I went on one last outing just before the regular trout season closed. When it comes to fly fishing I can “catch” just about anything near and around the trout stream with the exception of an actual trout. Put a Panther Martin lure at the end of a spinning rod and reel and I’m an enthusiastic “catch and eater.” If a fish dinner was at stake, I would use a garden hackle to catch a fish. (More on Garden Hackles later).  

My quest for a baked trout dinner took me to a small stream that usually sees pressure only in the early season. That was the good news. The bad news was that because it had seen such little pressure, the weeds were thick and had grown higher than the top of my head.  It was like swimming towards the edge of the stream. When I did manage to slip in unnoticed, I could see the trout finning in the shallow, gin clear stream. The trick was going to be getting a few casts in before the fish wised up.  

The first cast was almost perfect. I threw past the unsuspecting trout and would have been in perfect position except I got hung up on the one long branch that acted like the perfect guard over that stretch of water. After a careful flick of the rod tip, the Panther Martin flipped over and cleared the branch. I started reeling in and watched in amazement as no less than three trout pursued my lure. Unfortunately the biggest fish didn’t get there in time and the smaller, quicker Brook trout swallowed my lure and became the first invite to dinner. The rest of the trout wised up and ignored my offerings. It was time to move upstream.    

The scene was pretty much the same as the first set up except now branches stood in my path. I had to “swim” through the brush and sneak up to the side of the stream the best I could. I chucked a cast up river and immediately had a small wake behind my lure. An instant later a Brown trout wore my lure on the side of its mouth and the second dinner guest was going home with me.  

I had two fish in the bag and one more would mean less potatoes, so I went after a third. A few minutes later I had my last trout of the day and the last one of the season. Even though I’m not a huge trout guy, I like having the option available all summer long but then suddenly it’s over. Another way to say it is that you don’t miss something until you can’t do it anymore. But, I am happy that I ended the season on a high note and with a full belly. 

*Garden Hackle is another way to say earthworms. Supposedly anglers used that term when they didn’t want to share their secret bait. Another theory is that in areas where live bait was illegal it was code for earthworms.  

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