Sunday Fishing

A not so funny thing happened to me while fishing Sunday. While trying to step over a rock in the stream I slipped and fell to one knee. It hurt like hell for awhile but then it felt better and I continued fishing.

I was fishing the Farmington, where a lot of anglers were also fishing. I don't like close quarters fishing so I relied on a few places where I could find some water to myself. I started out as usual fishing streamers, then wets, and finally dries. All of the methods were able to produce a fish, or at least a strike, but the wet fly far out did the others. For those that follow my ramblings know the dry fly is my favorite way to fish, followed by the wet and the streamer. I have recently received many requests about fishing wet flies, and will address this in my next post. I'm not an expert in this fishing but can give my thoughts on it and I will direct you to a gentleman who can give you some great advice.

This brookie would not stay still. He flipped me off in a heartbeat and I wound up with the hook point in hand instead of the brookie.

On any stream or river one can find solitude. Several brookies and a brown came from this section.

A wet fly brown.

Getting back to that knee. When I went to sleep Sunday night it seemed OK, come the middle of the night I was ready to pull what little hair I have left out of my head. The pain was unbelievable, and remained like that until this morning. Finally the meds have started to take effect.

The Picket Finn.....thanks Fran and Mark

Marks version of Betters "Picket Finn"

Years ago while visiting the Adirondacks of New York I stopped in Wilmington and paid a visit to Fran Betters fly shop. There I purchased several flies, and one in particular that i never knew the name of. So I sent an email to Jan Betters, along with a photo of the fly and she responded with the name, the Picket Finn. I did a post on the fly and Mark over at "Fishing Small Streams" got the necessary materials and tied up a few for me. The first time I tried them back in January I hooked a brookie, and a chub. I put the fly in my box and there it stayed until the other day.

While fishing a new blue line, well a new section of a familiar blue line I took the Picket Finn out and gave it a try......it worked.

The new section of small stream. Lots of hemlocks, and tanic water.

While this stream had some deep pockets most of it was thin water. The fly had a beadhead and it brought the fly down fast, and that created lots of hangups. Perhaps Mark could tie a few without the bead.

When the fly was able to work without a hangup it produced some nice fish...even a few to hand.

One such pool that allowed the Picket Finn to work its magic.

A wild brookie and the Picket Finn. I have a few flies that were in Frans personal fly box. On my next outing to this stream I'm going to try them.

Saw these along the stream, don't know what they are but they are so pretty.

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One of those rare August days.

Saturday morning I fished a small stream that I have let be for a spell. We got there about 10, we thought we would allow the residents of the brook to sleep in. The weather was so beautiful for this mid August day, a slight crispness even in the bright sunshine. Walking through the woods I could see the subtle changes taking place. The early signs of the season about to come.

The stream was clear, even with the heavy rains of the day before. The brookies were active, taking dry flies of various types. There is no hatch matching going on here, if it looks edible it's taken.

One from "Mossy Pool"

Some changes that are taking place here. The leaves are not that deep vibrant green of late spring, instead they are a light pale green. The oaks have started to drop their fruits and others will soon follow.

This one also came from "Mossy Pool". The pool is difficult to fish at times and it sure was today. But after enough tries your fly will drift just right and your reward will be at hand.

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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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Recovery of a Small Stream

On this last day of June I decided to visit a stream I had not fished since last fall. At that time the fishing was very slow, and what brookies were taken were very small. In the past this stream had given up some nice fish and the thought was the hot dry summer, and the previous cold winter took a devastating toll on the mature brook trout. I did not expect to find what I did this day. The water level was in good shape and the stream was cold. In the pools I could see brookies scattering, and even a few rises. In these streams a rise could be for almost anything and the best fly choice would be a bomber, but since I had a parachute tied on already I let it fly. As it turned out that was all that was necessary.

It's hard to tell from these photos but the stream has some really deep holes and that's where the trout were holding.

They hit the fly as soon as hit the water. The fish were in good shape and starting to take on some vibrant color.

The wonder of nature....recovery from very bad conditions.

The magic of small stream angling.

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Wednesday Morning

For the last week or so the weather around here has been nasty. It's been hot and very humid with thunderstorms several times daily. My days on the stream usually begin after nine, being one who enjoys some coffee time before heading out and fishing through mid day and into the afternoon. With the weather so hot I have changed my starting time to about 6 am. This allows me to fish while it's still cool. Such was the case Wednesday I arrived to a very wet and misty landscape. The stream was flowing higher from the nights rain and the mist that rose above it was beautiful. The sun coming through the trees was spectacular.

The forest is so thick and green. I dropped the thermometer into the water and it came back with a 62 degree temp. I had taken the TQR 5ft 2wt and had it rigged with a dry fly.

It wasn't long before I found a willing player. The brook trout was also an early "riser"

On days as such finding trout can be as easy as finding shadows. If its dark chances are a fish will be holding.

This handsome brown was taken in shallow water. It tested the playing power of the 2wt.

Those hemlocks again

Here in the northeast have been blessed with some substantial rains over the last week. This rainfall has been a big plus in the to the anglers who fish small streams. These streams will rise very swiftly, filling to the brim, and almost as fast as they come up they recede. Fishing can be pretty good a few days after such an event, it seems to move fish around and take their fears down a notch.

This was the case one day last week for me. The stream was about perfect. The weather was a close second, the only problem was there was no breeze at all, real still. This prompted those tiny midges to fly about your face and become a pain in the a#*. That aside I tied on that cream colored parachute the one with the red underbody. This fly has been working so very well the last few weeks, and this day was no exception.

In this stream it seems that if there is a hemlock close to the water there's a good chance there will be a brook trout in hiding. And that was the case today.

The parachute didn't stand a chance this day.

Wild perfection.

Ant patterns are know to bring very selective trout to the surface, not so selective trout crush them. The only problem with fishing ants is they can't be seen to the angler. I picked up this ant pattern up last week in the Catskills. It's foam which makes it float well, plus it has a white tip that makes it very visible.

This ant fished well in various water types, fast, slow and it even worked as it got sucked under.

These brookies were fooled by the "top hat ant".
As I write this the weatherman is calling for rain today, perhaps an inch plus. Hopefully I'll be able to get in a couple hours on the stream before it starts, if not that's OK by me, for I'll take the rain and so will the trout.

I used to be able to eat this sandwich three times a week. Since happenings a year or so ago I might enjoy this three times a year. Well one of those three times came the other day. Local kielbasa, sauerkraut and onion on "Pittsfield Baking Co. rye bread.

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"Upstream"

Every angler says to himself I want to fish the next pool upstream. On this particular stream I've said the same many, many times, but for reasons of access I never did until Tuesday. The lower stream has been good to me for years, giving up brookies of various sizes. So after fishing for about an hour I began my quest of finding what it was like around the bend and upstream.

What I found was a rugged freestone stream that was flowing swiftly. The stream was apparently up from recent rains. Some sections were open along the bank and others completely down right nasty. Large boulders created pockets that had to hold fish. There were places where I crossed the stream to be able to fish, and doing so I stepped into holes that almost covered the top of my hippers.

Noticing a small amount of sulphurs about I put on a fly of similar color and was able to bring a fish to the surface. The pockets where the trout held were hard to work and the presentation seemed like it was never going to happen right, but when it did you had a fish on.

I was able to fish this area and had the fortune to take many beautiful wild brookies.

All of the brookies were about the same size this day. I knew by some of the hits I felt that there were larger trout here.

This swift run produced a brookie. As the fly got sucked under towards the back I pulled and lifted it up. The trout struck it and was on.

Moments later this fine brook trout lay in my hand. I think there may bigger guys than this lurking about.

A beautiful stream, and some places as such I should let be. It's very easy to fall and a broken bone quite the possibility. I walked around this jam and fished the pool above it.

There were quite a few green inch worms about. The closest fly I had to it was a partridge and green soft hackle. In the swift current if it is similar they will eat it. As I reached into the water to lift this wild jewel up I was startled by what I saw. I tell that story at another time.

A fine few hours were spent upstream. Wonderful surroundings and wild brook trout. "Life is truly sweet".

"Mossy Pool" an Enigma

This is wonderful pool found along a small stream we frequent. I have fished it many times over the years with varying success. It's a beautiful section and often wild brookies can be seen rising in various sections of the pool. Kirk had given a name to this pool, "Mossy Pool". Friday morning Kirk and I met for a few hours to fish this stream. Upon reaching "mossy pool" Kirk said you fish it, that pool owes you a nice fish. I drifted the caddis and within seconds a brookie of generous proportions struck the fly, and missed. I continued to fish the pool with numerous rises. Finally I was able to bring a nice brookie to hand.

"Mossy Pool" can be at times a bit strange. Trout can be taken at various areas of the pool from the head, middle, and tail, right or left side. And there are times when you can fish it and never have a strike, as if it were barren. Thus somewhere along the line Kirk said that pool is an "enigma". And this day showed why at times it's just that.

Having fished the stream quite away upstream. I had to get moving on home. As I fished my wat down I came to "Mossy-enigma Pool". Again armed with a caddis dry I floated the fly through the pool. Not a look. I did this several times with the same result. On a last cast, as the fly reached the very tail of the pool a fish rose and hit the fly. I had been to slow to set the hook, but as I started the retrieve the fish struck again this time the steel struck struck home. The trout did a tailwalk that was awesome. He covered just about every inch of the pool trying to shake the nasty bug that bit him. Moments later a beautiful wild brown was at hand. His striking spots and color rivaled the brookies of this pool. Again a big thanks to both brown and stream were said, and off he went into the pool. A pool that is truly an "Enigma"

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