the other a cranberry/grape/pomegranate/raspberry/strawberry blend).
I shared the baked potatoes with my wife and older son, but, famished from my day on the water, consumed the rest of the meal myself.
