In a perfect world we would all have access to the fabled roaring rivers of the West such as the Madison & Bighorn, but this world is anything but perfect and not very many of us are lucky enough to be able to walk out our back door and be on a large river filled with trophy trout. Although we may not live close by the larger famous rivers of motion picture and print fame, I'm willing to bet my favorite fishing hat most of us do have a small, productive little stream within a short distance of our house that we can hit after work or maybe on a weekend morning, when we might have "nothing better to do." Although you likely won't be casting dries to browns and rainbows that are as long as your arm, there are still some great opportunities to be had on these smaller waters if you apply the proper techniques. To be successful on a small stream doesn’t take any more knowledge than what's necessary to effectively work a larger river, you just have to put your knowledge to work based on the idea of "all things being relative." What I mean by that is, to first know where to find the trout. If any of us is fishing a larger river, then most of us know when we come across a large fallen tree in the river we can realistically expect to find fish hiding out in the slack water created behind that fallen tree. That same principle holds true for small streams on a much smaller scale. In a large river with fast-moving, swift current, it sometimes takes a tree two feet or more in diameter to create enough of a current break to harbor fish in slack water created behind the obstruction; in smaller streams, the tree can be much smaller. In a stream as narrow as ten to fifteen feet, it doesn’t take a tree to create the ebb a fish searches for; sometimes, it may not even be a tree at all, but rather a tree branch which creates the slower moving current. The same goes for other obstructions as well. In a larger river of fifty to seventy-five feet wide, we all know to cast behind a boulder the size of a small car and we can usually expect to find trout lying in wait behind it, ready to suck down our fly. Well, the same is true for a small stream, but that large boulder might be as small as a bowling ball and create the same effect- harboring a decent size trout, because trout in small streams will use any obstruction they can find to break the relentless flow of the stream, to rest. Water depth is another thing we all know to look for in a large river to find trout, but in a small stream that may only be three feet deep at it’s deepest point, so what do we look for there? – we look for the same thing, only on a smaller scale. If the stream is an average of one to two feet deep, then it doesn’t take a very deep hole to offer shelter to a trout. If the deepest hole in the stream is only three feet deep the fish will seek it out and use that extra depth to hide from the warm sun or from predators, even if it is only three feet to the bottom. Knowing where to look for trout in small streams and being able to catch them are two very different things. In a large river you'll create far less disturbance by wading out into the river, making ripples as you go, but that same sloshing or bottom disturbance will send a trout in a small stream streaking downstream like a torpedo. For small stream trout fishing, the key to success may be summed up in one simple word....STEALTH! If you're fishing a stream that is only ten to fifteen feet wide then most of the day the only time you should get wet is when you are crossing the stream to get to your next fishing spot. Wading through a small stream will spook every fish within a country mile and the ripples from your movements, normally dissipated by the swift current of a large river, are not covered by the slow moving waters of a small stream. The small stream angler should employ tactics that would make a military sniper envious. Crouching down, moving through bushes and along shorelines on your knees, and in some instances lying on your belly to creep up to the edge of the water to poke your rod through the bushes, are all tactics of the successful small stream angler. To see first-hand how stealth works on a small stream, take a look at the most successful angler that ever set foot in a small stream: the Heron. Anyone who has ever watched this bird as it stood in the water feeding knows what I am talking about. The Heron moves slowly, methodically; in slow motion. Its steps are as if each one was thought out ahead of time and it knows exactly where each step must be, because they are. If you must get into the water to fish a spot on a small stream, take a lesson from the Heron; move inch by inch rather than foot by foot, let any ripple that you create from your movement fully dissipate completely before you take another step; look at where you next step will be and slowly move your foot to that spot. Another consideration for small stream angling is rod length. If you asked ten anglers what length rod they would choose for a small stream, nine of them would say a shorter rod in the seven-foot range. That is not necessarily a “wrong” choice, but because you're fishing smaller water doesn’t mean you have to choose a smaller rod. If you plan to fish while wading a smaller stream, a shorter rod will come in handy to help keep you out of the trees and bushes, but if you plan to employ the tactics I mentioned earlier, of fishing from the streamside brush while on your knees, then a nine-foot rod will come in handy. The longer rod will help you to “dap” a dry fly on top of the water without actually having to cast, as well as allow you to use a "bow and arrow" cast to shoot your nymph out into the current, to then follow it with the tip of the rod to get a nice drift. Remember- a ten foot drift on a small stream is equal to a twenty-five foot drift on a larger river in most cases. A note about tactics and gear for small streams. The color of the clothes you wear and the gear you choose can make or break your day. A bright red shirt and white hat may make for a great picture, but they have no place on a small stream if you're trying to be stealthy. On a large river most times you are far enough away from the fish to not have to worry about such things, but on small streams these colored items stick out like a sore thumb in the fishes' vision cone. Choose a vest, shirt and hat that blend into the surroundings of trees and bushes; greens, tans, and browns will conceal your presence till it’s too late for the fish to know you're there. Same goes for your rod. Although a shiny finish on your rod with chrome hardware and red wrappings may make you look fancy to your angling buddies in the parking lot, a reflection from the sun off that shiny rod when it's sticking through the bushes and over a trout’s head will do nothing but put the fish down and negate all your hard work to get above the fish unnoticed. One final note. Do not take for granted that just because you can lay your rod across a stream from bank to bank that it’s too small to hold a decent sized fish. I know more than a few anglers who have taken browns in the eighteen to twenty-inch range from a stream you could jump across at it’s widest point. Even if you don’t take a trout that measures in pounds rather than inches out of a small stream, you can have the pride to know that you used tactics most anglers aren’t aware of to get into position and fool an extremely wary opponent who would have been spooked by many other anglers. Get out there and give that small local stream a try- you may be surprised by what could be lurking in that skinny little flow you pass by on your way to the larger rivers. Hatches Magazine Subscription Price: $6.95 for each issue The Premiere issue is ready for shipping & the Fall 2008 issue will be available September 1st.