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