This was my second trip out today. The first, starting around 6:30am, found me down on the lower river at the Bridge Street Pool below Farley Flats in Erving. I was chasing a rumor of some diehard rainbows caught recently in this great holding pool. No rainbows came to the net but a brown of around 14 inches did. Around 8:00 I headed upstream to the center of Orange and found my friend Kim who had just released his 6th fish - all 'bows and taken on a muddler. This spot is one of the last strongholds for rainbows in the Millers before the conditions get too hard for them. Two hydro plants provide a good mix of oxygen for the trout and they tend to hang tough there. It's never been a great place for browns.
Things have changed!!
At 5:30pm I headed out to Wendell Depot but was greeted with the sound of thunder. The storm seemed to be heading north of my spot but as I entered the water I saw a flash of lightning. That was it for Wendell Depot. So, without getting out of my waders I headed east and upstream about four miles to where I met my friend this morning. No signs of a storm up there so in I went.
The first hit seemed feisty but light. My first thought was "smallie" but as I brought the fish in it began to look different. It turned out to be a FIVE INCH BROWN!!!! What spots!!! The color looked like butter at the bottom of a sautee pan. It was then that I remembered that I left my camera at home. I began to fumble for my cell phone (pants pocket beneath my waders) when the WILD BROWN slipped out of my hand and threw off the soft hackle fly.
Another brown came to the net soon after. It was around 14 inches and fought like a bulldog. Then two rainbows got into the act. Another word about these 'bows. Before they disappear they begin to take on a dark hue in this river. Almost a copper color. I love brown trout in the Millers because they are survivors but the rainbows now and through the summer (rarely) are truly beautiful.
It was a great night!!
Ken
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