Willimantic TMA

[Jim Babbitt]

I spent a sunny Winter day walking my dog along the trail on the upper Willi TMA today. The water looks great! Has anyone had any experience in fishing this area above Rt. 84? I heard there are great hatches during the season. The next sunny 40 degree day I'll leave the dog home and bring a rod and a box of nymphs! Any info would be appreciated. Jim

[dudley]

That water is maintained by the Connecticut Fly Fisherman's Asso.
Here is a link to the club web site
http://www.ctflyfish.org/
On it you'll find river maps and other usefull info on the Willi

CFFA is having their annual expo and banquet on Feb 3 '07
Lefty Kreh is the featured speaker
The expo is free and open to the public
For more info see the web site.

[Eric L]

I used to fish it a lot when I lived in CT. In Feb and March there is a good hatch of various winter stoneflies. For a chance at dry fly action I would look from just below the 84 bridge up to the abutment pool. (See CFFF map for details).

The river gets pretty low and warm during the summer and not alot of trout hold over in bad years. Still, it's a pleasant river to fish and can be good when other options are not. PM me if you want more details.

Eric

[SherpaB]

I used to fish the river alot. It was really good in the early 90's. A couple of things have hurt it. There was a huge fish kill due to a chemical spill in the mid-late 90s. There was also a couple of year where the rains came down really hard and flushed the river. It rearranged a couple of favorite spots. The good news is that it seems to be on the rebound. I have fished it a few times a year every year, usually in spring through early summer. The h20 can heat up or get pretty low depending on the year but if there is good rain the fishing can hold up pretty well. The TMA above rte84 is good but gets hit pretty hard. I would fish it from there upstream to well PAST the abutment pool. UCONN did a bug study last year and found the bug life to be very strong again so it might be on the rebound. It can also fish well in late fall, I had my best ever day on that river the day before Christmas five or six years ago. It is pretty well stocked but not too many fish hold over they migrate to the deeper pools and holes and if you want a shot at getting a good fish I would explore those spots.
All in all it is worth going to. There are better rivers but it is pretty, easy to wade and fish for the most part and if you know a little about catching trout on a fly you should have a little luck. It has good early season hatches of the standard mayfly and caddis variety. The best time to fish it is early in the day because each pool see several anglers coming through all day-so I would want to show my flies first....