Killing The Farmington One Fish Curse

Since June I have been plagued by a curse. It was a curse that prevented me from getting more than one fish each time I visited the Farmington. Today I killed that, although it look for a while like I wasn't going to. It also looked like my fishing partner was going to skunk out until he hooked a stunner last minute.

We got on the river at about 9:00. It was just bellow 40 degrees, a bit misty, and dewy. It began to warm up immediately. I committed myself to fishing small streamers (by comparison to my normal chosen sizes) and with a much slower an deeper retrieve. In the first spot I moved a couple of fish in the pockets and slicks, then had a big brown eat my white rabbit strip leach. I set far too hard and it didn't come back. But in a side slough I hit a slick behind an overhanging tree just right and a gorgeous brown came out and was hooked. As soon as it came tight this fish lost it's mind! I swear it spent more time in the air than in the water, flying all over the pool like a maniac. Reluctantly it came to hand; a solid wild brown with plenty of girth and enough length to make it the second best wild brown of the year, the best being 20 inches, so as you can see not a stellar year in the brown trout department.

We covered a ton more water during the short amount of daylight we had. Much of it produced nothing. I snuck one little brownie out of a tributary. We had a very enjoyable chat with a pheasant hunter (should have asked for some feathers) and his beautiful old dog. 

Eventually we were back where we started. The fish just seemed to be on there, and it didn't take long for one of the browns I had moved in the morning to smash my black woolly bugger. It was even bigger than the first, just as perfect, and stunningly leopard spotted. I love wild brown trout! 

David ended the day on a high note, with a powerful and stunning 17 inch wild brown on a streamer. He took a couple pictures so I could see it (he is not a fish photo taker) and it was an awesome specimen.