A Suburban Trout Haven

Here in Connecticut, the regular trout fishing is closed until the 3rd weekend in April. Luckily, there are a bunch of trout management areas that are open all year and they're catch and release. The two major ones are the Farmington and Housatonic river TMA's. The Housy usually runs pretty high this time of year and that's the case now. The Farmington, as great a fishery as it is, gets absolutely pounded all year long. Sometimes you can really score there and other times you end up taking a doughnut.

That being the case, I recently decided to change it up a little and try some areas I haven't fished before. I've been driving by this one river in particular in my work travels through the state, always thinking how good the water looks. In the past, it was one of the most polluted rivers in Connecticut, but is now on the rebound. One of the nice things about that, is few people have fished it, thinking it's devoid of trout and not worth the effort.

I was determined to find out on my own.

I knew from conversations I've had with several DEP biologists that it is a sleeper. Every year they electro-fish some very quality trout out of this stream.

I've been to it twice now, on exploratory missions, and I've been pleasantly surprised; not by the scenery, or how clean the banks are. Nothing could be further from the truth. However, the fish are outstanding. I would say they're averaging 15" each so far.I have yet to catch a recent stocker. Every fish I've caught so far has had perfect fins, tails and scales and have fought aggressively.

Here are a few of the trout, all browns:





I was nymphing most of the time, but I did get several on Slumpbusters and Woolly Buggers.

Mayflies are an indicator species in trout streams. No mayflies = marginal or polluted water to a degree. It's still mid March, yet these mayflies, which I believe are Quill Gordons (Epeorus pleuralis) are starting to show themselves:



Like I said, not the prettiest river, but maybe that is not such a bad thing, as far as fishing pressure goes. Both times I had the place to myself:




I'd like to see how it fishes once the water temps get closer to optimal.