The Soft Pocket

Yesterday Mark and I fished the Farmington River. This will not be an angling report but some of my thoughts on what took place in a very beautiful river. To some this river is the most hostile place in the world, and to survive in it is a challenge that I cannot even imagine.

I was fishing a very fast and heavy current. The water was so badly broken up that if a fish were there I would be shocked. Just to the left of that water roller coaster was a soft pocket about 8 feet long and 5 feet wide. The water was flowing towards a bush and a small undercut. This would be an ideal place for a large trout who had negotiated the heavy current to pull into and just sit and rest before continuing his move upstream. I had rigged my line with a small bead head soft hackle with a wet fly tied to the hook bend of the bead head. I made several casts into this soft spot and let the flies tumble down easily through the pocket. As I worked the flies back and was in the process of lifting them out of the water to make another cast, I noticed a very subtle movement behind the last fly. I again cast the flies out and again they found the soft spot. I let the flies sit, I believe they were on the bottom. A moment later I started my retrieve, suddenly I felt the pull of a fish. Seconds later I was looking in the water at a most precious sight.

What lay there was a very youthful wild brown trout. I was amazed at such beauty, and such tenacity to exist in such a hostile river. Fish this size are on most browns in this river what's for dinner saying. I took a quick photo and let it back into the river. Later in the day while enjoying a cup of coffee on the deck, the image of that brown popped into my head. I said quietly to myself the natural world is wonderful, "I hope you make it little friend"