I live in Maine, within walking distance of tidal water. Most mornings my wife takes our lab Juneau for a walk and swim before work and on rare occassions I do. The other morning as the tide was coming in and Juneau was driving me crazy chasing ducks and tromping through clam flats, I noticed some suspicious swirls. I could not verify for certain that they were fish, because so many times a diving duck will look much like a swirling fish. So, I didn’t think much of it. A couple days later, I decided to head to a tidal spot with my fly rod and practice some spey casting with my single handed rod. The tide started to roll in and the huge surf and rising water pushed me up river a bit into some of the estuaries. I noticed a couple swirls far off in the distance and began to investigate. I walked a long ways and looked behind me and I saw the swirls again. Of course, the swirls were where I had just been. So, I walked all the way back, slowly. I watched as the swirls continued. I got myself within casting range and fired off a decent cast just a little bit left of where the activity seemed to be. The incoming ocean water was very clear so I tried to be careful not to spook the fish. I used a two hand retrieve and coiled my floating line into my stripping basket. Nothing. So, I casted again and as I was half way through the retrive a nice swirl traspired behind my fly. I did not change the pace of the retrieve and brought the fly all the way back to me. I cast again. The fly hit the water. Strip, strip, strip, strip and tight line. The fish was obviously small but silver. I was really curious to see what it would be. Then, I got it to hand. “Wow, a tiny striper! That was cool considering it was so late in November and I thought they had all left for warmer waters. Now my interest was peaked, because I thought to myself, “Well, if this little bugger is hanging around maybe there are some bigger ones too?” So, I saw another swirl and made a cast. I began to strip the line and a fish was tracking my fly. The fish made a swipe at the fly and I started to strip with shorter but faster motions, trying to immitate a baitfish who was running and panicing for its life. Another swirl and then the Brown Trout grabbed the fly. It ripped around looking for some cover and a hiding place, but there there was none. The structures and cuts that were once present during low tide were now drown by the higher tide. I landed the Brown Trout, took a quick photos and released him back into his salty habitat. It is not often for me that I fly fish in the salt and catch Brown Trout that are bigger than the Stripers. But all in all it was a great day close to home. A tiny striper in late November and a respectable Brown Trout in the salt. Very cool to be fly fishing in the same stretch of salt water and catch both species of fish. In the coming winter months I don’t expect many more stripers and will be looking for some much bigger swirls from the bigger Sea Run Brown Trout. I know they are out there.