May is one of my favorite months for fishing in Connecticut. What's not to love? Overrated or not, the hendrickson hatch gets the attention of some of the best trout in our rivers, migratory striped bass from the Hudson and Chesapeake return to Long Island Sound, and post-spawn carp put on the feedbag.
May 2011 started on a high note for me. AaronS and I spent the better part of Sunday on the West Branch Farmington River. The flow was 550 CFS and dropping slowly. We were nymphing by 8:15 AM and I broke off a heavy trout on my third drift. Aaron jumped in, pricked something and came back with a scale during his first couple drifts. Then it slowed down...big time. Knowing the caliber of trout in this run, we worked it hard for a while without another tap while nypmhing under yarn. The switch to Euro nymphing was made and I hooked a nice fish on midge larvae pattern as the dropper fly. The 20-inch brown was the highlight of a surprisingly tough day on the water considering the calendar. It was a left-yellow Survivor that is celebrating its third year in the Farmington this week. Closer to hatch-thirty, we moved downstream to water where we (I) thought we had a better chance of seeing rising fish. Aaron knew it wasn't going to "happen" where we were going. The nymphing was tough pre and post hatch and there were few fish looking up despite the copious amount of bugs pouring off the water. Like always, it's tough to have a bad time while fishing, especially on that river. Anyday now, all hell is going to break loose and I hope I'm there to witness it.
May 2011 started on a high note for me. AaronS and I spent the better part of Sunday on the West Branch Farmington River. The flow was 550 CFS and dropping slowly. We were nymphing by 8:15 AM and I broke off a heavy trout on my third drift. Aaron jumped in, pricked something and came back with a scale during his first couple drifts. Then it slowed down...big time. Knowing the caliber of trout in this run, we worked it hard for a while without another tap while nypmhing under yarn. The switch to Euro nymphing was made and I hooked a nice fish on midge larvae pattern as the dropper fly. The 20-inch brown was the highlight of a surprisingly tough day on the water considering the calendar. It was a left-yellow Survivor that is celebrating its third year in the Farmington this week. Closer to hatch-thirty, we moved downstream to water where we (I) thought we had a better chance of seeing rising fish. Aaron knew it wasn't going to "happen" where we were going. The nymphing was tough pre and post hatch and there were few fish looking up despite the copious amount of bugs pouring off the water. Like always, it's tough to have a bad time while fishing, especially on that river. Anyday now, all hell is going to break loose and I hope I'm there to witness it.
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Photo credit: Aaron Swanson
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This healthy 20-inch brown was passing a semi-digested fishfly larvae during the photo shoot.
Photo credit: Aaron Swanson
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Trout crack a.k.a. hendrickson dun
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I suppose you scared the crap outta that Brown.
ReplyDeleteGreat post and pics. I also agree that it is hard to have a bad day while on the water.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
Passinthru Outdoors Blog - Sharing the Passion
nice post. That looks like a fishfly larva and not a helgie but I could be mistaken. There are loads of them in the Farmington. Good stuff my man....
ReplyDeleteThanks, all.
ReplyDeleteRich: After looking at some other photos, I believe you're right. Thanks for pointing that out.
Kierran,
ReplyDeleteI thought so but who knows. Didn't intend to call you out or anything, hope you understand that. I like your blog a lot. Keep up the great work
It's all good. I'm glad you're enjoying it. See you on the water soon.
ReplyDelete