Deerfield Brown Trout?

I re-arranged my schedule and took a vacation day yesterday. I fished the Deerfield for a half-day and hit the Millers on the way home.

With lower flows happening for a bit each day, the Deerfield was too good to pass up. And, this weekend is loaded with family activities.

Also, I’ve been keeping an eye on the water temperatures at nearby freestones and felt the timing was right. Maybe I won’t have to throw an indicator?

Time to fish.

At dawn, the Deerfield measured at 50 °F, and I rejoiced. I hit an old spot and hit some new ones and was rewarded with piles of holdovers, new stockies and fish that looked clean to me.

Trout were back in the seams near fast water, feeding aggressively. No indicators needed!

For flies, I pretty much stuck to attractor patterns. When midges were hatching everywhere, I did put on a small WD-40. But, for the most part, a small Rainbow Warrior (I now believe that rainbow scud dubbing is magical) and a Frenchie did very well. The Red Dart, too. Super-easy, as I didn’t have to overthink it.

All of the fish I landed were rainbows, and it made me wonder what I have to do to land a brown trout. I’m new to the Deerfield and started fishing it only since January. So, I’m not an expert.

I did a far amount of walking today and found deep holes that I thought would house browns. No going, but I’m good with that. If anyone has advice on how to target the Deerfield browns, I’d appreciate it.

The best fish of the outing was this rainbow. Healthy, strong and with a kype.

There are some rainbows at the Deerfield that just look stunning. Maybe they’re wild or have been there a while, but they have a yellow-ish tinge and bright-pink fins that I’ve not seen at any other river. True beauties.

On the way home, I called an audible and decided to stop and see the Millers (our overview here). The flows looked fine. The water was 70 °F at noon. After the Deerfield, it felt like going from a swimming pool to the Jacuzzi!

There were quite a few fish at the one run I targeted, nearly all rainbows. I rarely fish the Millers these days, but it was good to see the ol’ gal.

The fishing is easy this time of year. Hope you’re getting out on the water, my friends. Visit the Deerfield Fly Shop on your way to the river.

Good times….

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5 thoughts on “Deerfield Brown Trout?

  1. Awesome post Jo! I’m glad to hear the Deerfield is turning back on. I talked to Mike on the phone last fall before my first trip there last fall and he told me that it varies almost year by year. Some years, browns do better and in others, rainbows. I hooked into more bows than browns in my two trips. Ironically, my very first Deerfield fish was a brown trout. I caught it in fast pocket, churning pocket water.

  2. Congrats on the great day, Jo! I am firmly convinced with regard to browns, they high tail it out once the rainbows get stocked. Same for brook trout. A couple of weeks later things settle down and the trout find their feeding spots.

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