Brook Trout ... River Smallmouths

Around the 4th of July I was fortunate enough to have a long weekend off.  On Friday, I found myself knee deep in a clear, cold, babbling brook which was very refreshing as the thermometer in the dash of my pickup showed 86 degrees!  Our target for the day was brook trout and they did not disappoint.  We couldn't get any numbers on flies, but as soon as we switched to the tried and true "garden hackle" (worms for anyone unfamiliar with the term) the numbers of fish jumped through the roof.  My father-in-law Gary and I both hooked at least twenty of these feisty little brookies.  What they lacked in size, they made up for in attitude.  We had a great time catching and releasing most of them, but we did keep three which were badly hooked.  These served up a delectable treat in the frying pan with butter and pepper.  Sometimes simplicity is better!  I captured lots of video footage, but I tried to pull only a few pieces out that I thought someone would actually watch, so enjoy.

The next day found my canoe scraping the banks of the St. John River as Brent and I headed back out in pursuit of muskie.  Be careful, because once the muskie bug bites you it is hard to get rid of it!  While the muskies failed to show their presence, the smallmouths didn't disappoint and we landed half a dozen of these slab sided, hard fighting acrobats.  The heat drove us off the river early, but not before we noticed an odd bird in the tree line.  As we neared, it's size was impressive, this thing was bigger than some dogs I've seen!  Finally getting close enough, we clearly identified it as a Golden Eagle!  This was a first for me and I couldn't believe how awe inspiring this bird was as it took off right over us.  I couldn't help but envision a large fish hanging from those massive talons.  I was able to get a couple of pictures, but I apologize for the quality as my camera doesn't do well at that distance from a moving canoe.