Went for a drive looking for brookie water. This area is in draught conditions and all the small streams were down to a trickle. Scouted Freeman Run and found…
By todays standards this is a crude dam. Since it only lasted 2 years I suspect it was haphazard even in early 1900 standards too.
The dam stretched from the road on the right over 500 feet to the mountain on the left. The monument in the foreground lists the people who died in the…
Another view of the ruins.
View from the hill on the left side of the dam. Not huge by todays dams but certainly large in its day.
Caught this brown. When I released it the fish immediately went belly up. Grabbed it and held it till it revived. Seemed unusual but I didn't immediately check…
Another pic of the same fish. Note the time...nothing was hitting the surface. Had to use a streamer to catch this one.
Here's the pool where I caught the brown and missed two others. I'd learn that all the fish have since migrated to the deep pools because of the elevated water…
Low water was present in the Freeman Branch as it was everywhere else. Not what I expected or was looking for this time of year.
Drove down to the First Fork and found a couple fish rising and caught this rainbow. Small size 20 and 22's seemed to do the trick.
This is where that bow was living. Now it makes sense. The small stream on the left is bringing cooler water to the First Fork. The fish moved up to the cooler…
A view up stream. The water levels were really low and were dropping as evidenced by the markings on the rocks and bridge abutments.
Then I got another rainbow. This fish too went belly up on release. Hummmm.
Healthy looking fish though.
This is the Delayed Harvest area. Finally pulled out the thermometer and found the water temp here was 72 degrees.
I stayed here for an hour or so playing with a couple chubs but not wanting to harass any trout. Soon, 4 fishermen would crowd into my spot. Seemed like New…
