A Farmington River Trifecta

I was able to get out on the Farmington for a few hours Thursday. I have a couple of spots I can fish without to many distractions, other than beavers or an eagle from time to time and this day was no exception. I started fishing soft hackles and the action was slow. Several hits, but not a hook-up. I changed to streamers and the result was no better. I set my mind on a day that was to be absolutely beautiful in every aspect of a Farmington outing except that the fish to hand count would be not stellar.

It is on days like this when I like to experiment with flies I have not fished or flies I have not fished in some time. Pulling out the box and fumbling to pull out a fly that had been stuck there since, well I can't remember. I was a caddis dry and it's hackle was bent out of shape, a real deformity of sorts. Well I tied it on and off it went to seek a hungry trout. Two casts and "what in the hell was that" a rise and a take and fly and fish gone. Big fish I thought but more likely poor knot. I reached for another fly that has been in the box for months. A brown soft hackle dry fly. On it went, with a secure knot, and into the river. I cast that fly enough and was going to change after a few more tries. Suddenly a big swirl and a big take. I knew I was into a good fish. After a strong run the fish took a series of jumps, that's when I saw him. It's a big rainbow. I was fishing a Cabelas glass rod, 6'2" 2wt, and that rod handled it very well. Moments later the big trout lay at my feet. I knew I was not going to be able to lift him out for a photo so I snapped a pic while he was in the water. I turned him right side up and held him in the current and soon he was back into that black hole.

I moved to another location and was in the process of trying to coax a few rising fish. I heard a voice say "hello brook trout" looking I saw "The Fisherman" Steve Culton. I have not seen Steve since we tied together at the CFFA fly tyers roundtable back in March. We talked a spell and made all things right with the angling world and said so long and went on to attempt to have a stellar day. Steve's blog "currentseams" is always a good read.

Back to the river and to those rising fish. I managed to take a beautiful brook trout on the soft hackle dry. I had hoped to take a few more until a submerged log took the fly.

So back in the box and out comes a "bomber", A staple fly on a small stream now called to service on the big river to temp a selective bunch of sipping risers. A few drifts and stops and a take. It was a nice brown, that was very spunky.

The "bomber" did here what it does on the small streams, get trout to take it. This was the most beautiful fish of the day.