The Quashnet River (also called the Moonakis) on Cape Cod is one of the region's great restoration stories. Decades of volunteer habitat work have brought back a run of sea-run brook trout, the native salters that drop to the salt and return, in a small, spring-fed coldwater stream. It is a special, fragile fishery that deserves a light footprint.
The water
Small, cold, spring-fed and heavily vegetated, the Quashnet is intimate water, the product of ongoing restoration. The brook trout here are the crown jewels of Cape Cod trout fishing.
How to fish it, and how to protect it
Fish small flies with a stealthy approach in the tight quarters. More important than tactics is the ethic: this is a catch-and-release fishery by conscience if not always by rule, handle these rare fish minimally, keep them wet, and tread carefully around the restored habitat.