The Eagle Claw Featherlight and Brook Trout

I was back on the Farmington yesterday morning. The sky was a bit cloudy with some breaks of sun, and a nice breeze kept that cool feel, which was very nice. I was armed with another fiberglass rod that I had purchased this winter, and was waiting to give it a tryout. The rod is a Eagle Claw 6'6" Featherlight, I paired it with a Battenkill reel and a 4wt line. I had purchased this rod for small streams but never tried it on one of them, choosing to break it in on the Farmington.

I started on some familiar areas that I know tend to hold brook trout. The set up was a semi- nymph, with a soft hackle trailing about 2 feet behind. It was not long before I had a strike, and a hookup. The yellow stick was awesome in it's debut. Beautiful action with the rod bending like I had hoped for.

Some of the trout took the semi- nymph but most took the soft hackle. These fish were fighters and dogged there way going for the bottom, typical fashion for lake brook trout. Another observation I noticed was the humpback on several of the males I took.

Soft hackle- North Country fly.

"Spikey" soft hackle semi-nymph.

What is it with woody debris and brook trout? Find it in a stream and you will usually find brook trout.

The Featherlight, Not bad for 29.95.

This North Country fly was the winner today. Simplicity to the max. Brown thread body, hares mask for a thorax, and some badger hackle.

As I said before some of the males had a slight hump in their backs. I have seen this before in brook trout in Maine, and one other stream in Connecticut. This one appeared to be getting his new fall suit.

Sorry for the spot on the camera lens. This brookie had beautiful green highlights.

Great outing on the Farmington. A stellar show by the Eagle Claw Featherlight. I give this rod a 9.8 rating. The only thing I didn't like was the ruler on the side of the rod, purely cosmetic, and I can live with that. Fine quality 29.95.

The Farmington River, and a Old Glass Friend

It's been hot and dry the past few weeks and the small streams have been hit pretty hard. While most are holding a cool temp, the lack of water is becoming a problem. Most wild fish have experienced this in summers past and can deal with it if left alone for a time, but rain is sorely needed. Here in Connecticut we are very fortunate to have a river that is fed cold water releases, and this creates a fine tail water fishery. The Farmington River is now the place to seek salmonids, and this is where I fished this week. I had also agreed to take with me an old time friend, I introduce you to him. He's a 1975 vintage Cortland fly rod...my first fly rod. He's a 7ft 5wt and has caught a fair share of trout in those years when that is all I had to fish with. Somewhere along in time I bought a graphite rod and the glass Cortland retired to the rod rack. Several times a year I would take it out and wipe it down, remember a fish or place we were and put it in the case and back it went.

Well this day he was outfitted with a Battenkill reel, a new 5wt line, and an attitude that old can be "good" too. We were off to fish the river where he started.

The Cortland FR 2000 7ft 5wt. The cork shows the time spent on the rivers.

The Farmington was in almost perfect shape. The weather was how I like it, some sun some clouds and a breeze.

The flies used this day would be what is shown here. They are soft hackles with various body dressings. They are all size 14 and have partridge feather wings.

The action was slow for a spell, and soon heated up. The first fish was a wild brook trout. The fish could not resist the tempting pulse of the spider.

The best action took place on the seams of fast water, like places as such.

A beautiful rainbow, looks like it was in the river for some time. The fish was strong and had gorgeous markings.

Lots of flora stream side. I had to use the rod to steady the plant in the breeze.

I had a couple of browns but they were to have no part of picture taking. The Cortland performed beautifully, like the day I bought it.

I think this was the last fish of the day. A sweetheart of a female brook trout. This may be the first year of a spawn for her. I hope it's successful and her offspring will continue to enhance this fishery with wild fish.

Exciting Happenings

There are some real exciting happenings taking place on the Farmington River these days. Wild brook trout seem to be doing very well in this river. Years ago when I first started fishing this river a brook trout was a stocked fish that did not look like a brook trout. It seemed like the focus was to establish a brown trout fishery and it has been very successful. Their are countless catches of big wild browns taken from this river. But in the last few years there have been wild brookies mixed in. With several feeder brooks to the Farmy, as well as the river itself these Connecticut natives have been doing well.

Wild brook trout can tell you so much about the quality of a watershed. They are the so called "Canary in the Coal Mine"

Yesterday Kirk and I fished the Farmy and here are a few wild natives encountered. Again they were feeding on some small fly, and we didn't have the proper match. I managed to fool a few with a soft hackle, and a Adams parachute.

I have been going through my fly boxes looking for some small flies.

A healthy scrappy brook trout.

Although not the "Rapid" the Farmington has the potential.

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Fishing the Farmington with an old friend

With the hot temps of late I decided to fish the Farmington river. It's a tail water that runs cold. I brought along with me a friend, an Orvis 7ft 5wt rod that's been with me for some time. It's a Superfine "Small Stream Special" and it roll casts like a dream, something that was necessary today. As I walked to the river at the first place I was to fish I heard the river rushing. They have been getting strong storms in the area for some days as of late, as well as the releases of water from the chock full reservoir that feeds the river. Upon reaching the river I saw a pretty swollen fast ripping river. It was going to be tough fishing. I tied on a caddis pattern I have been fooling with and tossed it out. The fly was swiftly transported on the top. As the fly drifted I thought I noticed a rise but it was hard to see with such heavy current. Knowing the fish would be hugging the bank I worked the caddis along it. Suddenly a fish rose and was on. Once hooked it shot out for the heavy current. The fish knew he had an escape and used it to his advantage. I was able to turn it around and eventually bring it to the net. A fine heavy rainbow was photographed and released. I hooked two more fish here and lost both to the current, not to mention I almost went swimming. So I decided to go to another location I knew would be a little calmer.

They hold right near the bank, then take you to the heavy current. You fall in here and your in for one hell of a ride.

Lots of pretty things along the river.

My second location, one I'm very familiar with was a bit more subdued. It did have lots of debris, logs and branches, and the water was some what off color.

I continued to work the caddis and soon had a beautiful brook trout. Several more would come to hand.

In the mix were a few browns. I realized my friend and I had a hat trick.

This stretch was good today. It also let me enjoy watching a couple of mink playing hide and seek with each other.

The brookies and the browns appeared to be wild.

A good day for my friend and I.

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Morning

Morning, early morning is such a wonderful time of day. Such was the morning of Tuesday. I awoke at four and went for my first cup of Nantucket. As I sipped that black brew, I was thinking of where I was going to cast my first fly of the day. I knew what river I was going to fish , but not the section. After the coffee I proceeded to ready myself and put the gear in the car. I was on the road by 4:45. The sky was still dark as I drove to my destination which is about 45 minutes away. I stopped for one more coffee at Dunkin Donuts, drinking it in the car. I reached the river about 5:30.

I was greeted by this whitetail as I was going to park. He was in velvet and was content to feed on some lush vegetation as I watched him. He never bolted for cover as I watched him, and as I pulled away he continued to feed.

These next photos of the Farmington as the sun was breaking through were a scene to ease ones eyes and mind.

I chose this run to cast my first flies of the day. The fog hung over the 56 degree water as the sun tried to burn it off.

There were no visible rises and I was going to prospect with a Bomber dry. I worked the run and the pool below with no takers. I changed to a soft hackle, and achieved the same results. It was about an hour later that I started to see a few fish rising. They were taking a small fly or a very tiny spinner fall from the night before. I tied on a small cdc fly, which was the smallest fly I have and no takers.

Trying to compete with this little fly that they apparently love and I could not offer I put on a summer favorite, "a beetle". That was the fly.

I only fished a couple of hours, but it did a days worth of fine tuning my mind.

Fire on the water.

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An Evening of Wonderful Surprises

I teamed up with Kirk yesterday to fish the Farmington. We got to the river about 4 pm. Sunny and bright, water that was cold and so very clear. Kirk moved to the shady side of the river and I was going to work the faster riffles a bit up stream. We both started fishing dries, and soon realized it was going to be a tough outing. There were fish rising about but we could not determine what was on the menu. It was about an hour later, and many different flies that I got my first hookup. A small brown who was very energetic. The fly he chose to take was a partridge and orange soft hackle. A cast or two later and the soft hackle put another brown in the net.

We continued to fish this section for awhile. Kirk had fish rise to his flies but kept missing. I never had another hit after the last brown. This river has a way of humbling an angler for sure.

These two browns found the soft hackle to there liking. Perhaps they were the only two fish in the pool....NOT.

We continued fishing the upper part of the pool. Are plan was to take a few more casts and move to another part of the river. Kirk tossed a Bomber to the spot near the fallen tree. That's when a brown rose and took the fly.

Kirk and his first fish of the evening.

We hopped into the truck, grabbed a cereal bar and some water and moved to a place downstream. When we arrived Kirk moved upstream and I went south. In the run that's pictured there were several trout rising. Try to get them to eat a whole different game. I left that side and moved to the other side. It's a slow moving pool, almost like a pond. I could see fish rising right along the bank. There was high grass falling into the water and casting was going to be tough.

I tied on a Bomber and worked the fly as best I could, trying to place it close to the rising fish. Several casts later and the trout rose and missed. Keep on casting I said to myself. Finally it paid off and this wild char came to hand. My excitement level went through the top.

You might say to yourself what's the big deal about a 3 inch brookie. Well this just reaffirms my thoughts on natural reproduction.\' "wild brook trout" in the Farmy.

Well many more casts of the Bomber brought up several more fish but none to hand. Until.

On a drift of the Bomber into the center of the pool, like I mentioned earlier it's almost like a pond. The fly almost stopped drifting when this fellow hit. I'm really liking what's going on in this river.

On this evening the hatches the Farmy is noted for never came off, at least while we were there. At times this river can put the best of anglers in their place.

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Small Stream Pleasure, in a Large River

As summer takes hold in Connecticut with temperatures in the nineties and little rainfall except for a stray thundershower, I have pretty much left the small streams be. Choosing to fish a larger and cooler river I have enjoyed the ability to take much larger trout. These trout are stocked and holdover fish that have grown big on the abundant food found in the river. In recent years there have been catches of wild browns in this river. Documented tales of spawning trout. In years past I have fished this river in the fall. In those areas where small tribs have entered I have taken some wild brookies, most of which have been small. The last two years have brought a few 12 inch brook trout to hand. Somethings happening here, and it's all good.

Monday late afternoon and evening I visited this river, choosing to fish its upper most reaches. The sun was hot when I entered the water. As I dropped the thermometer into the stream to find out what I suspected. The temp read 56 degrees. The air temp was around 90, but a foot above the water I'll bet was 60. The first half hour produced nothing. I worked a good piece of water before moving down stream. While fishing a fast run I got my first rise, hookup, and LDR.

This was going to be one of those outings that I write about in my journal.

As the sun started to set it produced shadows on the stream. Within the shadows were these pockets of flowing water near the sides of the river. As I cast the Bomber into these pockets I was to given the chance to catch wild beauty that is generally found in the small streams I fish.

"Bombers" they will catch fish where ever they're fished.

This is of natural making. It's dark green back was beautiful. It battled with such tenacity. And a second after this photo was taken he was in the water leaving the Bomber in my finger. Several of these were taken this evening.

As I fished I noticed a shadow moving in the woods along the far side. Another angler was ruled out because the woods would have been difficult to navigate. As I watched, trying to see what was moving I still could not determine what it was. It was starting to get dark and I was going to leave shortly, perhaps because of unknown movement in the woods, but I choose to stay a while longer.

The decision to stay was a good one for I was rewarded with this wild handsome brown. His red highlights as he lay in the water were gorgeous. He took the Bomber along side of a fallen tree. I hope I have the chance to see what this brown looks like in a few years.

A little celebration for this outing. To wild trout in The Farmington.

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