Matthew and I headed up to Upper Wilson Creek to celebrate Trout Day 2012. Trout Day is our unofficial first trout fishing trip of the year, typically January 1st, but this year it was the 2nd. Wilson, known for its brown trout, is a picturesque trout stream, designated as a National Wild Scenic River.
Though we missed the warm weather by a day or two, there was still enough action to make the day interesting. When we started down the nondescript and unmarked trail down to the creek, the wind was howling and the air temperature was probably in the 30's. By the time we reached the creek, though, the temperature felt much better and the wind was manageable.
A small trout scurried out of his hiding place under a large rock when he saw my lure in one of the first few pools we encountered, giving us encouragement. As we worked ustream, we had another hit in some pocket water. A short distance upstream, we reached the first large pool. A few casts into the tail end of the pool, I had a missed strike followed a few seconds later by trout's tail hitting the top of the water. A few minutes later, from atop the path above the stream, we saw that the trout were bunched up near the tail end of the pool, just lazily sitting near the bottom of the stream.
The basic pattern continued as we headed upstream; very limited trout activity in the pocket water, and large numbers of lazy trout in the few large pools. I managed to land a 12-14' brown, and Matthew caught a 9-10" brown, both caught from large pools. We saw dozens of 8-10" trout, but they were typically less likely to hit our lures with enough gusto to get hooked. Countdown Rapalas were the lures of choice, though we also tried spinners and streamers without success.
The video below documents our day on the stream.