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Daily News, Sunday, Sept. 3, 2006
COLUMNS
Big browns tail-walk on the water at night
By Joe Fitzgerald
The Daily News
[MISSING on line was an informative box of information on brown trout.]
It was an August evening years ago, when my family stopped to have supper in
a little picnic park near the Wentworth ski hill. A slow-moving brook wound
its way through the park, and after we finished our sandwiches, my dad got
his fishing rod out of the trunk to let us "wet a line."
My little brother took the first turn, and all he had on the line was an
old, gaudy, rubber worm. Even at that age, I knew there was not much chance
of catching something with that. Well, my brother cast over the brook almost
to the other bank. Before the rubber worm could even sink, the water
detonated as if a torpedo had slammed into it.
We all freaked out as he battled this monster. It leaped out of the water
many times, and when it finally came to rest at the stream's edge, we all
huddled around to see what it was. It looked like a salmon, but my father
assured me it was a trout.
When we got home, a neighbour who had grown up near the Stewiacke River
confirmed its identity: "It's a brown trout."
Brown trout are probably the most sought-after trout for anglers around the
world. The reason is simple: they're found all over the world. Originally
from Europe, brown trout have been successfully transplanted to North
America, and they are found in record sizes from Chile to New Zealand. They
are tough, hardy game fish, and can handle warmer, more acidic, and more
polluted waters than their brook trout cousins. That is why they are
prolific in rivers such as the Cornwallis and the Stewiacke, which flow
through major farmland.
Brown trout in Nova Scotia are famously nocturnal. For exciting brown-trout
angling, I've been told, fish at night.
One salmon angler stopped near River John on a summer evening just as it was
getting dark. He had a huge bug fly pattern tied on, and as soon as it hit
the water, a five-pound brown trout hammered it. After he caught that
trophy, his bug was immediately hit by another giant brown in the same spot.
Another told me of staking out a spot on the Stewiake River and fishing with
mouse flies at night. Casting across the river, he said, he dragged the
imitation mouse into the water. It was instantly smashed by a brown trout.
He said he didn't see the trout, but heard it "tail walk" across the water.
I haven't had that experience yet, but I've got some bugs and mice in my fly
box now, and a heavy duty flashlight.
---------------
Joe Fitzgerald is a freelance writer living in Halifax.
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