Brown Bugs

That simplicity thing...a hook with some brown thread and some peacock along with a feather. About as effective a fly for me in the last week or so on the Farmington. I'm not a hatch specialist and could not tell you what this emerger represents and frankly I don't really care. What I do know is that it works. The two patterns here are tied on curved hooks Sakasa Kebari style but I have a feeling they would be just as effective on a standard hook. The first fly has a wing from a grouse.

This fly uses a thorax of opossum and a feather from a hen pheasant.

This pattern is a variation of the Pheasant Tail-Partridge. 

Yvon Chouinard the founder of Patagonia and simplistic fly fisher and fly tyer  shows his way of tying the Pheasant Tail-Partridge.

Through the rain drops....

Walking from the parking area a soft rain began to fall. The sky dark and the promise of sunshine was not in the future. It was going to be one of those days where coping with rain drops would be necessary if I was to find what I was looking for. So before I made my first cast of the day I found what I was looking for and that was what you see in the first photo. The day would have been a success even though I had not brought a fish to hand.

On these late summer outings the dampness seems to highlight the beauty of the woods. I love these days more so then bright sunny days. A slow intermittent rain also puts the brookies at ease. This was seen in the fact that not one spooked while I walked along.

Wood in the stream provides so much for the trout that inhabit the tiny blue lines.

It is also a road map to finding willing brookies.

This time of year one can see some subtle changes taking place.

What a promising looking spot. Not only that I noticed a small dimple on the surface, a brookie maybe, or might it be a crease in the current.

It was both a crease and a brookie.

Time and water keep moving. The fish do the same...here one day and gone the next.

I'm glad they were here this day, a day through the rain drops.

Mid August or so..

Out and about over the weekend checking on the waters I frequent. Found some interesting things, had a frustrating few hours fishing and realized that brook trout always seem to pick me up. The stream in the picture was flowing nicely when I visited it on Saturday. Thundershowers in certain areas seemed to dump a lot more rain than they did in other places. I took a water temp and it showed 66, which is not bad. On to selective brookies. I hear you say what the heck is he talking about. Most feel brookies are always hungry and will eat most anything they can get in their mouth. I agree but there are times when they blow that thought out of the water. Case in point was yesterday when they would not take my usual offerings, instead they were choosy and it took me a couple of hours to get it figured out.

This big fly would normally be crushed the moment it hit the water, not this day. Even my friend the "bomber" did not create a surface crease. The fly that helped me avoid the skunk was a wet fly, and that wet fly had to be a size 14.

I managed to bring these two to hand on the wet fly.

I know it's only mid August but I have my mind set on those October days when I'll be here fishing for those unique strain of brook trout...yes sir.

I want you to check out the photo below of a sea-run cutthroat trout. It was caught on a dry fly. Broad shouldered and silvery. It measured 17.5" and was taken on a 2wt rod.

Still bumming around the Farmington....

I have been poking about the Farmington these last weeks. My small streams have been given a rest. I do miss them and have been monitoring a few and I'm glad to say they are doing OK. My trips to the river have been about three hours in duration and have been very fruitful. Many hook-ups and some luckily to hand. One outing I sat along the bank and observed the goings on of life along the river. Three types of ducks, lots of geese. A fantastic flight of a mature bald eagle. A whitetail deer crossing the river, and heaps of fresh moose droppings. You don't have to catch fish to have a complete outing.

Cardinal flowers, the first sighting this year. These flowers are like brook trout in the fact that a camera can't catch the true color of these blooms.

This was a nice rainbow that took the fly in some pretty fast water. He was a fighter leaping several times before giving up.

Can you identify the fly?

Pretty nice view at 6am.

Typical Farmington brook trout.

Clear, shallow water hardly the place to find brown trout. A well drifted Partridge and Orange soft-hackle did the trick.

I think I like having the Farmington so close.