Spring flowers are starting to bloom, the skunk cabbage has already popped, and bug life is revving up. I’d say that springtime fishing is going well. There have been some hiccups around opening day with high water and cold temps but since then the water flows have been at a springtime normal and dropping nicely. Plus, here in Eastern Connecticut, we have been taken off the extreme/severe drought listing and are only considered in an abnormally dry/moderate rating- according to the drought portal at Drought.gov. To me those are all pluses ! So I would rate it as a B+ for now.

Winter stones and early brown stones are still around and in most streams that support them with proper substrate and water quality, Hendrickson and Quill Gordons. Add in a few caddis species and I think that the fly-fisherman has enough insect activity to be very happy about. I would also add in that terrestrials are waking up, too !

The wild boys and girls have seemed to fair well in some of our local streams. This particular one came from a Class 1 WTMA.

I follow several social media outlets and have noticed that a lot of people have been complaining about how the state has been stocking. I can assure you that they are stocking as many trout as they can  in as many places as they can but they are hurting just as bad if not more than the rest of us in terms of budget cuts, facilities needing repairs, and loss of employees. Yet, they still are out there stocking hundreds of thousands of fish ! This brown rose to a skated pattern imitating  the early stone that generally is active around noon on most days and streams. So…our streams do have stocked trout in them !

This brookie is a stocked fish. He was caught  on a gray ghost pattern and released for someone else to catch.

These two brookies were also stocked. The one on the left took a royal coachman wet while the right one took another gray ghost pattern. Both were released to be caught again by another angler.

I  have to say though that you do have to put your homework in and find the fish but once you do, they’re still there !

Good luck with your future fishing, springtime action is only going to improve and get better.  Springtime is a great time to pick up a fly rod and explore some of Connecticut’s eastern rivers and streams. It also is a fantastic time for a beginner to learn how to fly fish since our eastern river and streams do not see quite the volume of fisherman as the Farmington or Housatonic- except for the Salmon and Natchaug.

Connecticut has some quality fisheries throughout the state other than the Farmington River and are waiting for you to explore them ! Also, all of Connecticut’s Trout Unlimited Chapters could use extra support, especially Thames Valley Chapter 282 of which I am a member of.

http://www.thamesvalleytu.org/

I’ll end this with a short video clip from the Salmon River. You can’t catch them every time !

 

 

 

With my career and guide business, it is difficult to maintain any sort of tradition like going out and fishing on Opening Day. For many, many years, before kids, I actually avoided this day on public water(s) since I fish all year long. However, the past few years, I’ve tried to create a tradition with my children to take them out on Opening Day. I still only take them to a private club that I belong to. This year only my son wanted to come.

The overnight and early morning was cold, one of the coldest Opening Days in recent memory that I remember or noted in a journal. It also didn’t help that it was windy, too, so wind chill was a factor. Added to this was our recent heavy rains. All of this came together to be a rough first day of fishing for  the 2017 season. Our brook was swollen and our pond was brown.

I chose to fish the pond, mostly to avoid the complexities of a high and hard flowing brook, not to mention the safety factor too.

My son still likes to use his own spin gear and I let him, but I also bring my fly gear, too, in case he would like to try that as well- he usually does. So, he started off using worms and bobber on own pond.

No luck…we didn’t feel bad because not many other members were fairing any better even using shiners or power bait.

Being a young boy with limited attention span, I didn’t think he would hold out for a long as he did. I think playing with the worms was more stimulating much of the morning- getting muddy too ! Anyway, parents would know what I was talking about when I mention that he was looking for Herman the Worm…hahaha…for those that don’t it’s an educational song and when it gets stuck in your head…

He slugged away using his spinning rod but, still no dice….

I try and teach him that it’s about the experience and time together rather than numbers of fish, etc. However,  you still need to have them catch a few fish no matter what it is. I rigged up my fly rod and put on a pair of eggs.

Eggs work in even still water if your working over stocked fish and if it’s a trout pond and its spawning time. I made a tuck cast for him, got the patterns to the bottom and gradually raised the patterns off the bottom and let them settle again. I repeated that several times before making another cast. Eventually, I hooked a white sucker in the corner of the lip ( you know your on the bottom when your hooking suckers in the mouth ).  I handed him the rod and let him fight it out….

What did he want to do after landing it ? You guessed it… kiss a sucker ! I just stood there shaking my head….that’s a little boy for ya !

He moved to a different spot in the pond where a piece of land jets out to deeper water and where the main channel and current to the pond is. I made cast for him since we were around overhanging tree limbs- I didn’t want my rod tip broken by accident even though it was an ADG rod that he is used to casting and pretty damn near indestructible in terms of fishing it. I had only one rod tip break since 2003 and I fish HARD ! Plus, Jacob uses it and a number of clients have use it, too.

He did what I showed him with the sucker and …VOILA….

A 17 1/2 inch brown…yah !

Now there is a smile of a happy boy that caught a good size brown under tough conditions ! Opening Day saved ! He didn’t get the numbers of fish that he wanted but made up for it with the size of this fish.  So we kept him for our Opening Day catch.

After a few more hours, he got too cold and too tired to continue so we headed home with our Opening Day catch, hungry for a feast…

Chip and dip, cheese and crackers, strawberries and cream, shrimp, filet mignon and of course our brown trout….stuffed & happy !

 

 

Thames Valley TU Chapter 282 has been hard at work this preseason aiding the state DEEP with stocking popular rivers and streams of Eastern Connecticut. I was one of a number of dedicated members who have been either net stocking or float stocking the Eight Mile, Little River and Shetucket, to name a few.

Despite recent rains that have swollen our rivers and streams, we were able to get out and help stock countless numbers of brown, brook, and rainbow trout of catchable size.

Hopefully everyone will be able to enjoy Opening Day 2017 this year and catch a few that were distributed throughout the eastern portion of the state. Please be respectful of others and adhere to the state’s fishing regulations. Also, get someone out there with you and introduced them to the great sport of fishing whether it is fly-fishing or not.  Thames Valley TU- in particular- as well as any of the other Trout Unlimited chapters throughout this state are seeking new,  active members. Stocking trout is just one of many  great programs and a good way to learn a river or stream, meet other members, and interact with the hardworking employees of DEEP fisheries division.

Finally, when you see DEEP personnel and/or ENCON officers out in the field give them a special thanks for what they do- without them we would not have the quality of natural resources that we enjoy today !

 

See ya out there, good luck on Saturday, and tight lines !