Troutnut.com User Brookies (Isaac Perala)

Jedi Master Mishka, the mighty 6-week-old labrador retriever puppy, investigates my largest brook trout ever (as of June '06). He quickly approved of the fish and then tried to eat my sock.

Disclaimer: Before any C&R evangelists go for my throat, I'll point out that this is the only trout I've kept all year, and it inhaled my dry fly directly into its gills and ripped one of them out during the fight. It was mine or the herons'.

This school of young-of-the-year brook trout was basically trapped in a pool in a remarkable little brook trout stream stricken by drought. The adult trout population seems to have been wiped out by the drought and a previous flood, but the young trout are as thick as minnows.

The picture is taken from above water with a polarizing filter and a telephoto zoom lens. There is one other picture of them.

Here's the official first trout brought to hand with my new small-stream rod, an Orvis Superfine 7' 4-weight. It's an appropriate fish from an appropriate water.

Now these are fall colors.

Fish don't get any better than this.

A perfect brook trout.