Another Fine Spring Day

Trillium

Bloodroot


... of trout fishing! When I got down to the river this morning, the air temps were in the 40's. By quittin' time, my thermometer read 85 degrees! So I went from freezing my ass off to sweating my ass off in a mere 4 or 5 hours.

Fished one of my favorite rivers today, the Shepaug, and had pretty good fortune. I ended up with 14 fish, of which only 1 was a fresh stocker. I know this for fact because today was the first day they stocked the river. I don't know how long some of these fish have been in the river, but they're generally very healthy looking; beautiful fins and scales and full of fight.

The caddis were out in force today. Lots of bugs migrating upstream and many of them were laying eggs. I don't know my caddis very well, but they were about a size 14 with mottled wings and a black belly and green back. My guess is hydropsyche.
Picked off a few in some pocket water. It's nice to see the fish moving up into feeding areas. That's a sure sign that the water temps are creeping up to the trout's optimal temperature range. In fact, when we started fishing, the water temp was 51. By 3pm, it had risen all the way to 61. Before you know it, it'll be too warm.


Then, it will be time to head north!

Connecticut Official Opener

Good day for me today. Got to fish one of my favorite rivers that has a closed season in CT and it was well worth the wait. First cast and fish on - that's pretty hard to beat. Here are a few beauties from the day:




Normally, I'd be very satisfied with the results I had today. But sometimes you get a special fish and it makes you sit back and savor the moment. This is what I mean:



That fish was measured at 23 inches. Fins were perfect. Must be a 2 or 3 year holdover. After I landed it, I sat down on the bank and cracked and actually enjoyed a crappy Miller beer. I think I was shaking for like 15 minutes after the battle was over.

Naugy TMA

The river is loaded with stocker rainbows right now. You may lock intoa few holdovers too, as we had a cool summer last season and surely many of them survived the heat.

I did pretty well today, hooking 11 and landing 9, all rainbows. The quality of the fish is very good. I would say the average fish is approximately 15 inches, but I've heard credible reports of larger ones being caught.

Here is one that was particularly photo-worthy:


I worked a different stretch of river today, just to see if they were in there. I took me about 5 casts to find out! Then, I worked my way upstream, hitting all the likely spots. Each hole had at least several fat 'bows in it.

The productive flies for today were an Olive/Orange woven caddis and the Firefly, which is basically a pheasant tail with a hot orange bead. The stocker rainbows love that bright color, whether its orange or pink. I have yet to play around with other colors.

The Firefly:


and the woven caddis nymph:


I had to stop fishing later in the day. Not because of the pouring rain, but somehow, the last one snapped my rod tip off! This is the second time I'll be sending the TFO 10 footer back. Hopefully it'll be the last time.

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.

Winter Stoneflies

Snipe & Purple

Another wet added to the flybox for the spring: