Dry Flies and Manors

Today I had plenty of time to go out and fish. I chose the Salmon River. Although I spent most of the day using nymph, I only caught fish on dry flies. The first few pools were the last ones in the fly fishing only section. A big streamer didn't take any fish there. The next location was the long pool bellow the Rt. 16 bridge. In the tail of that pool were some steady risers, three of which I landed. One on an Elk Hair Caddis, on on a Sulfur Dun, and one on a Red Tag.

I then moved up into the midsection of the management area. I was almost alone, casting to one unwilling riser. A little button head buck slowly made his way along the opposite bank. I was happy. Then a well dressed young man stepped in right behind me, causing a tidal wave that put my fish down for a while. He then placed himself fifteen feet upstream from me. Downstream was 200 feet of space, upstream was probably almost a mile. He then started putting downstream drifts right into the area I was clearly targeting. I was disgusted, but decided to just move downstream. There I was bored with dries that should have but didn't work, and I tied on a size ten stimulator. It was eaten up by what had seemed like selective fish. Although I lost or missed quite a few, a nice Brown and a Brook Trout came to hand.

Popping

Me and Dalton took the kayaks out to Moodus Reservoir. This is a Bass Management Lake, and most choose to spin fish or bait cast. but as a Connecticut fly angler I of course chose to chuck poppers on a six weight. Boy did I have fun doing so. Although the spinning rod joined, it got no use. I should just leave it home some times.

There is a lot to like about Moodus. It has lots of bait fish, insects, frogs, and big fish to eat them. Pickerel, Largemouth, Crappie, and Bluegill are the species to catch. Today I used one fly , a black Pot Belly Frog. It is a big balsa popper. Bass and Pickerel enjoy it, and even the Bluegill take it. For a while every fish was small, Gills' and ten inch bass. After moving into a cove we both got into bigger fish.

I had a good take and lost the fish almost immediately. However, ten casts later I got another opportunity. AT the end of my line was a good largemouth. It fought valiantly, taking me on a ride through the lily pads. Eventually I lipped the big boy. At this point frogs, damsels, and caddis were being pounded on all around. Both Dalton and I hooked many smaller Bass and Pickerel as the evening progressed. The action was impressive. We vowed to return on Monday.

Big Streamers and Spinner Falls on my B-Day

June 12th. Another year of my life complete and gone. How to celebrate my surviving these years in the woods. Go to the woods and catch something. I had already gone to Cabelas to purchase some flies and tying materials, so I decided to test one of my purchases. The sky was overcast and it sprinkled every once in a while. I stood in the river and tossed a huge articulated streamer Around a big rock. It was eventually taken by a fair sized Rainbow.

Although a toad of a Brown Trout chased my fly twice, the next thing to eat my streamer was a drowned tree branch. Bye fly! 

After screwing around with all sorts of flies, catching one Brown, and watching a big snapping turtle climb onto a rock, the light began to fade and a spinner fall materialized.

I put on a brown quill spinner, size eighteen, and lost it three trout later. By that point I pulled out the nearest pattern that I could see in the box, which happened to be a size 16 caenis spinner. I caught one and missed who knows how many trout with it. I ought to try to get back out their and catch that fall on my next birthday.

Browns, Brookies, and Tigers

Went out to a small wild trout stream today to do some catching. Luckily a lot of catching was done. As the Veery sang and Fish Flies flew, I pulled out plenty of healthy wild Brown Trout and the occasional sluggish stocked fish. Out of probably twenty to thirty trout ranging from three to ten inches long, only three Browns and one Brooky were stocked. They did the typical week head shaking, run-less, jump-less fight of a smaller sized stocked trout. All the others flew and pulled, even the ones that could have been eaten by the stocked fish gave me a harder time.

Stocked

Color!

Stimulated Stocker

The last two Browns were particularly acrobatic. Dry flies that were eaten most today were the Royal Wulf, Stimulator, and March Brown. The latter was the fly I had on when I heard some load slurps in the tail of the pool I was fishing. I looked and saw the rings. Two casts later I let the fly skate and a good fish took. It was fighting strong or it's evident size. When it came close enough to see my jaw dropped, for at the end of my line was a Tiger. The state only puts Brook and Brown Trout in this stream. Of course with both some interbreeding is possible, and this was the proof that it has happened. 

I continued upstream catching plenty on dries. On the way back down I used a streamer and got the last two stocked fish.

Cover

I went for natives today, in a beautiful spot I had yet to try. The undergrowth provided a welcome coolness on a hot, foggy day. I found it nearly impossible to keep the camera lens from fogging up, which was annoying when I kept catching gorgeous Char. Many took the Bomber and Humpy in the woods, but when I found a culvert pool beside a road I could see the fish and they wanted something subsurface. A hair's ear did the trick. One was fairly sizable and put up a good fight. All in all, I caught a lot of brook trout, probably something like 11 or 12, and had a wonderful afternoon.