I leaned hard on the rod to keep the fish from wrapping my line around one of the limbs it had been hiding under. The chaos overhead started to disperse the squaretails, and they swam in a large loop around the boat. I made a quick cast in front of it. The downward flutter of the spoon did the trick and the bruiser bit. Unfortunately, the watermelon-sized speck made two hard headshakes and the hook pulled free.
Brook trout are cover-seeking creatures.
In streams and rivers they prefer shade and overhead protection provided by a tree, shrub, log-jam, or undercut bank. Put that same fish in a lake or pond and it will look for the same things. Since most woody cover in a lake is found near shore, that's were brook trout will be when water temperatures are cool enough for them. In shallow water and sandy bays, brookies cruise into wood during low-light periods to feed, but don't stay long. Shallow water allows airborne marauders such as the osprey to see them.