School is back in session now so our fishing time together has moved to the weekends that I’m not guiding. The weather today was fabulous and Jacob has been itching to go fishing with his daddy all week so today we took the fly rod and went after some pan fish at his favorite place- Mansfield Hollow. ADG’s Titanium brush rod has been a good rod for him to use since it is 7 1/2 feet long. It is a 6 weight rod but handles line weights 5-7 very well. The 6 weight is perfect for everything from trout to pan fish and bass, and I have even caught carp on it, too, without any difficulty.

I spent a few hours this afternoon wet wading a portion of the Willy near my home. The water is low, clear, and warm. I didn’t take a temperature but it is outside the comfortable window for trout. The section I fished today doesn’t receive a stocking anyway. Trout still could have migrated to this area at some point but I was not intent on searching for or targeting trout. Today’s goal was to see how many different warm water species I could hook up with.

My gear selection was an ADG rod 9 foot 5/6 weight, Hatch Reel,  DT fly line,  Richardson Chest Box, some leader material ( Mason Hard Type & ARC Camo ), t-shirt, shorts, and wading boots…that’s it…pretty minimal for me !

The creek chub, fall fish, blue gills, and orange breast sunfish liked  stuff on top- beetles, ants, and a Purple Haze. The perch and bass like white minnow patterns.

Overall a good few hours with the best one being a smallmouth of a few pounds.

Bubby and I went out after dinner Saturday night to fish a portion of the Willimantic River, very close to our home. We only had about an hour or so before dark and chose to just wet wade and mess around with a few ” rough ” fish ( pan, fall, bass, chub, perch, etc.) The part of the Willy that we decide to fish doesn’t hold trout over during the summer and is very low and warm currently. That being said, it still is a lot of fun for a 6 year old to romp around a stream looking under rocks, picking up bugs, and catching some type of fish in the process…oh and most importantly- being out with daddy ! His Spiderman pole is still his favorite but he is getting better and more independent with one of my ADG brush rods which is a nice size for him and definitely durable enough to handle the beating a child can put on a fly rod.