First Time Trying Fall Fishing

[Ralph Tomaccio]

Planning on trying a little fall fishing for the first time and will be meeting my daughter in the Townsend MA area this Saturday, trying either the Squannacook or Nissitissit.

Is it safe to assume only deep pockets are worth trying at this time of year?

Any suggestions as to the type of flies to try?

Any help you can give a couple of rookies will be most appreciated.

Thanks!
Ralph

[Sentience]

definitely let us know how those rivers are. i have been wondering for a while and would sort of like to know how they are going before i make the drive.

i wouldn't assume that the fish will only be in the holes.

definitely take some wooly worms and buggers, and some streamer patterns. as far as dries - midges, BWO's, and their like emergers. make sure they are on the small side - 18 and smaller, especially the midges. take some small pheasant tails and nymphs like that. i always have some smaller (16 or so) caddis flies too just in case.

good luck. i think the nissittisset is such a class gorgeous new england stream.

good luck.

[Ralph Tomaccio]

Well, we fished the Squannacook last Saturday, unfortunately with no luck on hook-ups. We neither saw anything hatching, nor anything rising or cruising.

Between the two of us, we tried black and green wooly buggers, bead head prince, lightning bugs and a few others at various depths.

Water temp was 40 degrees. My daughter will say it was colder, as she experienced her first dunking after slipping on a rock. Had to go back to the car and dry a few things out while we enjoyed lunch. Gotta love her though! After she dried out, we went back in at another location. I love her spirit.

I sure would like to hook up with a fishing partner with a little more experience than we have that is willing to share their skill. Thanks for your post.

[NatickDave]

Ralph,

Too bad you didn't hook up, but at least you were out there having fun. As suggested in another post on this forum, Fishinbill and I went to the Salmon River in CT, and we were similarly frustrated. I caught one small rainbow that I really had to tease out from hard under a rock, and I only saw on other fish the whole day. I think several factors were working against us (in CT and you guys on the Squann)--time of year, unusually low temps, back side of a cold front, etc.

I have fished the Squannacook a couple of times, one of which was pretty productive. Everytime, I caught fish only in the slow deep pools, and nothing in the runs. This mean slow strips of wooly buggers (heavily wighted) and lots of patience. I imaging that during a fine hatch, those same pools would be great for drifting a dry, but I never encountered one.

I would recommed you try the Nissitissit some time. I have been once, but had a great day, catching rainbows, browns and a truly huge brook trout. I lost what I believed to be a monster brown as well. I fished up from to the lower end of the C&R section, up into the Costello put in, where I started seeing more other fisherman. Again, weighted buggers and beadhead nymphs and the like. I spied fish at the ends of the long pools and was able to target them specifically, but also was blind fishing the runs and pools...both resulted in fish.

The sad news is that freestone streams are going to be tough for the next several months. And, of course, the tailwaters in our region (Deerfield, Swift, Farmington) are always full of fish, but they are very sophisticated and hard to fool. But keep trying, and thank your lucky stars that your daughter is so willing, and you will have more and better luck, I am sure.

Perhaps I can give a holler on this forum the next time I hit a local river, and we can try to meet up.

NatickDave

[Ralph Tomaccio]

NatickDave,

"Perhaps I can give a holler on this forum the next time I hit a local river, and we can try to meet up."

I'd like that. Although I live in Bellingham, I have a business in Framingham.

We'll keep plugging away at those fish. Everytime we go, it's usually under some adverse condition - too hot, low water, etc. I know we'll connectr sooner or later. Either way, it's still enjoyable.

Ralph

[MKDeceiver]

You live in Bellingham, hunh?

You should check out the Charles, and also some of the brooks that run into it. I won't mention any names, but there are some gorgeous trout in there. I used to fish there all the time. Now that I've focused my efforts on Stillwater trout down cape and flats bass, I never go anymore but I know there's fish there.

The water is also better to fish this time of year because it gets cold and slows down all the panfish. With that said, you have a good shot to get your flies in front of some nice trout. The fishing pressure is minimal so the fish are easy to fool.

Have you tried over there at all? Everybody thinks they have to go to these big name rivers to get nice rainbows, but they're sadly mistaken!

[Ralph Tomaccio]

I haven't tried the Charles yet. It peters out to almost nothing in this area. But, I know in Natick it's still pretty wide.

I have tried the Blackstone once. That's only 15 min. from my house. Caught a few small trout. I know what yopu mean about the natural tendancy to fish the big name rivers. I get to go fishing so few times, I naturally want to hit the ones I hear about the most. I'll have to experiment a little more and try those smaller streams.