March Patreon Happenings

Over on Patreon this month I'm starting a new Collection (series) on chubs... that's right, something absolutely nobody asked for! I'm here for the needs of the people whether they know it or not, and I've determined that everyone needs more Semotilus and Nocomis in their lives. The first post available to all tiers comes out next month and covers the diversity and distribution of the Semotilus genus within Connecticut, to be out March 9th. One of the two monthly videos will chronicle efforts to catch the largest creek chub I can in Connecticut. Down the road I'll delve into as many chub species as I can with this collection, detailing their biology, identification, and how to catch them on the fly. 

The "Forecasting for Anglers" collection will also be built upon this month, with a cow+ tier post on locations that warm up fastest in the spring publishing later today (March 2nd) and an all member weather analog post later in the month. The other weekly posts include a sunfish ice fishing post tomorrow and a final post to be determined. The other bimonthly cow+ tier post is on targeting early season bowfin, and the other video will be one in the Small Stream Streamer Fishing Masterclass. 

As always, if you support me over on Patreon, thank you! It really does keep this whole thing going. If any of you ever has an idea for a topic you'd like to see covered, don't hesitate to reach out and ask as I'm always open to new ideas and it is a lot of work to come up with them on my own. 

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Franky, Geof, Luke, Noah, Justin, Sean, Tom, Mark, Jake, Chris, Oliver, oddity on Display, Sammy, and Cris & Jennifer, Hunter, Gordon, Thomas, Trevor, Eric, Evan, Javier, Ryan, Dar, Eric, Truman, Collin, and Josey for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog and access more informative content, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version!

Guiding Updates: The Dog Days are Here!

 Summertiiiiime, and the living is....

Muggy. The living is muggy. We've got one gnarly heatwave in the rearview and have settled into more typical summer weather, with most days in the 80's, high humidity, and lows in the high 60's. On trout streams across the state the fish are either posting up in their coldwater refuges, or just dying. It's time to give the freestone trout a rest, and I've got the fix! June was a predictably good month for the warm fishing, especially with bowfin, carp, and some fun topwater bass fishing. It featured a couple great carp days as well, including a second crazy pound-down for Dar (he had a killer day with me in May as well!) 

He got in on the bowfin bite as well with two really good fish. Then, the next day, Michael from Tennessee finally got his bowfin redemption. Last time he fished with me in 2022, we lost a nice bowfin boat side. Then there's Peter with a nice female, and Kathryn with one site fished on a chunk!

The catfish bite has been on the modest end so far, with a lot of smaller fish. I think this is owing to a later than normal spawn, and we're just now starting to get some scratched up post spawn fish. I anticipate July and August to be peak for catfish on the fly as per usual. 

John Kelly bending the rod on a channel catfish

Here's friend and DEEP CARE program instructor Noah Hart with a nice topwater bass and a channel cat from the Connecticut River with me last week: 

Summer can be a glorious time to be a flyrodder. Really, there's plenty more of the above to come. July will be our better month for bowfin as weed growth will eventually get thick enough to make some spots difficult. August has been a peak for channel catfish on the fly but July is good too, and the carp train just never stops. If you're going to book for carp I recommend an early morning half day. 

We're also entering prime time for bass floats, I offer both daytime smallmouth float trips on a number of rivers (including the Connecticut, lower Farmington, Quinebaug, and Shetucket) and evening/nighttime canoe trips for topwater bass. If you'd like to experience summer's best, give me a holler! brwntroutangler@gmail.com

Getting in The Crap

 I have a habit of not linking to lose fish. I really don't like it, if it can be avoided. I also don't like to let seemingly impossible situations prevent me from taking a shot. I will cast at carp tailing within fallen trees, brown trout rising tight to grass tussocks, or bowfin deep in the weeds. I love to fish for stripers right in boulder fields, pike in narrow creek channels, and brook trout under low canopy. My natural inclination when I see something difficult or seemingly impenetrable is to take it as a challenge. It gets me to more productive spots and catches me fish others mat not even cast at.

Last week I had my client Jim on the canoe for a multispecies trip with some emphasis on bowfin. I finally spotted one in a spot I'd highlighted prior as a likely consistent producer. This fish was sitting nearly stationary in a messy tangle of roots and branches. I knew this fish would eat and I knew we could get her in the net if we played everything right. I nosed the canoe into the crap and Jim dropped Drew Price's Mr. Bow-regard on the fish. It actually backed up to eat the fly, then dove straight down into the sticks. Not to be deterred, I made sure the canoe was securely placed and entered the water to assure I could put the fish in the net. She was buried under a few logs but I was able to finagle her out, and Jim got to hold his first ever bowfin!

Though I was prepared to dive under if I had to for that bowfin, it was nice not to need to. While carp fishing in Rhode Island last week though, I was forced to take somewhat drastic action. I found some fish feeding in an area around multiple deadfalls. There really wasn't any gap between the deadfalls and open water. The space the carp were feeding in was very finite. If hooked a fish was most certainly going to leave that area through the deadfalls. I was willing to take that risk. The fish I presented to ate with confidence and when the hook was set she promptly exited under a large mostly submerged log. I removed my sling pack and entered the water, plunging under to feed my rod under the log without jamming the tip against anything. I emerged and the fish was still on. I finished the battle and netted the carp in muddy, belly deep water. Was it necessary? No. Was it fun? Heck yes. Did it save me from skunking? Indeed it did. That lake didn't produce another fish. 

Now it must be said, none of this is necessary. You don't need to dive under logs to catch  fish, you don't even need to land every fish you hook. You probably don't even want to do this stuff. But I kinda do. I'm at a point in my fishing career where I'm more interested in the fish I don't think I'll have any easy shot at landing than the ones I can almost guarantee. I want to be the best angler I can be and to me, the best angler I can be is being capable of catching every fish possible, and knowing what fish I aren't possible. Is that even remotely attainable? 

Nope.  

But getting in the crap, diving into the water, and plowing through prickers gets me a little bit closer. 

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, Franky, Geof, Luke, Noah, Justin, Sean, Tom, Mark, and Jake for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version.

No Rhyme or Reason- Bowfin Sight Fishing

 Bowfin are characters. Their behavior is plenty distinguishable from other fish species but also different enough individual to individual to keep me guessing. That's a big part of what has made me infatuated with these fish. Each one presents me with a slightly different experience, and since I can generally see everything play out in extreme detail. It all happens at rod length, or at least close to. Close combat is so engaging. My heart rate increases, my excitement becomes palpable. But sometimes a fish doesn't give me any sign at all. Sometimes a bowfin seems like it won't even eat and then suddenly it does. 

I was putting in some scouting time on a new bank, simply a little further from a launch than I've looked for bowfin in a system I fish a lot. It had a lot of key features, though the vegetated area was less constricted to a channel than the other areas within that system that have good numbers of bowfin so I wasn't sure how it would fish. Essentially, they were there in good number but less condensed on the low tide. There were bowfin spread out through a whole flat. It actually made it a bit more interesting than the tight concentrations that occur in other parts of the same system.

I picked off one small fish and blew a shot at another before I found one layed up on clean sand. I sort of spooked it though, at least I pushed it off station and it headed off. I pursued, slowly but trying to keep up. I was hoping it would settle down and stop moving, but just kept going. I paused to make a cast, just in case. Well, she ate. There wasn't any leadup, she didn't even falter, pause, slow down, or divert her course. She just sucked in the Mr. Bow-Regard from the side mid-swim. I've cast at a lot of travelling bowfin. In my experience it's a 50/50 chance of them eating, and there's no way to tell before I make the shot. Some of the ones I really haven't expected to convince ate like crazy, others that I thought were going to take spooked abruptly. It seems like there's no rhyme or reason. 

There may actually be a way for me to know, though it currently doesn't feel like it. It would be so much easier to be able to rule out some cruising bowfin as viable targets and not waste the energy trying to present to them. There are definable ways to tell when other fish won't eat. A carp that's cruising at a fast steady pace hardly ever takes a fly. A trout sitting on the bottom with a curve to it's body is a fish primed to spook, and I never bother to cast at a fish sitting that way anymore. But with cruising bowfin I haven't yet found out the secret. That's part of the magic of sight fishing- you have to learn each fish's body language. Every species is a little different. It's so engaging. 

I've got opening for sight fishing bowfin and carp over the next few weeks. While everything else in freshwater becomes tricky during the day, these fish remain targetable. The prime windows are morning and evening. Contact me to book. There are opportunities for record class fish, particularly carp. 

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, Franky, Geof, Luke, Noah, Justin, Sean, Tom, Mark, and Jake for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version.

Lake Champlain with Drew Price

 It had been a long time since I'd last fished Lake Champlain when I went up to buy Drew Price's canoe. Noah and I made multiple trips some years back, finding success on our own. It was Drew's blog that had originally got me interested in Champlain and it's abundance of native, bowfin, gar, freshwater drum, as well as multiple introduced species that we'd not caught. The opportunity to fish the lake with the guy that really sparked my interest in it was something I was very excited for. 

Early the morning after my arrival, Drew thought we'd have a decent shot at lake trout. This was certainly something I was excited for, as it was a species I'd not yet had good opportunities to target. Drew warned me that it wouldn't likely be great fishing, but I didn't particularly mind. The idea of targeting lakers with fly tackle in deeper water and at a time when most anglers would troll or jig instead appealed to me. We went out to explore the possibilities on a couple humps Drew had been catching on in the weeks before. We fished heavy sinking lines and big heavy flies, plumbing the depths and hoping for a hard strike. Unfortunately it never came, though I did have a smallish lake follow the fly almost to the surface, something Drew had mentioned was possible. 

After a little while and no success, it was time to switch gears and re-launch further north. The rest of the day was to be devoted to a different game in the shallows. Lake Champlain is an incredible place to sight fish, with expansive weed flats and generally clear water occupied by such a broad variety of species it will make your head spin. After just a short run from the launch, we were in a spot Drew new held a large variety of fish. In no time at all we were looking at pumpkinseeds, bluegills, yellow perch, white perch, common carp, tench, rudd, bowfin, brown bullheads, and largemouth bass. Just  short ways down the sam shoreline we began to see pike, chain pickerel, and longnose gar. At one point we saw a giant channel catfish. If variety is the spice of life this place is heaven on earth for the freshwater angler. 

The first trophy of the day was a giant pumpkinseed. I'm a big fan of these extravagantly colored native sunfish. They were being fairly picky and particularly prone to spooking, something I'm not at all used to from this species. It actually took a while to get one, but when we did it was my personal best.

Even more abundant than large pumpkinseeds were the brown bullheads. I've never seen so many bullheads. They were everywhere, poking their heads out of nests they'd dug in the mud bottom. At times as many as six or seven of them were visible at once. One of the nice things about bullheads: generally, if you get a fly in front of their face, they are going to take it. They were much easier than the pumpkinseeds. They were easy enough that I caught more than one of them blind casting. That has certainly happened to me before, I've caught many bulheads on the fly over the years, probably more than most fly anglers could expect. But I'm not sure I've ever caught more than one blind casting in a day, and I got three this time on top of the small bunch I sight cast to. 

The highlight of the trip was a 25 minute time window in which we put some serious trophies on the boat, all on a Gamechanger Craw. Initially for that window, I was on the poling platform. We were looking for the giant channel catfish we'd seen earlier in the day, but not finding it. I spotted a good sized largemouth though, and Drew was able to drop the fly on it and it smoked it. It was an incredibly stout fish.

Seemingly just moments after releasing that fish we spotted a big bowfin. This was a fantastic opportunity for me to watch the bowfin master do what he does oh so well. I somehow managed to pole well and got the boat in a good position, and the fish followed the script. The eat was spectacular. The fight was spectacular. The fish was spectacular. 

Then I was up to bat, and we went to look for a huge bass we'd seen a bit before. When I laid eyes on her and saw that she was stationary and her body language was relaxed, I knew I had her. I sank the Changer Craw in front of her, letting it fall right to the bottom, then gave it one little move and she inhaled it. The fight was short, largemouth aren't exactly the strongest fish, but this was one of the largest black bass I'd caught in a long time. Ironically, after years of mostly catching largemouth incidentally rather than going out and targeting them, catching that fish has sparked a revival in my interest in the species and I've been specifically targeting them quite a bit lately. 

As the sun went down, we headed back toward the launch having put a ton a lot of fish in the boat and had just a fantastic time. I learned a lot from Drew, which I'd fully expected. It was great to finally get to fish with him, and I'm sure I will again before too long. 

If you're interested in experiencing what I did up there, that truly world class fishing, check out Drew's website and book a trip. There isn't a better guide up there. He's been in front of the curve the whole way. 

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, Franky, Geof, Luke, Noah, Justin, Sean, Tom, Mark, and Jake for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version.

Mid June Update

Man, this season is just rushing by. I had a good spring with clients. It mostly trout trips which are nice and easy, but I'd have liked a bunch more carp, bass, and bowfin trips as those are, frankly, much more engaging. I got one client out for the magical flood plain carp fishery. The window for that generally lasts just a couple weeks but man is it ever glorious. My client Jim got two carp to hand as well as a nice largemouth and had a shot at a pair of bowfin too. Of course, once the water dropped out the fishing didn't actually get any worse, just different. The Connecticut River and its backwater truly are a world class fishery. We've got some of the largest wild carp in the world right here. It's a shame they do a lot of damage, but they aren't going anywhere so we may as well have some fun and pull on them. There isn't another guide in CT who is as well equipped to get you on giant carp on the fly, so if its a game you'd like to learn you ought to book a trip. I can promise you shots, and probably shots at extremely big carp. Record chasers, take note. 

The trout trips all went well, some so well my clients immediately booked second trips. The dry fly action was minimal most of the days I had trips, but nymphing and streamers produced an excess of  fish. Jim and Trein had two very memorable days, first each hooking large holdover salmon and catching loads of rainbows, then putting the hammer down on copious amounts of trout and big fallfish.

A week ago I took a step forward that will take both me and my clients to new places. I've followed guide and angler Drew Price of Vermont for years, he's had a large influence on my interest in non-traditional targets like bowfin, gar, and freshwater drum. For the better part of a decade I've admired from afar the rig he guided from an fished, a sweet 14' Indian River canoe that he rigged up to suit his needs. When I started thinking of getting a small boat to guide motor-less in CT River backwaters, coastal flats, and marshes, and with a motor on CT's many "non-navigable" lakes, ponds, and swamps, I reached out to Drew for advise. We became fast friends, and when he bought Chris Willen's Towee Skiff and wasn't sure he wanted to keep the canoe I said I'd take it. So it was that I was driving up to Vermont last week to get myself a boat. 

With the "Champlain Stealth II" now under my possession and command, I'm ready to open the can of worms that is the Central CT multi-species fishery wide open. There are so many species and options here that are so far have remained untapped by fly anglers. I've got the experience and know how, and now I've got the boat. Monster bowfin, 35 pound carp, giant channel catfish, monster bass and pike... it's time to take my guide business up a notch. 

The first fish on the canoe under my ownership was caught by my mother, her first fish on the fly believe it or not. The second was a good channel catfish caught by me. A good sign of things to come, I'd say!

Until I've got here fully registered (expect by the end of the month) I'll run just man-powered trios on the CT River backwaters for carp, bowfin, catfish, and top water bass. It's been good lately, I've been catching all four, often in the same trip. Once it's registered I'll start running trips on the bass , walleye, and carp lakes where I cut my teeth: Pocotopaug, Moodus Reservoir, Gardner Lake, and others. 

It's going to be an exciting new chapter! I hope to see a lot of new faces and put you on some incredible fish very soon! 

 Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, C, Franky, Geof, Luke, Noah, Justin, Sean, Tom, Mark, and Jake for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version.

Bowfin Ecstasy

 After an extended run of extremely frustrating bowfin excursions, I felt I needed to change my location a bit. I knew somewhere I could almost certainly get bowfin. I also knew my chances of getting a really colored up male there were on the slim side because I never had before and they always seem to show up at this place right after the spawn. The males drop the bright green pretty quickly, it seems. I also encounter far more females at this location. That's not a bad thing because they are always bigger and I would very much like to break the 12 pound mark soon. I've seen them, I know they exist here... I just need to get a fly in front of one. 

The day was bright and hot, and the tide conditions were excellent. I put my kayak in under a high sun an paddled to the flats that usually hold fish. It hardly took any time at all to find a pair of bowfin, a large female and a slightly smaller male, hunting in about 8 inches of water. The larger fish smoked Drew Price's Mr. Bow-regard and so began the bowfin day I'd been hoping to have for well over a month.

For the rest of the day it was pretty consistent action. I got about a dozen shots. Six fish committed, and I got four of them to hand. Three were big females and the fourth was a pretty nice male that wasn't completely lacking color. It was a gorgeous fish, actually, they all were. Just not the crazy emerald green 'fin I was hoping to find this spring. 

I wouldn't call this an ugly fish... would you? It was gorgeous.

I can't get enough of these strange prehistoric monsters. Every encounter feels like meeting some sort of small dinosaur. They're gnarly fish, hitting and fighting with a force that would knock a black bass out cold. To me, bowfin are the original American sport fish... largemouth bass don't even hold a candle. 

Of course there are noteworthy aspects of any day on the water outside of the fish themselves, and on this occasion the turtles were a nice addition. I hand caught a few that were in shallow enough water, including a tiny common snapping turtle and a lovely musk turtle.

Of course I've always been enamored with turtles as I have been all reptiles. If only I'd known about bowfin when I was five years old... 

There is something vaguely reptilian about these air breathing fish. They seem just steps away from leaving the water entirely. I can't wait to do battle with them again soon. 

Until next time, 

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

And stay safe and healthy.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, C, Franky, Geof, Luke, and Noah for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version. 

Bowfin Agony

 Bowfin are not always easy to catch. They're often pegged as being a dumb, overly aggressive fish. While it is certainly much easier to approach a bowfin in a small watercraft, that does not mean they are easy. I spent an exceptional amount of my available fishing time this spring looking for bowfin and not finding them or finding very few and getting my butt handed to me by them. 

I wanted an early season male bowfin in spawning colors. Bowfin have perhaps the most unique spawning colors of any fish in CT. They turn green. Not vaguely green, not olive, not light green... male bowfin turn a deep emerald green, mostly on their fins and stomach. I've caught one bowfin that had some nice green coloration, but never a fully lit-up one. It is something I badly want to have photos of. Unfortunately this might not be my year for it. May went by without any bowfin for me, and as June trickles along they just get less and less colorful. I had one shot that didn't pan out. It was a moderately warm day and cloudier than I would have liked. I'd hiked my kayak into a backwater that a friend had been absolutely slamming bowfin at just days prior. I got the first one I saw to eat, and he was a stunner: the most green, most reticulated, most brilliant bowfin I'd ever seen. And I lost him. I couldn't get an eat from any other bowfin I saw that day (and I didn't see many). The handful of football shaped largemouth and small small pike I caught were not a good consolation. 

My next bowfin hunt started out hot and sunny- nearly ideal -and ended cloudy and rainy, with some gnarly cloud to ground lightning barrages in between. I only saw two bowfin and I didn't really get a shot at either one. I fished two different water bodies and got one good carp at each... no predator fish at all.

These long kayak outings without a bowfin to hand were starting to get obnoxious. I was burning gas, hauling my kayak in and out of nasty bodies of water, and just not accomplishing what I'd set out to. It's pretty hard not to get discouraged. Soon though, my agony would be swept away. 

Until next time, 

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

And stay safe and healthy.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, C, Franky, Geof, Luke, and Noah for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version. 

Edited by Cheyenne Terrien