Wolf Wilds › Fishing

Photo National Marine Sanctuaries, Public domain

Trouting a brook

Fishing running water: where trout hold in a brook, walking it upstream, and letting the bait go down with the current.

What you need

How

  1. Trout in a brook face upstream and wait for food to come down to them. Walk and fish upstream, so you come up behind them.
  2. Fish the places where the current brings food and the fish can rest: the head and tail of a pool, the seam where fast water meets slow, behind a boulder, under a cut bank, below a little fall, where a smaller brook comes in.
  3. Cast a worm up and across, and let it tumble down along the bottom with the current. Reel in only the slack, just enough to feel the take.
  4. Cast a spinner across and a little downstream, and reel just fast enough to keep the blade turning.
  5. Give a spot a few casts and move on. A brook is fished by walking it, one pool at a time.
  6. Stay low and back from the edge, keep your shadow off the water, and step soft. Trout feel a boot on a rock.

Do and don't

Do
  • Pinch the barbs down if you plan to put fish back. It saves the fish and your fingers.
  • Wet your hands before you touch a trout you are releasing, and get it back in the water fast.
  • Look back often on the way up, so you know the way out.
Don't
  • Do not wade where you cannot see the bottom.
  • Do not leave line, hooks or bait tins behind.
  • Do not cross private land without asking.

Watch for

Danger
  • Wet rock and slime on the bottom cause most brook falls. Test every step, and never wade fast water above the knee.
  • A brook can rise fast and cold after heavy rain upstream, even where it is not raining.
  • Many brooks and rivers in this province are scheduled salmon waters with their own seasons and gear rules. Check the current angler's guide before you fish running water with a worm or a spinner.

Notes

A pond gives you the evening rise. A brook gives you a walk, a pool at every bend and a fish under every good rock.

See Trouting a pond, Casting a fly, Fishing knots and Cleaning your catch.

troutbrookriverwormsspinner

Updated 2026-09-29

Related

Casting a fly Fishing The overhead cast and the roll cast, for trout and salmon on a brook, a river or a pond. Cleaning your catch Fishing Gutting a trout on the bank, keeping it cold, and what the law wants left on the fish. Ice fishing a pond Fishing Trout through the ice: testing it, cutting a hole, and staying warm while you jig. Trouting a pond Fishing Brook trout on a small pond, what to bring and where they hold.