NatickDave
07-22-2005, 08:00 AM
Reel-Timers,
First of all, thanks for all the great input on my "Where would you go?" thread. All of it has been filed away for future reference.
Second, hope you don't mind the long thread below.
Finally...I decided to fish the Farmington, as it is closer and not as flow-restricted as the Deerfield. I drove down wednesday afternoon to fish the evening and morning hatches. It was hotter than h*ll when I arrived, but the water temps were in the high 60s. On the recommendation of one of the guys at the Upcountry flyshop, I checked out "Ovation" (but found several fisherman there), then drove to the Greenwood access spot and headed downstream to the "Boneyard." There were two cars there when I arrived, and one guy left as I was rigging up. I stepped into the water and moved a large trout. Excellent...
I was prospecting the banks and shadows with a hopper as I moved through the loooong flat stretch before the first shoal, when I came upon some rising fish. After several missed hits, I caught a couple of parr salmon, one around 8 inches, both very pretty. They slowed down and I moved to the hole below the shoal, but got nothing and questioned the "all dry" approach that the flyshop guy pushed. I eschewed the nymph, however, and kept going down 'til I found a few more rises. Another salmon. I finally got to the interesting water (I assume this was the Boneyard), and went to a larger fly that I could follow better in in the heavy current. I got a few dramatic hits from something that was not a parr salmon, and figured I was onto something. I was casually drifting in the quick runs between the boulders, when a huge (at least 20" and a football) rainbow porpoised at my big sulfur dunn...he was completely out of the water with my fly in his mouth, like something out of a wildlife print. I had him on for a little bit before he shook me. I nearly hyperventilated from the combination of excitment and laughing my butt off. This was to be the last rainbow I would see on the trip.
I moved back upstream to be nearer the car at dark, and found that there were now guys everwhere. No fewer than six guys were lined up at the "Morgan Brook Pool" just above the access spot. I took my place at the end of the line below the others, which at least gave me the chance to move around to rises. Fish were coming up all over the place, and I managed one missed hit on a midge and one more salmon on a tiny mayfly. I saw two other fish caught by the 8 or so fishermen I could see. It got very dark and I was getting cold (I was wading wet), so I pulled out for dinner and sleep.
In the morning I found lots of guys at the "Morgan Brook" and the famous "Church Pool", so I kept going upstream...I saw very pretty water that I could not access legally on the way to the People's State Forest. I parked and walked to the river, but it was all flat and slow, which did not appeal to me. I went back down to try the west side to see if I could get to that better water and found a good pull out. As I was rigging (and putting on waders this time), two cars arrived. I hopped into the river and worked down the far side of the islands until I came to the nice hole and rising fish, but found those other fellows there already. I nearly backed off when I decided, "hey, this river is about combat fishing, I think I will engage in some combat." The hole was plenty big for three rods, and I we should be able to share, right? One of the fellows (obviously their guide) waved very enthusiastically and said 'Nice day, eh?' in order to make the point that they were there first. I saw nobody had a fly in the water, so I asked his partner if he minded if I cast to a a fish that was on my side. He smiled and said "no problem", so I did and immediately caught a nice brown trout. He hooked up pretty soon, and things go more relaxed. Turns out the guide was the well known Pat Torrey from Upcountry, and he was very nice and we all got along quite well sharing what I believe is called "Halford's Run."
We had four plus hours of consistently rising fish...massive numbers of them in such a small area. It was hard to tell what they were keying on, but I did quite well with tiny mayflies (bwo, tan, white, dark), midge clusters and anything small. There was time when it was clear that upright wing patterns were less effective, and I had great luck with a caddiss pupa with a hi-vis post until I lost it in a tree. I had many first-drift hits followed by reduced effectivenes...these are smart fish. There were times when two dozen or more fish were actively feeding withing reasonable casting range. The water is so clear, that you could usually see the fish on the take, making it very hard to control yourself from setting the hook too early (this cost the younger client many fish). You could also see careful follows that resulted in no hits, even with 7x tippet and good drifts.
As lunchtime came, the other fellows left and the action slowed. I got one more big fish on a bwo before crossing the river to "their side." The fish in the slower water started nymphing (or something that resulted in lots of finning) and I could not interest them much at all. I finally put on an elk-hair caddis (which had been completely ineffective earlier) to prospect the heavier water, and I got a couple of violent hits that I could not handle. I switched back to the big sulfur that scared up the big rainbow, and I caught one more hefty brown before calling it quits.
I have to say that I lost count of the number of fish I landed and, even more so, the number I had on. Probably 15 and 30, respectively, and all brown trout. I got two that were 15" and many in the 13" range. The older of the two guys fishing with Pat caught an 18" brown on an ant pattern. These fish are healthy (except for mishandling and release injuries to the mouth) and I experienced at least two screaming runs from not very large fish. Several looked to be stream born (colorful, small, fat), and all were selective feeders. I will certainly be back.
NatickDave
First of all, thanks for all the great input on my "Where would you go?" thread. All of it has been filed away for future reference.
Second, hope you don't mind the long thread below.
Finally...I decided to fish the Farmington, as it is closer and not as flow-restricted as the Deerfield. I drove down wednesday afternoon to fish the evening and morning hatches. It was hotter than h*ll when I arrived, but the water temps were in the high 60s. On the recommendation of one of the guys at the Upcountry flyshop, I checked out "Ovation" (but found several fisherman there), then drove to the Greenwood access spot and headed downstream to the "Boneyard." There were two cars there when I arrived, and one guy left as I was rigging up. I stepped into the water and moved a large trout. Excellent...
I was prospecting the banks and shadows with a hopper as I moved through the loooong flat stretch before the first shoal, when I came upon some rising fish. After several missed hits, I caught a couple of parr salmon, one around 8 inches, both very pretty. They slowed down and I moved to the hole below the shoal, but got nothing and questioned the "all dry" approach that the flyshop guy pushed. I eschewed the nymph, however, and kept going down 'til I found a few more rises. Another salmon. I finally got to the interesting water (I assume this was the Boneyard), and went to a larger fly that I could follow better in in the heavy current. I got a few dramatic hits from something that was not a parr salmon, and figured I was onto something. I was casually drifting in the quick runs between the boulders, when a huge (at least 20" and a football) rainbow porpoised at my big sulfur dunn...he was completely out of the water with my fly in his mouth, like something out of a wildlife print. I had him on for a little bit before he shook me. I nearly hyperventilated from the combination of excitment and laughing my butt off. This was to be the last rainbow I would see on the trip.
I moved back upstream to be nearer the car at dark, and found that there were now guys everwhere. No fewer than six guys were lined up at the "Morgan Brook Pool" just above the access spot. I took my place at the end of the line below the others, which at least gave me the chance to move around to rises. Fish were coming up all over the place, and I managed one missed hit on a midge and one more salmon on a tiny mayfly. I saw two other fish caught by the 8 or so fishermen I could see. It got very dark and I was getting cold (I was wading wet), so I pulled out for dinner and sleep.
In the morning I found lots of guys at the "Morgan Brook" and the famous "Church Pool", so I kept going upstream...I saw very pretty water that I could not access legally on the way to the People's State Forest. I parked and walked to the river, but it was all flat and slow, which did not appeal to me. I went back down to try the west side to see if I could get to that better water and found a good pull out. As I was rigging (and putting on waders this time), two cars arrived. I hopped into the river and worked down the far side of the islands until I came to the nice hole and rising fish, but found those other fellows there already. I nearly backed off when I decided, "hey, this river is about combat fishing, I think I will engage in some combat." The hole was plenty big for three rods, and I we should be able to share, right? One of the fellows (obviously their guide) waved very enthusiastically and said 'Nice day, eh?' in order to make the point that they were there first. I saw nobody had a fly in the water, so I asked his partner if he minded if I cast to a a fish that was on my side. He smiled and said "no problem", so I did and immediately caught a nice brown trout. He hooked up pretty soon, and things go more relaxed. Turns out the guide was the well known Pat Torrey from Upcountry, and he was very nice and we all got along quite well sharing what I believe is called "Halford's Run."
We had four plus hours of consistently rising fish...massive numbers of them in such a small area. It was hard to tell what they were keying on, but I did quite well with tiny mayflies (bwo, tan, white, dark), midge clusters and anything small. There was time when it was clear that upright wing patterns were less effective, and I had great luck with a caddiss pupa with a hi-vis post until I lost it in a tree. I had many first-drift hits followed by reduced effectivenes...these are smart fish. There were times when two dozen or more fish were actively feeding withing reasonable casting range. The water is so clear, that you could usually see the fish on the take, making it very hard to control yourself from setting the hook too early (this cost the younger client many fish). You could also see careful follows that resulted in no hits, even with 7x tippet and good drifts.
As lunchtime came, the other fellows left and the action slowed. I got one more big fish on a bwo before crossing the river to "their side." The fish in the slower water started nymphing (or something that resulted in lots of finning) and I could not interest them much at all. I finally put on an elk-hair caddis (which had been completely ineffective earlier) to prospect the heavier water, and I got a couple of violent hits that I could not handle. I switched back to the big sulfur that scared up the big rainbow, and I caught one more hefty brown before calling it quits.
I have to say that I lost count of the number of fish I landed and, even more so, the number I had on. Probably 15 and 30, respectively, and all brown trout. I got two that were 15" and many in the 13" range. The older of the two guys fishing with Pat caught an 18" brown on an ant pattern. These fish are healthy (except for mishandling and release injuries to the mouth) and I experienced at least two screaming runs from not very large fish. Several looked to be stream born (colorful, small, fat), and all were selective feeders. I will certainly be back.
NatickDave