BROWN TROUT AND STEELHEAD

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Last year I wrote regarding brook trout and steelhead, and discussed the areas that these fi sh are often found in. This year, we will talk about brown trout, and of course, steelhead. If you weren't able to tell from last year's article, it will become abundantly clear this year: steelhead hold a very special place in my heart!

Brown trout are one of the true trout that reside in Wisconsin's waters. They are a very hearty fi sh, and are able to exist in many different water types in Wisconsin and Michigan. They are identifi ed by their lighter coloration for a background, on which they display their black spots and light blue and red "dots" with halos.

These trout will often eat anything that crosses the stream or lake where they reside. They are known to be ravenous minnow eaters, and aren't above a meal of worms or grasshoppers. Also, they find mice that may enter the water to be a special treat. One tendency of the brown trout that is not common to most all other types of trout is its desire to feed at night. Often times the largest of the brown trout in any given stream will feed at night. These large brown trout are caught using some very splashy flies and large spinners or spoons. This is the best time to use the "wayward mouse" imitation for catching large browns. Splashing this large fly onto the water and stripping back across can produce some tremendous strikes, and some arm-aching battles! If anyone has night fished topwater lures for muskies, then you know what exhilaration there is in having a large fish strike in the dark! Brown trout are no exception.

To head after brown trout, an angler may wish to use a similar setup as he/she would for any other type of trout. A short ultra light rod with 4 or 6 lb line will work very well, and will allow the casting of smaller spinners to these shy trout during the daytime, or the use of worms if you prefer. 2 lb line is also acceptable, but since brown trout can get quite large, having a reel with a smooth drag is a must when fishing with this lighter line. Very small to large spinners work well for browns, and very small to large flies work very well, also. If you are wishing to try your hand at fly-fishing for browns, plan on using a fly rod around a 5 wt, and choose the appropriate line for the flies you wish to cast. Personally, I have found that a "weight forward" floating fly line works very well in nearly every situation that I fish in trout streams, for all species of trout. Light tippets are leaders area a must, and I recommend either a 7X or a 6X tippet material. You must hook and fight the fish gingerly, but it is certainly a battle worth remembering!

Once again, steelhead have jumped into my mind as we had a very good spring chasing the "Mighty Chromers" on the Lake Michigan tributaries. One such river provided a one-mile stretch that yielded 8 hookups, and 5 landed steelhead. One was a beautiful Pump & Pantry buck that I hooked on 2 lb test line, 5'0" ultra light rod. The steelhead did not come to my hand, and we didn't have a net handy at the time, and he spit the fly, but it was fun while it lasted! Within the next 30 minutes, my fishing partner had hooked and landed a nice buck steelhead, and I had landed a larger Chambers hen steelhead.

On this particular trip we found that there were more than one type of steelhead occupying this river. We found Skamania and Chambers strain running up the river. The Skamania we hooked were fabulous acrobats when they fought, and made dashing runs down the river while we tried to keep up! The Chambers, on the other hand, are shaped more like footballs than torpedoes, and tend to pull, and pull, and pull some more! They rarely jump when moving up or downstream, but pull like there is no tomorrow. It took about 25 minutes to land that Chambers hen on 4 lb test line, but she never left the pool stretch that she was hooked in.

We had noticed that there were many steelhead making their migratory spawn trip, and among them was a surprise fish, a 32-inch northern pike that was moving about the river. It doesn't happen all the time, but on occasion a northern will run up the stream with the steelhead. Another fabulous fight

on 6 lb test with a small spinner and no leader! The fishing had just seemed as though it had started when it was time for us to leave. We packed up with hundreds of steelhead in the river, and thousands more waiting to come up. It was a great trip that many people in Wisconsin overlook. When the inland game fishing season is closed, there is always another alternative, and the steelhead more than .ts the bill for extreme action!

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