It's early Saturday morning, I pull out my map, as my eyes involuntarily direct themselves to the tiny blue lines that suddenly seem to appear as the rest of the map fades away. My eyes start searching for the best location, and then the quickest route, where my eager feet and beat-up Toyota pickup truck can take me to the fastest. Visions of brook trout are already dancing in my head, and I'm daydreaming of finding those hidden gems once more.
My mind drifts back to the time when I first discovered my love for blue lining around the age of 9. In a mountain stream located a few miles from the farm, I grew up on, where I spent countless hours of my childhood exploring the 300+ acres of undeveloped land right at my back door. During the very early stages of my blue lining addiction, I would take a small bit of fishing line and wrap it around an old business card or a slip of paper, and a couple of dry flies pickpocketed from Dad's fly box. All of which would be stuffed into the pockets of my blue jeans that were no longer blue, but just a nice faded mud color from all my adventuring through the creeks. I was on my way. Not knowing there was an actual name for what I was doing, blue lining, or that anyone else did it. I just thought it was my own thing at the time, and that I was the only person crazy enough to stomp around through the thick, untamed wilderness in the dead of the summer in search of 6-inch trout. I would wander through the woods until I would hear the trickle of a stream in the valley below me, and then I would let the sound of water lead me to my little gem mine waiting for me in the hills. There I would take out my oversized pocket knife that I had been so stoked about finding at the local flea market, and thought I was the real deal for carrying, and I would find a young sapling and cut it to my specifications. I would tie on my salvaged fishing line and throw on one of those dry flies I had managed to sneak from daddy's fly box. Now I already know what you're thinking, I've just described the redneck version of Tenkara. Don't worry guys, my fly gear has been updated since then. I was 9, okay?
So there it all started, as I stood there barefoot stooped over the edge of the stream, overlooking the water like a predator stalking its prey.
Pulling back my poorly constructed "fly rod", presenting the best archer's cast I could, flicking the fly into an ideal location for a little wild trout to be chilling on a hot summer's day. There I watched intently, waiting for the aggressive trout to come up and attack my dry fly. Watching the fly drift down the stream with a focused eye, I saw a quick flash of color mixed with a splash of water come out of a calm pool, not quite expecting it, I jumped a little. Then instincts kicked in and I set the hook. My heart is now beating a little faster than normal, as I pull in the flopping fish who seems to be very annoyed that I interrupted his lunch. The tiny trout is now resting in my hand. I stare in amazement for a few seconds at the incredible colors that seem to match perfectly with the multi-colored stones that carpet the stream bed underneath me. Then I released my captive back into the wild. Quite content with myself, suddenly that 5-mile hike through spiderwebs, swatting yellowjackets away, and walking in undergrowth as tall as me seemed more than worth it. I was totally stoked and already planning my next blue lining adventure.
Here I am years later, and my addiction and appreciation for blue lining has grown year by year as it continues to. Not much has changed, other than my fly gear, maybe some knowledge, and skillset has improved some over the years, knowing what to look for and how to read the water. Knowing I have to be at the right altitude to catch brook trout, and most of the time, the harder it is to get to the stream, the better fishing it is. If you talk to fellow blue liners you will learn very quickly that native brook trout stream locations aren't just handed out, it's almost like staking a claim back in the Wild West. Once you'd struck gold you kept it to yourself, and perhaps a few close friends you would trust with your life. Otherwise, if broadcasted you have created a gold rush and suddenly your brook trout stream isn't so great anymore. I've learned the importance of respecting a stream and the inhabitants that live below the surface. You are invading their home, make sure that you are aware of that fact before stepping into the water.
Now, where was I? My writing is much like my blue lining adventures, my ADHD kicks in and I'm rabbit trailing again. So it's still Saturday morning and I've finally pinpointed my next destination. Now, let's get this straight. You're not usually going to find a blue line on Apple maps, so put down your smartphone, ( it'll be fine, I promise). You're not going to have service where you're going anyways.
Grab an actual map of the area you want to fish and start reading. Once you've picked out your tiny blue line on the map the fun has just begun. Soon you will find yourself on the most random of back roads getting out of your vehicle to start walking. There probably isn't going to be a trail so forget about that, you'll have to make your own. It shouldn't be long until you start to hear the sound of rushing water. Your heart will start beating a little faster then and soon you will forget about how hot it is, those annoying spiderwebs that are now glued to your eyelashes, and the overabundance of insect life buzzing around you. Your mind is now starting to become accustomed as well as very partial to the silence around you, which to me is also defined as the sound of peaceful bird songs, maybe a squirrel or two, and that continual breath of fresh clean mountain air that's carried on a light perpetual breeze from the valley below. You've gained some altitude by now, perhaps you'll stop to grab a drink of water, and then your eyes will catch a glimpse of those blue mountain ranges in the distance, with the sun shining between them as if they were catching fire. You feel that much closer to God, and suddenly everything that seemed to be bothering you before isn't anymore. And all of those day-to-day first-world problems seem so trivial now, you want to smack yourself forever complaining about them in the first place. Life just gets better on a Blue Line.
By now, you have reached the stream, growing more excited by the minute. Usually, by the second I've reached the stream I'm already taking out my fly rod, overlooking my small selection of flies I have carefully selected. In my blueline box, I generally have a few small terrestrial flies of choice, a couple of small hopper patterns, and a few stimulators, along with some size 18 nymphs of choice, small stonefly patterns, and a few soft hackles. I've probably thrown some mop flies in there, too. Just your basic natural-looking stuff. And maybe, I have that one squirmy worm for when all else fails, lurking in the back of my fly box, trying to tempt me. Come on now, don't act like you don't have one or two somewhere, too. I'm aware by now that wild trout can spook easily, especially if the stream at any given point has been pressured by not-so-cautious, not-so-considerate anglers. We all know that one guy.
You wanna normally go small on tippet, 7x will do you just fine. Make sure you have a long enough leader so you're not slapping the colored fly line right in front of the trout's face along with the fly. Common sense stuff. All of which has been learned personally by trial and error. Typically I will start out with just a dry fly. For the most part, your wild trout aren't going to be as fickle about their choice of terrestrials, and more often than not you can use the same dry fly pattern for an entire day of Blue Lining and catch plenty of fish.
If for some reason they are being picky that day, that's when you can go with your nymph. Depending on preference you can fish it as a dropper or just by its self with maybe a small split shot if you are fishing deeper pools. Approach each location you want to fish with caution. Sometimes you'll catch yourself almost crawling up to a section of water just to avoid spooking your next target. Although I'm guilty of doing so on occasion, you don't want to wear extremely bright colors if you can help it. We as humans already look gigantic on a blue line stream as it is, let's not make it worse.
Typically your average-sized blue line trout will be about 4-7 inches or so but take my word for it, the 4-7 inch trout's size is easily overlooked with the memorizing colors and patterns that each of them possesses. Size really doesn't matter. Soon after you begin blue lining you will be on the hunt for bigger trout, or even a small stream grand slam- which I was lucky enough after all my time spent blue lining over the years to accomplish my goal of a grand slam this summer, consisting of a Brook trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, and a tiger trout all in one day. For those of you who don't know, a tiger trout is extremely rare in wild non-stocked trout streams. It's when a brown trout and a brook trout breed producing a hybrid that has the most incredible coloring and patterns. So it's pretty much like winning the super bowl for a blue liner. Regardless of what your goal is, be it wild rainbow or brown trout, native brook trout or that elusive tiger, or just to escape that office chair and traffic you've been trapped in all week and listen to nothing but silence for a change. I can guarantee you that whatever you go searching for on a blue line, you will find it. And then some. At the end of the day, it's pretty crazy how a little blue line on a map, some 6-inch trout out in the middle of nowhere can make you feel so complete.
Never been blue lining before? Now is a good time to start. Whether you are a 9-year-old kid make-shifting fly rods out of saplings, a 60-year-old retiree ready to find something to do with all your newfound free time, or stuck somewhere in between the two. If you like adventure, the outdoors, and discovering things that no one has before you, blue lining is for you. Sounds like I'm trying to sell something, right? Nah. My selfish side would be very okay with me still thinking I was the only one who blue lines. But something so wonderful shouldn't just be kept to one person.
You've been forewarned though, once you go you'll never want to do anything else. You just might find yourself wanting to spend all your free time and thoughts on when you can go blue lining next. You might end up getting fired or divorced. Nah, let's not get that carried away.... but seriously though. Feel free to blame or thank me later.