Monday, June 18, 2012

The "Farmington"




Fathers Day, I hope everyone's was the best. Well mine was a gem. I was taken out for breakfast, with no diet restrictions, and enjoyed it beyond words. Then I was told go fish until you get your fill.

I had already selected the Farmington River as my choice of places to fish. This had been my first time fishing this river this year, in fact is was my first time since last August. I was amazed by the changes in the river since tropical storm Irene went through, as well as the freak snows of October.

The Farmington is a tail water and is Connecticuts prime fishing waters. It also draws anglers from all over New England and beyond. It has prolific insect hatches of many types. It has all three trout, and supports a wild population of two of them and possibly all three.


I arrived at the river about 3pm. The sun was out but the waters were cool. There were several anglers in some of my sweet spots so further exploration was needed. The fishing was slow. There were few fish rising and the only fish taken were salmon parr. As the clock ticked towards 6pm, all hell broke loose. The trout began rising. There was a buffet of insects coming off the waster, and the fish were taking them emerging, also on the surface. I was taking them on Adams Parachutes, Usuals, and Bombers.

Before I walked out of the water at 8:15, I had taken an abundance of trout. Most were browns, healthy and robust. I also was able to hit for the cycle. A brookie, a brown, and a rainbow, who leaped several times. And to complete the cycle I did all this without falling in.







A wonderful resource, and as this photo shows, you can find small stream beauty in a big river.


A what better way to top of Fathers Day.


CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE









31 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the cycle.

    I have to put the Farmington on my list to visit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ed,
      Thanks.
      It would be a good choice. And it's not that far.

      Delete
  2. Looks like you had a great Father's Day. I'll have to go there soon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Brk Trt!

    Seems that you had a lovely afternoon at the river! Very nice trout you caught and I saw that you caught the Big one, in your previous post too. Thanks for sharing the joy!

    Have fun fly fishing for trout,
    Mats Olsson

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Jassid Man,
      Thanks.
      It was a fine outing.

      Delete
  4. I'm still looking for my fist single outing "hat trick" with all three trout...Congrats to you though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kiwi,
      Thanks.
      To be honest that might have been my first.
      Hope yours comes sooner.

      Delete
  5. Sounds like a great day!

    And some nice looking trout you got too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. G Lech,
      Thanks.
      It surely was.
      The trout were nice, average for that river. But recent catches of 20+ inch fish make them look small.

      Delete
  6. Very nice job, congrats on the cycle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ben,
      Thanks.
      The rainbow was the last of the cycle, and I thought for sure I would loose him with all that cart wheeling.

      Delete
  7. A perfect Father's Day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Apache Trout,
      Thanks.
      John what I was most happy about was that I didn't fall in.

      Delete
  8. I hope that was an apple turnover. Sure looks yummy. You've got to break the diet once in a while just to keep your sanity.

    Mark

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shoreman,
      Thanks.
      It was an apple turnover. A break in the action feels so good.

      Delete
  9. Brk - sounds like a great Father's Day! I got a raincheck on my Father's Day outing. I had some work to do but I'm hoping to get out next Saturday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Steve Zakur,
      Thanks.
      It was a wonderful one.
      I hope your outing is good. Only 4 days.

      Delete
  10. I see you're up to your old tricks, fishing the bomber on the Farmington again... tsk, tsk. The river has been fishing very well so far this year ! Nice job hooking a brookie, I haven't caught too many on the Farmington

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mark,
      Thanks.
      It works oh so well. From the reports I've seen some very large fish have been taken.

      Delete
  11. Very nice. I didn't make it out to any of my coldwater haunts over the last weekend (didn't really do much fishing at all) so I'm playing "Monday Morning Quarterback" and getting my fix from perusing wonderful tales like yours. As always you nailed it...nice water , beautiful fish and some fine looking food to wrap things up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HighPlainsFlyFisher,
      Thanks.
      It was a very enjoyable day on the river, the turnover a plus indeed.

      Delete
  12. Sounds like a wonderful day indeed. The river has changed alot since Irene but it's also been fishing pretty good this year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Steve,
      Thanks.
      I could not believe some of the changes. And the fishing was awesome.

      Delete
  13. Brk Trt!! That is a great Fathers Day!! Beautiful pictures, love the Brookie!!!
    Good Stuff!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Brk
    This type tailrace is exactly what we are trying to get here. It is an uphill battle, at the present time we only have rainbow. How often is this tailrace stocked? What size are the stocked trout. Those are some fantastic looking browns and bows and those undercut banks are perfect for a big brown. Hopefully we can something similar here soon. Thanks for sharing a great trip---by the way I will do a post tomorrow about the progress of our tailrace

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bill Trussell,
      Thanks.
      It's stocked preseason, like March then several more times a year. It has natural spawning of browns and brookies. There is a 2 fish limit, and from Sept 1st til opening day in mid April it's catch and release.

      Delete
  15. I had yet another wonderful day fishing vicariously through you! I WISH we had a "real" tailwater here but living in Ohio means a long ride to PA to find good cold water. Which means I have to make nice around the house and do as I'm told if I want to be left of the leash! With the lack of good cold water fisheries I constantly ask myself why on Earth did I move to the Buckeye State!?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bill,
      Thanks.
      Well if you can't go I'm happy you visit my blog.
      And by all means be good.

      Delete
  16. Nice to hear about the salmon in the river..and those are some pretty browns..

    ReplyDelete