Naugatuck Report - March 10, 2016 - Take My Kid, Please

R.I.P. White Winged Akroyd

     The past couple of days could almost be considered a "heat wave" for early March. On paper, today looked like an ideal day to catch some salmon. I haven't been out since January 8, so I was looking forward to this trip. By "trip," I mean "trips." I wove two separate trips into the day, around my son's schedule. I'm looking forward to the day when he can come with me, but that's at least a couple of years down the road. 

     The first trip is the "Plan 58." I have 58 minutes to fish while my son is at nursery school. I only make this trip when I am really confident, which I was today. When I arrived, the water temperature was 46º, the air temperature was 73º (!), and the river was flowing at a healthy 508 cfs. I goofed and left my pack in the car with all my flies and polyleaders. I fished with the one fly I had on me, a sz. 2 Black Bear Green Butt. Nothing happened, so I went back to the car. That ate a valuable five minutes or so. I switched to a 7.0 ips Versileader, tied on a Sugerman Shrimp, and walked to the next pool downstream. No dice. 

     I went back to the top of the run, this time armed with an orange HKA Sunray/Bismo. As the fly swung to the nearside of the run, I began to strip it back to me. Bam! Fish on! After a short fight, I brought a salmon to the net. Instead of wringing out the last little bit of time I had, I felt satisfied enough to leave early. I knew I'd be back later, so I went and got a sandwich instead of fishing through the run. 

     After school pickup and a nap, the babysitter came, I drove back to the river, and phase II started. It cooled off a bit, but the air temperature was still in the 60s. The water temperature had risen to about 50º. The river was flowing at nearly the same level as earlier. I fished four pools in the last two hours of daylight. Nothing happened. I decided to fish a White Winged Akroyd in my last pass through the pool. I thought I had a grab, set the hook, then realized it was a submerged rock. Bye bye, Akroyd. 

     I am happy with my one fish, but I was sure I'd see more action today. Oh well. At this point, I'm just killing time before the spring runs of fish start. If these warm temperatures hold, we won't have to wait long!