Trout in February

Got the chance to fish the Farmington on Tuesday after work. Air temps were in the upper 30's, which is not to bad as far as winter fishing conditions go. Winds were light, which was an added bonus. Water temp was measured at 37 degrees, flow was approximately 240cfs.


Short synopsis - I ended up with 3 trout landed, and 1 LDR'ed, which was probably a brown. The fish we're getting right now in the Farmington are pretty good sized by eastern US standards. All the fish I caught were around the 17" mark.

It was nice to see some insect activity going on! The winter caddis were everywhere along the streamside rocks, but I didn't witness a hatch per se.


Later in the day, I met up with my friend Torrey, who is the manager of Housatonic River Outfitters, and his significant other, Mandy. Torrey was into a brown in the first 15 minutes, that went 18".



After that, it was my turn and I landed this fairly beat looking rainbow. Definitely has been caught more than once already. I was actually happy, despite the Tom Green grimace... just cold.



Great to get out and have something tugging on the end of my line, but we still have a bit of winter left to go before the real fun starts.

First of 2009

Went fishing on the Farmington Sunday with my friend Alain. We met on the river at 7AM and the weathermen were forecasting a high of around 50 degrees. Not bad for early February. That didn't happen, but to expect warm weather in New England in February is folly anyway. This was the first time out for me in 2009. January was a bitterly cold month, so I just didn't feel like getting out to freeze my hands off and chip ice off my guides.

Alain's a little more hardy than me, so he's been out a few times thus far. Those experiences have really benefitted him. He knew where the fish were likely to be and so he went ahead and schooled my sorry ass. I don't even want to tell you what the ratio was, it was that bad. But, kudos to him, he's a fine fisherman and a gentleman and his persistance has paid off.

I did manage one decent brown out of the TMA. I can't say where, because it's a relatively lightly fished spot, but here is the nicely colored brown:



We moved around a bit. Tried some other spots within the TMA. The action for the rest of the day was pretty slow, even for Alain. At least we got out and finally got to wet the line in 2009.

Alain intent on hooking up: