Rainbows and Native Brook Trout Spawning

I fished a lot with dries and soft hackles for rainbows this morning. I caught a lot of them! The biggest was about 14 inches, but most were less than 10 inches in length. For a 6'6" three weight that is still plenty of a battle! When the incoming front put the fish down I went on to different activities.

I spent a little while wandering around some small streams that hold native brook trout. I found a pair of spawning brookies in the middle of the pool bellow, but there were so many leaves in this stream that spotting fish was almost impossible. The other stream was a little clearer and I saw a lot of char in the pools. Hopefully rain tonight will blow the leaves out of these streams and allow me to catch a couple of their residents this week.

Hope For the Future

I went mountain biking in the area of my home river today. I stopped for a few minutes to take a look at the stream. I was pleasantly surprised when I spooked a bunch of 5-10 inch browns. None were on redds, they should be this time of year, but then again the water is just too low still. Hopefully we get rain before the water cools off too much for the spawn to happen. Is my home water what it was three years ago, when I first found it? No. Not even close. Then I could safely say that I would catch a good number of upper teens wild browns in it. But if this rough El Niño year is just an anomaly, and the dry summer- freeze over winter pattern of the last two years breaks, this stream will come back, and so will all the others that dried up this summer and fall.

Brook Trout Spawning (last year)

There are usually brown trout on redds here this time of year. This was last year. No water in the far stretch this year. 

The Farmington? Sinfully Low.

Some morons decided that it would be a good plan to cut the flow out of the Hogback Dam to a pitiful 60 cfs. That has made a mess of the West Branch of the Farmington River. It limited the places we could fish today. David and I met Nunzio on one of the big named pools of the river, where some action was happening. Fish were popping in the deep part of the pool and also in the faster water coming in at the top. I was insistent on using streamers, and Nunzio, being very familiar with the water and the fish that live there (he catches some monsters, some so big the state doesn't believe they  could live in the Farmi) insisted on acting as my guide. His streamer methods are different from those I typically use, but for these conditions and the water we were on they made more sense. Using his Clouser style fly I got some solid tugs. I did get a few takes on by own streamers, but using Nunzio's suggested techniques. I just kept goofing up though. I got takes on dries, then on a secret nymph I am not at liberty to describe, even from some big fish, but today was one of those days when I was too quick at the draw. I just kept yanking the fly out of the fish's mouths.

Eventually I did get into some fish. The first is a very special one. The smallest brook trout I have ever caught out of the Farmington, it was also the first native for me from the river in a couple of years. 

Further downstream I had a few wild brown trout eat an Ausable Ugly. That was that for the Farmington. David and I hit the Salmon for a little while and both caught some rainbows. It was a fun day if not productive fish wise.

Rainbows For Dave

I ran into Dave a number of times on the Salmon River last week. Each time was towards the end of a really good day for me. He wasn't having the best of luck. We chatted some. He just started fly fishing this year, during the spring he had good luck but all summer and fall he blanked. The second time we saw each other he expressed interest in being guided. I was eager to help.

This evening I met Dave on the Salmon and was greeted with good conditions for fish catching: rises everywhere! I have had minimal guiding experience and was a bit nervous but hopeful that all would go well. Fortunately for me it didn't take long. I tied one of my Griffith's Gnats on Dave's tippet and a hungry trout came up to grab it. It tool a little while to get the next one, but in the tail of the flat pool up came a buck rainbow for a Tenkara style caddis. It was a gorgeous fish, and it fought powerfully, making an impressive leap out of the water. That little Caddis got eaten a bunch more time, and though a good number of them threw the hook and one particularly good one lodged it on the bottom, one more made it to hand. Dave was very happy. I was thrilled. It couldn't have gone better. Good fishing, beautiful weather and scenery, and good conversation. It doesn't get much better than that.

Tomorrow promises to be wonderful too: David Gallipoli, Nunzio Incremona and I are going to fish for some big trout in the Farmington River.

Panfish Jiggin

One of my favorite fall methods for warm water is jigging a bead or conehead fly for panfish. I walk or wade the shoreline, making short casts to every bit of structure. With a nine foot rod held at arm's length I impart a very minute jig on the fly, making it lightly bounce around mid water column. I watch where my line goes into the water, and whenever something interesting happens I lift a nice bluegill, crappie, or perch out of the water. I love late season panfish!