With the fire restrictions finally lifted, my wife and parents decided to make one last trip to our "favorite spot" in Little Naches. Aside from sipping whiskey around the campfire (which was quite relaxing) there wasn't much else going on. Well, with the exception of the plethora of food we packed. I'm pretty sure we could have survived many more days, just on what we packed alone. The weather was iffy, but with a fire going nearly around the clock, it was very tolerable. We had showers, rain, wind and sunshine, sometimes all of them occurring at the same time. Temperatures ranged from the upper thirties at night to the mid fifties in the afternoon.

As you all know, if there is a fishing spot nearby, I will be there as long as possible. Just below where we always camp sits Quartz Creek Pond. It doesn't look like much, trust me. It is stocked once a year with a handful of Rainbows, but it also contains a very well sustained population of Brook Trout. So, that is what I was after. Fishing was insane. The cooler temperatures apparently has the Brookies gorging for the upcoming winter. This is not an exaggeration, but almost every cast I was getting bites before my bait even hit the bottom (so there was slack in the line). I burned through about 36 night crawlers (which were pinched in half, making it 72) in three days. Out of the eighteen fish I did land from Friday to Sunday, all but two were Brook Trout. The odd fish out were Rainbows, one being the prettiest Rainbow I have ever caught. Sizes were not huge by any means, but they were fun to catch. The biggest Brook I caught was probably eleven inches. And in that cold water, they tasted incredible cooked in a skillet with butter!

Bait was half a worm, tipped with an orange power egg. I think this is a very overlooked fishing opportunity that contains a very large population. I'm hoping to make a day trip up here before the snowballs fly!

On a side note, my four legged kids had a ball all weekend. Squirrels were everywhere and they wore themselves out chasing and treeing them!

Tight lines guys!

Joe

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