I fell in love with this river after fishing it in June of 2017.  This is one of those streams that doesn’t get fished often and is full of brook trout.  You can put up triple digits on a full day fishing.  For beginners, this is the type of place that will get you hooked on fly fishing and for more experienced anglers, this is the type of place where you can practice techniques, and remind yourself about how fun it is to catch a ton of fish in a day.

The river is a small, meandering creek that is tea or coffee stained in color.  The off color of this water screams brook trout heaven and there are dozens of trout in each hole.  You will have your best luck fishing a streamer, or a dry dropper set up.  In my experience I caught most fish on nymphs, and a few more eager brooks would eat the dry, but most on the nymph.  You can tell this place doesn’t get a lot of pressure because you can catch nearly every trout in the hole as you fish upstream and they don’t really seem to spook.  It’s a super fun place to spend a day.  You can fish all the water, but your best water will be the holes and big bends with the most water.  Fish group in there by the dozens and though you don’t see them, you’ll see them eat your fly with relative ease.

Though you can prepare yourself for a double or even triple digit fish day on this river, you also need to prepare yourself for a challenge.  While getting to the SWA parking spots are easy in just about any vehicle, the 1/4 mile walk to the stream is a frightening challenge.It’s a bona-fide bog getting there and some of the weirdest walking I’ve ever done.  You feel like you’re hiking in on a water bed and it’s unerving to feel the ground pulsate beneath you.  I recommend fishing this with a friend as it’s a remote area and who knows how deep the water is under the peet bog, and falling it would require help to get out.   Walk it carefully and take your time as it’s also tiring walking on that type of ground.  Once you get close to the river, the river bottom reinforces the ground and makes it easier and more stable to walk.  Work your way up or down river as you please and then you can walk along the road after you cross the bog again to get back to your car.

CAUTION: WILD TROUT WATERS

This river is designated wild trout waters and is 100% catch and release.  These fish are naturally reproducing and considered wild.  Barbless hooks, handling the fish with wet hands and using a landing net is mandatory.  These fish are here in such numbers because they are well protected and tenderly fished.  Make sure you adhere to the rules as they are enforcable by law.