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I typically try to avoid fishing the same native trout hole more then once in a week, but today I broke that role and fished the same area I did yesterday. I felt I hadn't pressured it to much, so I figured it couldn't hurt much. The conditions were different, with more leaves on the water and occasional cloud cover.

I still caught a few nice trout, including a larger Female and a few colored up males (all, coincidentally, after the camera batteries died.

The King of the Stream

Every trout stream has a king. In the Farmington it is most likely a 30 inch holdover Brown. In the tiny streams I regularly fish for native Brook Trout, the kings are the ten to twelve inch kype jawed males. Occasionally you encounter one of these kings, as I did today.

Of course, it was an exceptionally good day on the stream. I caught plenty of the king's subjects, all in perfect for and vibrant spawning dress. The fly I used this afternoon is the now dubbed "Pine Special", a feather wing I tied some time ago and had not touched since. I don't know why, it works great. It certainly got the attention of the Char, and they smashed it aggressively.

In a culvert pool I was able to sight fish for a spell before the fish became weary of the streamer. I moved on upstream.

O moved up to a pool that even in the low water is deep and has plenty of cover. I cast the streamer up into the nearly still waters. The takes were surprising and symbolized anger rather than hunger. I caught a nice female and a few smaller fish, when something much more remarkable slashed the streamer. 

The fight used up most of the pool and involved a few jumps. Finally I got the fish to hand, the King of The Stream. He was thick, with kype and strong big tail. This big male was already fully dressed, with black and red stomach and crimson fins. In a stream like this one, it gets no better. When I catch Brookies like this I tend to talk to myself, as well as the fish. 

This was a miniature version of those fish in adverts from Labrador, and truly just as wild. This stream has never been stocked.

Of course there were more Brookies in this pool, and I continued to nail into them to my hearts content. I left more then satisfied. Boy is that a fantastic streamer!

The Bell Pond

Last year I began trying to target carp on the fly. It was a big learning curve, as big still water carp are a whole different animal from the Bass and Trout I was used to. Thus It was several months before I was able to get my first one. It was a resident of a small mill pond that I spent hours observing, and finally caught on a corn fly of my own design.

Sometime this spring I discovered a carp in a pond I have fished for about three years. I formulated a plan to pattern and catch these big untouched fish. I would start out using spinning gear and European style rigs. Then, using what I had learned I would switch to flies. 

First, I spent a while learning the pond, which I nicknamed "The Bell Pond". It consisted of a feeder stream formed ridge; with long, shallow flats on either side; a deep trough hugging the dam and stretching up each shore; and a weeded margin. 

I discovered, in that margin of time which I spent spin fishing, That the carp spent a period of time pre- and post-spawn when they would spend the morning on deep part of the ridge, then root around in the flats all afternoon before working there way down shore to the dam in the evening. I caught a few fish following this pattern.

After the post spawn lethargy period I decided to begin the task of fly fishing for these giants. In the mornings I went out to wade the ridge while targeting fish both on the ridge and in the flats on each side. This resulted in some fantastic fish. 

I learned a few things: 

The fish went deep an hour or two after the sun came above the tree line. 

The best flies were large and very bushy. 

Flash and bright color was not beneficial, and even spooked fish. 

Smaller fish would take a moving fly more readily than the bigger ones. 

Being aware of these facts lead to some great fishing, outlined in these posts:

flyfishingcts.blogspot.com

flyfishingcts.blogspot.com

flyfishingcts.blogspot.com

flyfishingcts.blogspot.com

I think next year is going to be incredible.

Red Spots

This evening I spent a few hours targeting beautiful wild browns on dries. I caught quite a few small ones, and one nicely spotted one a bit larger that nailed a bomber in the riffle. His spots were nice and red, and he allowed me a photograph in the water before swimming off. One fair sized holdover brown was also caught, with green cheeks and big mouth. I'd like the pictures to do the rest of the talking:

The Switch

Today I had an opportunity to fish a new pond, after a cold front. Not the best fish catching conditions, but hey, one can adapt. For the first hour I prospected the shoreline with poppers and woolly buggers. I didn't see any fish at all for a long time. Finally, in a shallow cove, I found a cruising school of Largemouth Bass, 50 strong. I put on a small dragonfly nymph, and placed it on the outskirts of the school. A nice fish speared out and took the fly. I landed him. The next time the school came passed I caught one of his friends.

After releasing the second fish the school went on to different places, and another door opened in the form of big Bluegills. They were feeding actively in the flats, and the dragon fly nymphs were working perfectly. They even brought out a few lone cruising bass. Particularly the Gills put a great bend in the glass rod.

The water was fairly low as evidenced by these beds.

Then, later in the evening, the Bluegills went away and I returned to the popper. Nothing happened for an hour. Then the switch was flipped. I caught for largemouth in a row, and ended up leaving late. I'll be back for more!