Sea-run Brook Trout
50 years of Sea-run Brook Trout
For the last 50 years, well a couple more if you count dating, I've been coming to Cape Breton with my wife Norma to visit her family. Until 2002, that included visiting her Dad (and earlier her Mom) and he and I would go fishing the Island. As a result, I probably know Cape Breton as well or better than most Islanders.
One draw for early July fly fishing is that the sea-run Brook trout come into the rivers. These fish are a bit larger on average than the resident fish, and they fight harder as a result. A beautiful fish in any state, as a sea-run the Brook trout becomes even more beautiful as they take on a silver hue.
The image is of one of the couple of dozen fish I caught this year - he's about the average as I caught a few bigger and a bunch smaller. This one got photographed as the fly just dropped out of his mouth as I netted him, so he was returned to the river completely unharmed and swam away quickly.
The fun of fly fishing is because trout inhabit beautiful places. The fish are a bonus, but I love just being in those places - places like Cape Breton in the first couple of weeks in July!
