Fly fishing for and catching Brown Trout in Maine during the winter season is great fun, if you know where they are. Historically, year after year it seems that the last fish I catch in Maine is a Brown Trout during the month of December. The weather was typical for winter Brown Trout and Sea Run Brown Trout fly fishing, it was cold. Two good friends and myself ventured into a stream just to fish. The goal was just to get outside and make a few casts, have a few cups of coffee and take a break from tying flies and being indoors. We had no idea we would all catch fish, we just wanted to fish, feel a tug! We started with nymphs and worked our way up to big yellow bodied Bugmeisters. We caught four or five Brown Trout each. As we approach Christmas my thoughts move South, to warmer waters and Sun. Bonefish, Tarpon, Permit etc.. I am waiting for Christmas but unlike the children, I am waiting for it to be over so I once again can head South with my shorts and Tevas and fly rod. Why mention this in a Brown Trout article, because it is what has historically followed my last Trout of any year. I typically hang up the 5 weight rod and trout flies and string up my 9 weight rod and put together fly boxes full of crab flies, bonefish sliders and tarpon flies. The goal is pretty simple really; get out of the cold and get some sun. Sure, I love catching fish and always do; whether it be Barracuda, Jacks, Snook etc… But what I like most about heading down south is just walking the flats and being outside and fly fishing for saltwater fish. And, what’s the worst thing that could happen? A cold front comes through? I will take a tropical cold front in January over a Maine cold front in Janyuary any day. So, now that my last trout of the season has been caught and released my mind is wondering to places like Mexico and Florida.
Will keep the sunscreen tube handy for you, greg. Have as good a Holiday season as you can….See you down here later.
marsh
Good plan Greg, My thoughts are also drifting to Big Pine Key, Anne’s Beach etc… For now we will have to play the hand we are dealt, hunker down and ride out the incoming Noreaster this weekend. Baaahhhummmbbbugg.
you kill me man .. this is classic … “I am waiting for Christmas but unlike the children, I am waiting for it to be over ” … i hear ya .. and the only thing that gets me through the all out marketing assault we now call christmas, is thoughts of a january trip to somewhere warm …. far far away from internet christmas pop up ads, tv christmas ads, direct mail christmas ads, christmas sales, the sale before christmas sales, the sale after christmas sales, getting gifts that i’ll just throw away, small talk about things i don’t care about with people i won’t see till next christmas, and spending tons of cash on people i barely know ……….. merry christmas everyone! .. i’m with you greg … just put me somewhere warm with a fly rod .. no gifts, no jingle bells, no snow, no nothing … just silence, sun and fish …
ps… i know i am twisted … but, someone asked me the other day, “hey what do you want for christmas” .. ya know what i said, “i want nothing .. infact, the best gift would be if someone came and took stuff from me … i got too much stuff … a real nice gift this year would be if people stopped by and instead of giving me something they took something from me” … now that, would be sweet ….. i like things simple, to much stuff is too complicated …
Greg I see coal will be under your pillow rather than a new billypate!!!
Mickey
Now that’s a great week long grand slam. brown brookie bow snook permit tarpon bone.
haha
i’ll take the T& T switch! hahaha
Sounds like a great Day… I must say I (we) are quite jealous over here in New Brunswick, our trout season has been done since the middle of September. I have been dreaming of casting over browns and brookies since!
Dear Jeremy:
Alas I was disheartened to hear of your bourgoeis plight, burdened under the heavy weight of your material possessions, which seem to be clippimg the wings of your formerly unbridled spirit. Therefore, as your friend, I feel I must help. I will arrive tommorow in Portland with my car and a trailer hitch, to take your boat. I will also go so far as to load the boat with one of your video cameras, 100 flies, your 8t wt rod, rain jacket, and large arbor reel.
It is after all the holidays and I am in a giving mood….frankly its the least I can do.
JACKASS
nick — the comment, was obviously written with a sarcastic spin and as kind of a catharsis for me … if you took it all literally, well ??? … and i was using myself as an to represent some of what i witness during the holiday season (obviously, at least to me, with some good ole’ exageration for the sake of entertainment)… it seems these days, and i am right there to blame, that we often tend to want more, need more, expect more and never satisfied …maybe i am the only one who sees this … it’s not a plight .. it’s an epidemic … big cars, more food, more money, more houses, more, more, more, more .. advertisers want us to buy it all, after all we need it .. even if we have to take a 7th mortgage on your house and max out your last final credit card, somehow we can still justify that new plasma TV or whatever is on the direct marketing daily menu … i am not excempt, i often fall into the trap and find it hard to step back and see how much i actually have in comparison to so many others with so many other real big issues such as where will they get there next meal?
So — the intent of my comment was to share my sometimes bewilderment of christmas … what is it even about these days? watch tv or go to the mall and, maybe i am the only one, but it seems like christmas is about plasma, a mercedes with a bow on it, a diamond ring, playstation 2, the i-phone, etc…. come on … we are the ultimate consumers 365 days per year .. consuming everything in sight! so, i am left to wonder “what is christmas, really?” i am not a religious man and don’t know much about the bible or any of that stuff .. but, i do know the christmas story (i think) .. a bunch of poor people were living in a MANAGER .. sleeping on the dirt! and a baby was born. (something along those lines) …
how did it go from THAT … to internet pop up ads, plasma tv’s, charging up credit cards, tv ads, print ads, noise, running around from here to there, long lines at malls and just plain stress???
so – i guess my point to the intial sarcastic comment was … maybe this year, i don’t want anything .. just a little peace and quite .. no gifts … noone trying to sell me stuff … i would rather give than receive this christmas … no big parties .. no traveling a gazillion miles to visit everyone at the same time … just peace and quiet, that’s all.
then we could resume consuming everything in sight for the next 364 days …..
PS. stay away from my boat and my video camera! and send me those steelhead pics! .. later brotha .. merry christmas !!!!
Your dollar is worth more than ours, you should check out trip to warmer climates. My friend Dave on flies and fins South, has a lot of info on his board, take a look!
Thanks Greg, I will definitely check out the info. I have been thinking of taking a trip south for some time now. We are heading your way over the Holidays to go Skiing at Sunday River for 5 days. Should be good after all the snow that just got dumped on us.
ya .. greg .. i hear ya .. just had to go on a business trip to toronto .. couldn’t believe how the tables turn … i remember going to canada on business a couple years ago and the american dollar was worth $1.30 canadian dollars or something like that … i was shocked when i went up there and their dollar was worth $1.08 in relation to my $1.00 …. so, the tables turn for sure … have not checked the current rates .. but either way, it makes travel to canada a bit different … our money used to go a long way up there, and now it costs more to go there …. and, as you suggested to gander, the visa versa is true in the case of canadian citizens …. so, i bet we will see a bunch of canadians fly fishing in the keys this year … if i were canadian, i’d be looking at trips across the boarder much differently than i did a few years ago that’s for sure … as a united states citizen, i am certainly looking at trips across the boarder to canada differently than i was a few years ago … things change … always. see you in the keys greg and gander!