Opening Day Trout Season

Type: Nontidal
Region: Northern
Location: Owen's and Friend's Creek

I just got back from fishing owen's and friend's creek during opening day trout season on 3/26/11. My first stop at owen's did not yield much success. The pools and runs seemed to be quiet and I did not see any fish in them. I talked to several anglers who said they limited out in the morning at 5:30 AM. I bet the place was packed. I decided to try a new place-friend's creek and fished the upper section without much success. I encountered two anglers returning from a fishing hole with 2 trout. I tried the same place but caught nothing. I decided to drive down stream and saw a promising deep hole. I was lucky I stopped since this spot had twelve rainbows in it. I started to throw streamers and caught a nice 14" rainbow. I continued to work the hole getting my limit of 5 trout. One of the trout busted my line-a big one that got away. I was lucky to find this place as it appeared the rest of the stream had been cleaned out. The five trout made a nice dinner the next day-a rare luxury.

I came back on monday to try many of the same places and struck out. It appears that both owen's creek and friend's creek had been completely cleaned out. There were still many anglers trying their luck even on monday which is a work day. I knew there was a stream that might still hold some trout-a trib stream known for wild brook trout. I worked one of the deep holes and hooked a nice 8" brook trout which I released. These fish never get very big and would not make much of meal so I decided to release it. I am amazed how quickly these streams get fished out-just 1 or 2 days of fishing. Maybe there are some fish left. I enjoyed opening day and look forward to next one.