Naugatuck Report - Early November 2017

Small, but always appreciated

     After some major setbacks, courtesy of the city of Waterbury, the fall salmon season on the lower Naugatuck River is finally underway. I was optimistic about an early start this season. How wrong I was. Now we need to make up for lost time. 

     I went out for a couple hours while my son was at preschool. The river was 53º and the air temperature was 48º. The river was flowing at 319 cfs, making the two handed rod viable, which is a welcome change from the past couple of seasons. I fished with a Sage TCX 11'9" 6 wt. with a Scientific Anglers triple density Scandi head (float/hover/intermediate), and a 9' mono leader. The leader was 6' of 20 lb. mono and 3' of 16 lb. mono. I am giving Rio Salmon/Steelhead mono a try this season. It's sort of like Maxima Ultra-Green. So far, so good. 

    I scurried through three pools before I had to drive back to Guilford. I lost the first salmon I hooked, but quickly landed another two. All three took a #5 Picasse. The first salmon landed was small (pictured above). The second once was about 5 lbs. or so. I tied on an orange Bismo and stripped like crazy in my last pass through the pool. A fourth salmon nailed it, but I lost the fish after a minute or two. It was a good way to spend a couple hours. 

     Lately, I have been suffering from social media burnout/overload. I probably won't be posting updates regularly like I have in the past. The archives of this blog has a lot of helpful information, so search through old posts for good tips here and there. Also, never hesitate to contact me if you have any specific questions. I will be on the river as much as possible, both fishing and guiding, so I'll have my finger on the pulse of what's going on. Good luck and I hope to see you on the water!