This spring I was asked by a customer where he could find some good small stream fly fishing.  My quick tongue-in-cheek response to him was; “New Hampshire”.  Getting serious, I got to thinking about where I could send him.  However, try as I may I came up empty.  In the months that followed one customer after another mentioned how disappointed they were with our small stream fishing.  While by no means an epiphany (I think about this often), it did get me thinking more about the issue.

Like most anglers, I learned to fish on small streams.  In fact, some of my fondest memories are associated with fly fishing small streams for what most would consider small fish.  As the years went on I started to focus on large rivers and small ponds.  While my primary reason for doing so was my desire to catch large fish, I had also become frustrated with our small stream fishing (I felt it had declined noticeable).  Today I have all but given up small stream fishing in Maine. 

However, when I am out-of-state, I often find myself fishing small streams.  In fact, if asked I would have to say that some of my favorite places to fish in the country are small streams.  While working in DC, I frequented the Letort, Falling Springs, and Big Springs in PA, and Mossy Creek in VA.  In Yellowstone Park, two of my favorite places to fish are Slough and Soda Butte creeks.  In Jackson, WY my favorite place to fish is Flat Creek.  My favorite place anywhere is Silver Creek in Ketchum, ID. 

There’s Armstrong’s, Dupuy’s, and Nelson’s creeks in Paradise Valley, MT.  There’s the Big and Little Wood rivers (streams by NE standards) in Ketchum, ID.  There’s Oak Creek in Sedona, AZ.  There’s Rock Creek in Missoula, MT.  There’s Gore Creek, the upper Blue and Taylor, and the Frying Pan in Colorado.  Virtually every small stream in Yellowstone provides better then average fishing.  Even in neighboring New Hampshire there are a dozen or so small streams managed for quality angling.

In fact, New Hampshire’s recently enacted wild trout program currently focuses primarily on self-sustaining small stream fisheries.  By imposing a barbless hook ALO/C&R regulation, a number of New Hampshire’s small streams are offering high quality fishing experiences for wild fish.  It is also important to note that a number of the streams in the program are in the southern part of the state and within less than an hour of heavily populated Nashua.

However, while many of our smallest streams still have stable fish populations and our big rivers still provide some good fishing, our medium-size streams are not doing nearly as well.  While access protects the rivulets and size protects the large rivers, nothing protects our mid-size streams.  Easy to access, easy to wade, and vulnerable to over fishing, our medium-size streams have fallen on tough times.  Long relegated to worm-and-creel put-and-take angling, it is time we changed out strategy.

How is it that we have allowed our small stream fishing to fall so far?  To be absolutely clear, I am not talking about the alder choked trickles back in the woods that still hold fish.  What I am talking about is the small streams that can be enjoyed by the wading angler.  To be specific, I am talking about the freestone streams that are a car-length wide, knee deep, and open enough to maneuver a 7’ 4-weight fly rod.  This is another area where Maine is falling well short of what we could have.

Living and working near the burly Kennebec River, I would love to be able to take a break from difficult wading, driftboat fishing, and the otherwise finicky conditions.  Given the option, I would leave the boat home when things slow down and wade a small stream with my 7’ 4-weight brook rod for small but beautiful brookies, browns, or rainbows.  However, all of the wadable streams around me are fished out, under managed, or relegated to seasonal stocked put-and-take fishing. 

In addition to the classic fly fishing experience these streams could offer, many are biologically valuable in regard to the spawning and rearing of fish that if allowed to would eventually move into the larger rivers, lakes and ponds in the area to help sustain quality wild fisheries.  However, we seem to turn a blind-eye to the recreational and biological importance of these small streams and while we often regulate larger waters, we typically under manage our tributaries. 

The upper/middle Kennebec drainage is a perfect example of where our failure to effectively manage our small streams has not only deprived anglers from enjoying quality small stream fishing; it has negatively impacted our primary fishery.  Below Wyman Dam on the Kennebec in Bingham/Moscow, two feeder streams (and their tributaries) represent the bulk of the spawning and rearing habitat for the wild rainbows (the most significant fishery of its kind in New England).  

In this case, while the streams are closed to fishing from April 1st to May 31st, they are open to general law fishing from June 1st through September 30th.  This allows for the use of bait as well as a liberal 2-fish, 6 inch minimum.  While most of the spawning fish have left the tributaries before they are open to fishing, the next generation of fish is still in the streams.  By allowing bait fishing and liberal regulations, we are preventing either the streams or the river from reaching their potential.  

This situation is by no means unique to the Kennebec.  Many of the streams we manage for General Law are in fact critical spawning and rearing habitat for ponds, lakes and rivers.  How many streams do you know that while they once provided decent fishing no longer do?  How often do you hear someone say that you have to hike-in far from the nearest bridge to find any fish?  What about the fact that many of our small streams now require stocking to maintain any level of fishing?

With the current emphasis on reforming how we manage our lake and pond fisheries, we now need to direct our attention to our smaller brooks and streams.  In addition to increased access as a result of new roads, many of our small streams have lost critical canopy through logging, had poorly designed culverts installed, or have been otherwise damaged through siltation, bank erosion, blockage, etc.  Add to this liberal management, and it is a recipe for disaster.     

What is needed is a revised strategy in regard to how we treat our small streams.  While some hard-to-reach small woodland streams can withstand the pressure they now receive, many others cannot.  As such, we need to look at them the same way we would look at a small pond that is being negatively affected by angling pressure.  While no one wants to stop angling, couldn’t we just treat these resources a little better so that they could provide a quality angling experience?

Bob Mallard has been a flyfisherman and fly tyer for over 25 years and is the owner of Kennebec River Outfitters on Route 201 in Madison, ME. He can be reached at (207) 474-2500 or www.kennebecriveroutfitters.com.