Hot town summer in the city...The Lovin' Spoonfull, a Saturday afternoon just the same. Jeanette and I hit the road for a favorite spot on the Farmington river, a spot that is shady and cool. We had decided to make some simple prep work and put together a lovey evening meal beside the rushing waters of the river. Grilled hot dogs with chips and some very cold ice tea. Beautiful conversation and a few "that smells great" from the passing anglers that were going in to test there skills.
I was not fishing today but had a fly rod just in case we needed it for a survival situation. The rod was rigged with a soft hackle fly and that is what I tossed. About an hour later I reeled in the fly for the last time. It was not a skunk for I had a swipe at the soft hackle by an unknown fish.
What a place to enjoy a summer evening supper.
After the angling we went to the west branch reservoir to take a few photos of the sunset.
The west branch reservoir and the start of the Farmington River tail water.
Water coming from the bottom of the reservoir is quite cold and the mist rises above the river for a long way.
 |
| "Mickey Finn Cove" |
The west branch reservoir is quite a fishery itself. I have fished it many times especially in the late fall. This a spot that has given up many nice trout. It is a cove with a small feeder brook entering. Streamers have been the flies of record, the lake has a good population of smelt. I call this cove "Mickey Finn" cove. It was here that I caught a beautiful brook trout on a Mickey Finn. That was about 5 years ago, I must fish this place more often, perhaps tomorrow.
 |
| The "Mickey Finn" |
The "Mickey Finn" the coves namesake.
Nice heads on the Mickey Finns.
ReplyDeletessj
DeleteThanks
Veniard's Cellire is the varnish. Two coats.
A tasty looking river meal and attractive scenes like these can really fire up imagination.
ReplyDeleteRivertoprambles.wordpress.com
DeleteThanks
Walt what a place to enjoy a hot dog, love it.
What hooks do you use for your streamers? I can't find 6x long shanks...it seems as though mustad only makes 5x now.
ReplyDeleteRI brook trout
DeleteThanks
The Mickey Finn's in this post were tied on Mustad 3665A hooks. I use this hook for most all of my hair wing streamers. This hook is readily available in most fly shops and online. For my featherwing streamers I use Mike Martinek Rangeley Streamer hooks. These can be found online, just Google the name. I also came into some nice old Mustads, 3907A and they work well with featherwings.
Man I love all the food pics you show and I'm a picky eater. You should have a link to all your recipes.
ReplyDeleteKevin Frank
DeleteThanks
Kevin I'm also a picky eater that's why I try to keep it simple. Many of the guys that follow this blog tell me that their wives read all the food recipes I post. Maybe a cook book in the future?
Alan
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome place to trout fish, the mist coming off the water there resembles the Sipsey here early and late in the afternoon. Looking forward to your report from there, always enjoy reading about trout taken from the Davidson. Thanks for sharing
Bill Trussell
DeleteThanks
Bill it's the Farmington River. The photo was taken at the dam which is where the tail water begins.
Wait a minute. You said "I was not fishing today but had a fly rod just in case we needed it for a survival situation". I understand that just in case something happened to those mighty good looking hotdogs, but in the next sentence you said "The rod was rigged with a soft hackle fly and that is what I tossed". Got ya. OK, the hotdog buns look home made. My wife has a "gizmo" from King Arthur Flour that makes buns that look just like that. These home made?
ReplyDeleteMark Kautz-Shoreman
DeleteThanks
Mark they are actually store bought buns, and the low price generic brand. Toasted on the grill they're not bad.
King Arthur, a Vermont brand?
I am telling you AL you missed your other calling!!! Chef!! Say you didn't use those hot dogs for bait did you??:-)
ReplyDeleteTROUTI
DeleteThanks
Pete I thought about using them as bait, but they tasted so good.
The Mickey Finn was actually the first fly I ever tied. I don't remember how it did but I never tied another. Now hot dogs are another story...I love all beef (Kosher) dogs over a fire. Nothing tastes as good.
ReplyDeleteHoward Levett
DeleteThanks
A good first fly, now they teach them to tie a wooly bugger. Kosher dogs are nice and garlicky. They have that repeat about them.
The ones on the grill are Jordan's Reds, big stuff in Maine as well as at Brk Trt's house.
Alan, serenity is where you find it, and, with whom you find it with..... Those "Dogs" look great and would have gotten my attention also as a passerby.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the Mickey Finn. What a great traditional Streamer. It has been known to take some huge Brook Trout and Cutthroats out of Henry's Lake in Eastern Idaho over the years. A favorite of a lot of the ol' timers there.
Gramps (Mel)
DeleteThanks.
Those things have the knack of doing just that.
Mel funny you should mention ol' timers and the Mickey Finn. Just a few days ago while in a fly shop a discussion was stated on fishing and tying flies, and the old classic streamer patterns came up. It soon was realized that the new modern fly tyers could whip you up a #22 blue winged olive, but a true Gray Ghost they would not know where to begin.
Long live us ol' timers.
Great looking fly. I really need to invest in a small grill for when I go on my trips. Sandwiches are getting old....
ReplyDeleteJustin Carfagnini
DeleteThanks
Justin I picked it up at Wal-Mart for 10 bucks. It's good for dogs, sausage, burgers and even a couple of rib eyes.