( My 'ground zero' genetic prize: a crown German princess!- a true aristocratic beauty from its Black Forest generational blood line before her. Here 19 incher beast (check out the v-shaped crown red dot spotting), taken last spring opening week on a tiny wooded spring creek you could jump across in the Huron National Forest down the road from us These little gems are all around us and come in every form and have their own beauty; from a local park creek and pond, to grandiose forests and lakes, we often take them for granted. With our new total re-set of life, we now will appreciate the little things we too greedily took for granted-Supinski image )
There are some things so sacred and pure that thinking of them brings me goose bumps, tears of joy and shivers of excitement. Things that kept a young boy like me awake dreaming of that big brown trout on the night before the opener of the trout season in Western New York on my Dad and I's favorite trout stream system in the Allegheny foothills - The East Koy /Wiscoy Creeks. On that night I would look at the clock every hour and could not wait to pound on my dad's door at 3 A.M. as he bit back in a grouchy mumble trying to wake up: "Ty zwariował chłopaczek!" ( means have you lost your mind boy-in Polish!) as he begged for another hour of sleep! When I was growing up we only spoke Polish and German until my parents learned English, became citizens and I went to kindergarten with a rough European accent, having learned only "street English".
( A spring monster of my youth, about the size of my fist brown trout at age 7 caught on a woolly worm . This is a wild German brown beauty from my little ground zero Michigan creek. Little did I know that those creeks in New York we fished and the ones here in Michigan have the same German genetics that came to Caledonia fish hatchery near Rochester, NY, and to Northville, Michigan.You can read volumes of this glorious history in my Nexus book- Supinski image)
( The first thing you did as a boy was run out of the car and stare down from the bridge like you were Ponce de Leon finding the fountain of youth- just maybe the stream is our eternal fountain of youth, that transforms men and women to be boys and girls again!-just maybe (Lucas Carroll image)
( Caledonia Hatchery- the Seth Green Laboratory of modern fish horticulture in the late 1880's- Andrew Steele Nisbet image)
( Modern stocking trucks have replaced the trains from the 1880's. Some states like New York do an amazing job with signage and Public Fishing waters-Supinski images)
The drive to the stream high in the hills in the dark was full of anticipation to the point where my dad got frustrated as I nudged him to make sure his eyes weren't shutting. ( poor guy had two full time jobs) I kept saying "we have to beat everyone to our secret hole Dad!
"jedź szybciej"( drive faster Dad!) as my father drank coffee to stay awake as I barked out orders making sure he took all the right turns on the dark farm country highways that had poor signage back then. He had to pull off the side of the road for me many times to go "shee-shee" since I was so excited I wanted to piss my pants as I drank Coca Cola at 5 A.M. Our opening day ritual was a bonus. I got to drink Coke and have Bologna and ketchup sandwiches on Wonder Bread with Canadian Salt & Vinegar potato chips, Dad had plenty of Polish sausage/Kielbasa and Polish Vodka, but we both chowed on Mom's Austrian apple strudel she always had wrapped.
(My ground zero Michigan spring creeks are typical of the many wooded streams in western New York, and throughout the east and Driftless Area of the Midwest, also like northern Poland along the Baltic ,where the other episode of my childhood memories lie and still pleasantly haunt me - they are all about Chapter 1 in my "Brown Trout-Atlantic Salmon Nexus" book. Here Marsh Marigolds pop through the forest floor greenery where spring flows emerge - (Supinski images)
( A Polish wooded spring creek in Pomerania along the Baltic-R. Bartels image)
( If you are lucky on opening day, you will see this awesome sight!-J.G. Miller image)
In the warming part of the afternoon, , you might run into a spring hatch after you take a snooze/nap in the sun by a tree by the brook, as I once did since it was already a long day for me as a boy back then and I was crashing from a Coke caffeine buzz. Hendrickson and American March Brown mayflies, sporadic gray fox Steno's, early black stones and Grannom caddis might waken you, as they did me one afternoon. I put on a size #12 Adams and caught my first 16 inch brown trout, as trout were aggressively feeding and splashing/ boiling the pools in surface feeding.
SPRING GULPERS
( Image by Albert Pesendorfer from Nexus)
(Image J.G. Miller)
( The perfect spring dry-Quill Gordon-image Stacey Niedzwiecki from Nexus)
Though they are very eager for a good "chowing-down", don't take the selectivity of these early spring browns for granted! ( I have a whole blog on the interval timing on spring surface feeders two blogs prior to this- read it ) Spring fish are a little rusty in surface feeding and need a little time to 'get revved up'. Their rises will be slower and less frequent due to the cold water temps. But due to the insects long flight delay times due to cold weather or snow, their selective/reflective index is in full motion since they can glide with the dry in a compound fashion for long distances in the slack/slow waters you will find them rising.
( But snow is usually the case as this Bald Eagle rests on a branch looking for freshly stocked trout or wild ones that got a little greedy surface feeding after a springtime dusting-J.G. Miller images of mayflies and Eagle )
( Another German wild brown from my other " ground-zero" love in New York state- the historic Neversink River, where we have a summer home down the road. Walking in the footsteps of Gordon and Hewitt bring chills of delightfully haunting thoughts to the days long past- the foundation of American Fly Fishing-Supinski image)
( Gordon on the Neversink- Catskill Fly Fishing Museum- notice every fish was sacred and eaten back then- nothing wrong with that as long as its done responsibly!)
In my Brown Trout-Atlantic Salmon Nexus book, I tell many the tails of small stream delights that you can never shake off no matter how many world destinations you have visited. Paradise is often in your backyard yet we are too spoiled to realize it. I am very fortunate to have an amazing Michigan DNR that does management programs with their trout fisheries at the highest level. They stock wild strains of brown trout native to our state ( Gilchrist/Sturgeon strains- descendants from the first 1880's stockings) where and only if they are needed. At stockings sizes of fingerlings or 6-7 inchers that are well under the catch-able size limit, they eliminate hatchery truck fiascoes like I witnessed in MD/VA/PA. Michigan and similarly New York have long stream closures to protect wild spawning populations and winter hibernation when trout are vulnerable.The season in MI is open last Saturday in April to September 30th- closed almost 7 months which is a good thing! My biologist who I have an excellent relationship once asked my opinion, which I greatly appreciate of him. ( I am known to be a little strong in opinion in case you haven't noticed-PC and an old Polish warrior have no place together!) His question was about a particular small spring-fed stream that has an amazing carrying capacity for wild browns and brook trout. "Do you think we should open it year -round with catch-and-release in extended season ?"..." NOPE!, I said, leave it closed please!, next thing you know a guy with a big spinner treble hook will be raping/snagging bigger browns and brookies spawning in the fall- no fishing or walking the stream PERIOD!, in off season", I told him - it remains that way thanks to his wisdom which I greatly respect.For the first time in my life I finally met a biologist that thinks like me which I thank God for. Wild Steelhead in Michigan are still unfortunately treated as "big $$$ fish" and thus get a very strong lobby from commercial harvesters- but that is changing fast with mother nature's doing as you will see. But nature, like everything in life, just sometimes needs a break- today more than ever! Closed season for 7 months is a good thing. There is an old Macedonian story of a young child crying to a mother in a Peter Gabriel /Deep Forest piece called " While the Earth Sleeps" In it the child begs its mother so it can go outside and play ( wow!, wouldn't today's parents love that!!!) but the mother refuses the child, and in turn says let the earth take a rest and get a little sleep.As Earth day approaches and we have a whole new world order of respect unfolding, let this be a thought for all things in nature...click here to listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3qy23UIynU
( Painting- Henry Rolfe-and fresh cured Scottish style/sweet wood cold smoked trout)
( As a culinary person, I highly value and respect the joy of eating fish. I could eat fish every day! ( my preference is walleye/ perch/salmon ) But I kindly ask all trout anglers, regardless of methods, to be good guardians and stewards of the few fragile wild trout/small stream resources we have been left with. Climate change and habitat destruction and stupid human tricks of letting out careless chemical spills are eliminating wild trout water at an alarming rate. I ask all to respect the code of natural decency and preservation that humans have been bestowed with- a consciousness that must be solely the responsibility of each individual regardless of laws)
Where streams are 100% put-and-take, enjoy the resource for the table- ther are lots of them in most states, and they far out number wild fisheries . But where there are wild trout populations and hold-over wild trout potential and cross-populations, respect each fish and give it life to further procreate the streams wild populations. Killing even one or two( God forbid more!) big spawning year class fish on opening day (14 inches plus), where these fish have starved all winter and are vital to the streams natural carrying capacity, can be catastrophic for the tiny stream that rely on a few spawning pairs to carry it through. Nothing wrong with going fishing for hatchery trout for the table- that is what they are there for! Or similarly on tremendously rich wild trout streams with massive carrying capacities of year-class populations, harvesting a fish or two for table is more than respectable.Hording/ freezer burning is a waste and disgrace to these natural beauties.
Like so many other state's angler's we take our fisheries management for granted and always criticize- its now a time to appreciate and respect.I have built-up amazing relationships with my biologists of this state, which I cherish and work together with them to benefit our goal "all about the fish first!-I highly encourage all anglers to do such also. The gain and spoils will come if you build it with a mutual goal of putting nature and what is right first! Politics/$$$$/ and greed has no place in the new world order to save our planet and ourselves.
( Wild edibles and foraging ,is a long lost art that trout stream anglers should pursue, since you are walking through a garden of Eden! ( even your local downtown park can be one if you let it!) I talk about foraging at length in my Nexus book Chapter 12. It is part of the self-absorption/into the wild element we take for granted and the joy and wonderment of a spring stroll along your trout stream. As much time should be spent looking at the forest structure as we do looking at the stream features- big dividends with your dinner will unfold. Wild ramps, fiddle-heads, chives, morel mushrooms are a few of the culinary delights)
Stump-Jumping "Mr. Bigs"-Small Creek Streamer Hunting Tactics
( Small stream brown trout expert and friend, Ethan Cramer of Facebook's Brown Trout Nation/Ann Arbor TU fame, is an excellent stump jumper tactician. Here he does the bow-and- arrow cast to a small pool. Ethan has chased and tormented every big brown in the countless small wooded spring creek you will find in Michigan that totally fly under the radar )
Here is a nice little spring creek hunting Vimeo I did with the talented videographer: Spencer McCormack on a small Michigan spring creek- shows the underhand/lob/bow-and-arrow casting techniques necessary for these small streams)...Click on the link-enjoy!
https://vimeo.com/162364385
I always go "Mr/Mrs Big" stump-jump hunting for leviathan browns during the opening weeks, since there is most likely a big truttasaurus ready to snatch a big meal after a long winter's dormancy. Using Kelly Galloup/ Tommy Lynch/ Michael Schmidt/Mark Loughead inspired streamers, they are the new age inheritance from the founding sculpin master and my old fishing friend: the recently late Ed Shenk.
Adding a gold tungsten head to give it very quick and deep penetration is the key to getting big browns to come out from their winter/spring ambush hunting condos.
Using the casts mentioned in the Vimeo, let your articulated streamer hop/skip/jig in the tiniest spots next to their wooded condos where big browns evolved in the dark dense German Black Forest streams, which now are the wooded spring creeks here. This is camouflaged hunting. Moving low and slow, like a heron, from stump-to-stump is the key to the hunt. Don't ignore bridge abutments. Do as little wading as possible. Slow everything down.
Analyze each log jam/under-cut bank with a game plan before you toss your meaty delectable near it. Ask these questions:
1. Where do I think a big brown is hiding to ambush prey
2.If I hook it, where am I going to fight and steer it to land.
3. Is my net ready, big enough and at easy access
4. What obstacles must I steer it away from ( you know the Brutus is going to scurry for cover once hooked and you must take command. Only use 12-15 pound test tippets when doing this or you will break off the fish and mess its feeding up for a longtime from stupidity and carelessness - remember they bring you joy, respect their life also!
4. Manhandle the fish quickly ( like mousing at night) or as Mike Batcke once told me on the Pere Marquette at night : "tourney them" -the way Bass Pros fight big bass in 7 seconds hauling them!)
5. Take a quick pic in the water and let them go quick after a fast brisk dogfight. These are our precious brood-stock of the river and carry the fish population from year-to-year, so take care of these wild elders.
Have a great Opening Day! Be safe, practice social distancing and catch-and-release on wild, self-sustaining waters. That 12 inch wild brown you let go today will become the 20 incher you always dreamed of! Respect and wave to your fellow anglers. At least this terrible thing will teach us not to crowd people's pools and waters, which has always been the scorn of opening day.
To a new beginning!
Matthew Supinski
(Blog author's note: My Selectivity and Nexus books are loaded with endless small stream hunting tactics . If you never have read them cover -to-cover, the information is waiting for you to explore!
12:24 PM
Matthew Supinski's Gray Drake/Selectivity/Nexus Blog
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