Twitching and Skating for Pete

Farmington River brook trout were abundant this summer.
They were all too willing to nail a Variant. 

     After the spring runs are over, I switch to trout fishing mode. I usually hit a handful of local rivers, but I focused solely on the Farmington River this season. The Farmington was the favored haunt of a much-loved local angler who many of us were proud to call our friend. Pete, aka "TROUT I," was a Farmington River fishing machine. I learned a lot from Pete over the dozen or so years I knew him. Pete was very animated and he gave a realtime "play-by-play" of everything happening while he fished. We shared a lot of laughs, especially when the trout were "rising with blatant impunity."

     Unfortunately, Pete passed away on July 1, 2018. He had been sick for a while. Even though Pete could not fish anymore, he liked hearing reports. I sent him a report a couple days before he passed. He replied to my email and that was the last correspondence we shared.

     Pete was known as the master of the Beadhead Pheasant Tail Soft Hackle. It seemed like he could catch fish on command with that wet fly. About ten years ago, Pete gave me a Dun Variant to try. I had seen Variant-style dry flies in books, but had never fished one myself. That particular spring, Pete did well with a Dun Variant on our local river. I fished it a few times. I don't recall if I caught anything with it, but I remember seeing him catch several trout with his.

     In the years since then, I have caught a fair number of trout on a Dun Variant, usually during Isonychia hatches. Last summer, I had some luck with a Cream Variant during hatches of Yellow Drakes. On most days this summer, a Variant was my go-to dry fly. When a trout decides he wants one, often times the take is a violent one. There is nothing like twitching and skating a huge variant over fishy looking water, only to have a rainbow, brown, or brook trout dart top from the bottom of the river and smash a dry fly with the ferocity of a fish who thinks his last meal is about to escape.

      In early June, I caught a bunch of trout on a Grey Fox Variant. From mid June to early July, I caught a bunch of trout on a Cream Variant. From July through most of August, I caught a bunch of trout on a Dun Variant. Many of these catches weren't during hatches. Prospecting with a Variant was just as productive as fishing one during a hatch. I had one rainbow grab my Grey Fox Variant so hard, he pulled all the slack line from my hand and set the hook without me so much as raising the rod tip! Without a doubt, Variants were my most productive trout fly this season, an honor typically reserved for the Usual (which also did well, as usual).

     I told Pete about the aforementioned rainbow in our final email exchange. Though it has been at least two years since I last shared a pool with Pete, I felt like I was fishing with him in spirit this summer. Pete was exactly the guy you want next to you when a trout smashed a Variant, twitching and skating on the surface of the water.

A Tale of Three Trips

The binoculars are for "seeing trout." 

Trip #1

     Last season, my son and I had a successful trip to the Hammonasset River, targeting trout rising to Quill Gordons. The little guy caught his first trout, a brookie, as well as a rainbow trout. He was bummed that we lost a brown trout and were unable to check it off his list. 

     This season, I vowed that he would get his brown trout. The water was much higher this year, so the little guy had to fish from the bank. Another big difference from last year was that the trout would not rise this time. I suspect the high, cold water had something to do with it. No worries, we had nymphs and wet flies that did the trick. He lost the first fish hooked, an acrobatic rainbow, but I assured him there were more opportunities. A few minutes later, he had his first brown trout in the net and checked off his list! 

     He was at least as proud of himself as I was of him. He asked what the next kind of trout he will catch next. Short of flying him out west to chase cutthroats, the only thing I could come up with was tiger trout. I warned him that they are few and far between, but it was no use. A new quest has emerged. Time to distract him with sunfish! 

The elusive brown trout

Trip #2

     It had been far too long since the last time I fished with my friend Mark (Fishing Small Streams). Mark and I used to fish the Hendrickson hatch on the Farmington at least once a season, but I have been distracted by migratory fish the past two springs. I knew it was time to revisit our old haunts before Mark moves. 

     Before the hatch started, I caught my first trout of the season on a #2 Grey Ghost. I was using a 6 wt. switch rod, so it wasn't much of a battle. I soon caught another, which didn't put much of a bend in the rod. Then I lost a third, which did put a bend in the 11' Sage Z-Axis. It put a big bend in the rod before it thrashed on the surface, threw the fly, and swam back to the depths. Oh well, there was more action to come...

      The hatch materialized, but the fish weren't too keen to rise. I picked off one on a wet fly after changing pools. I didn't see many rises. The rises I saw were isolated. I went back to the streamer while we waited for a potential spinner fall. 

     I wasn't too optimistic about a good spinner fall considering how windy it was. But, low and behold, we saw a ton of spinners over the water. The popular pool we chose was too crowded for my comfort, so I moved to the next pool upstream. It's a small pool, and two anglers were already in it,  but I was able to sneak in at the tail. 

      It wound up being a good choice. It was quite a spinner fall...the most prolonged spinner fall I've fished in quite a long time. The trout were plentiful but small. I even caught some while fishing from the bank. Finally, I hooked a better fish, but lost him as he raced towards the tail of the pool. No worries, the action was far from over. 

     There was a decent trout rising in the very fast water at the extreme edge of the tail, just above the rapids. I drifted a spinner over it a few times before it ate. I got the fish close to me but, once it saw me, it bolted. I had been catching all small fish and hauling them in, so my feisty fish senses were a little dull when I hooked this one. This trout was absolutely not going to give up easily and it escaped into the fast water below. It was time to put on my running shoes. I kept tight on the trout for a good distance downstream. I thought I could land it in one of the pockets, but no dice. The fish didn't stop running until it crossed into the next pool downstream. 

Not particularly large, but full of piss and vinegar! 

     I was able to land the fiery fish in the soft water of the new pool. It was well hooked and thrashed wildly while I tried to remove my spinner from its mouth. I thought the fight was over, but this trout didn't get the memo. It wasn't a particularly large trout, maybe 17"-18" at best, but fought like a demon. I was happy I didn't break my ankle. Whatever I hooked next probably wouldn't have been that exciting, so I decided to call it a night! 

Shad fight tough, but are a delicate fish. Whenever possible, I now release shad without touching them. 

Trip #3

     Data! Data doesn't lie. I knew I could have a good day of shad fishing if the water fell below a certain level on the gauge after Mother's Day. I've been trying to fish closer to home more often and only wanted to make one trip this year, as long as it was a good enough trip. It wasn't the most spectacular day of American shad fishing I've ever had, but it was good enough to scratch the itch for the season. There were some fairly large fish in the mix too, so that was a bonus. Actually, I hooked a few real tough ones. 

     It pays to keep track of data throughout a few seasons. It can make trips successful when time is limited, as it has been for me the past year or so. I had no specific local intel on this spot, but I've fished it enough to know when it should produce. It produced as expected. It was fun. I'll go back next year, after Mother's Day, when the water is below a certain level...

Naugatuck Report - November 25, 2017 - A Welcome Surprise

Bruiser brown trout 

     Today was the first day so far this salmon season where I could fish all day long. The day started off with a salmon in net right away. I was betting on fishing close to the surface today, but I threw on a Shumakov Golden Shrimp on my second pass through the first pool. Luckily, that did the trick for a morning salmon, just as it did two seasons ago in the same pool.

    I was still betting on action close to the surface, but it never came. After flogging three more pools, I switched to the sinking rig. It was a bust at the first pool, but it worked like a charm at my final stop of the day. I didn't plan on being there as long as I was, but the fishing was really good, so I stayed. I had to throw long bombs to reach the fish. I used a 5.6 ips versileader and a small German Snaelda, which has been a very good fly for both me and my clients lately. 

    The first pull was a good one, but it fell off immediately. Further down the run, I got my surprise...a bruiser brown trout! And on the Snaelda, of all things. It was bigger, and fought harder, than any of my salmon so far this season.

Salmon and Snaelda

     Then, it was two more salmon on the Snaelda. I switched to a gold body Willie Gunn for a change of place, then nailed one more salmon. It was a good day for sure. The water was 44º and the air topped out around 58º. The flow, 238 cfs, is getting low for this time of year, but it is just right if you know where to go and can handle a switch or spey rod well enough to cover the lies. 

     What do all the flies have in common? They are all yellow, orange, and black, a killer combo for this time of year. The German Snealda and the Willie Gunn can be found in my ebook, Flies for Connecticut Atlantic Salmon: How to Tie and Fish Them. The Golden Shrimp recipe can be found below. 

     There are plenty of good days left this season! I'm looking at the 10 day forecast, and the weather looks favorable every day. Care to take a trip? Let me know, even if it's last minute...

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If it ain't yellow, orange, and black, put it back! 

Golden Shrimp (Yuri Shumakov)

Tube: Shumakov Long Range (brass, 4 mm), grooves painted red 

Thread: Glow red or fluorescent orange

Wing: Two sections golden pheasant tippet dyed red (sub natural gp tippet in pic); yellow bucktail; two strands pearl Midge Flash; hot orange arctic fox

Hackle: Yellow dyed badger over orange dyed badger 

Head: Glow red or fluorescent orange

Catching Up

My first fish of 2017 betrayed how well this spot would wind up fishing.

     It has been a long time since my last post here. I've been busy with family, work, and fly tying. That's one excuse. Another excuse is how miserable spring fishing was for me this season. The most likely excuse is that I just haven't felt the urge to write much. In any case, I wanted to document how this season has gone so far, if for no other reason than to have a causal record on which to look back.

     I wanted to get out during the warm winter stretches, but something always ruined it. Come March, I was getting irritated and decided to ride it out until the spring runs started, when I would make up for lost time. My first trip, on April 20, to my favorite spring spot yielded one schoolie, which is better than most first trips to this place. Based on that, I figured I was in for a treat this season. 

Stripers on nymphs

     How wrong I was! This river has been fishing worse and worse every spring. Not only didn't I see a sea run trout, but didn't hear of any caught or seen, either by anglers or state sampling crews. The striper run wasn't too great either. That schoolie was the biggest striper I caught there this season. There were a ton of dinky stripers around though. After a while, I decided to get goofy and tried to catch them on nymphs and a trout rod, which wound up working great. That was only fun for an afternoon or so. The best thing to happen to me all spring was driving off with my net on the car roof, not losing it, and having it crushed by an 18 wheeler (like I did last spring on the Naugatuck). I got to Target, did my shopping, then saw it on the roof of my car. That's about as lucky as I got there this season, so I think it is time to move on and find a spot with better spring prospects. I have one in mind, but will have to wait until next spring to see how it pans out. 

 

The highlight of my (former) favorite spring spot

     Fishing in the salt yielded similar results for me. Lots of tiny fish. I was always in the right place, but just a little too late. Rowan L. (CT Fly Angler) had sympathy for me. While my spring river was fishing worse than ever, his was fishing better than ever. He took me out one night and the place was absolutely loaded with stripers. Finally, I was in the same place as some keeper-sized fish. I hooked two and lost them both!

     American shad fishing was OK for me, but not nearly as good as it had been for me the past two seasons. I broke one of my favorite switch rods on my first shad of the season. It was a bonehead mistake on my part. Extreme frustration was beginning to kick in, so I decided to take a couple weeks off and regroup. 

An order of orange Caribou Bombers for trophy brook trout fishing in Labrador

     I had a late wave of salmon fly orders to tie, so my break was the perfect time to catch up. I am happy to hear that the flies have been doing their jobs. I love tying. I really enjoy it. But, after a couple weeks of hardcore tying sessions (and a new chair born out of necessity...ouch), I was ready to fish again. 

A wild, small stream brown that was one of my first of the season

     I figured I needed to change gears, so I dusted off the trout gear. My first solo trout trip of the season happened much later than normal for me. I think it was sometime in June. After teaching some drum lessons, I stopped by a small stream that has been good to me in the past, but that I had not fished in a few years. I was surprised that the water was as low as it was and it made me uneasy. Getting charged by a pit bull made me even more uneasy. Luckily, he just wanted to play. Thinking the pool was spooked, I flipped my caddis downstream. To my surprise, my first trout of the season was a 12" wild brown! Unfortunately, he didn't want his picture taken. There were way more downed trees than the last time I fished here, so that made fishing a little more challenging. I wound up having a really good evening and caught many more trout than I had expected. In years past, I would pull a brookie or two from this river, but it seems like there are fewer than ever in this section of stream. Maybe they move around, or maybe it has become too warm for them. I'm not sure.

Farmington River Yellow Drake

     It was about time for my favorite evening hatches on the Farmington River, so I moved my operation over there. My first day on the Farmington was a sulfur bonanza, with several hour of consistent dry fly fishing. I stayed in one pool for about six hours. There was no incentive to move. My next trip, I decided to focus on the big bugs of summer, the Yellow Drakes. It was a successful trip, other than being warned by the police not to stay after sunset. I've fished this spot for years, mostly into the night, and this was the first time I've been warned. It was a successful trip, so I decided to push my luck...

The big Cream Variant was the winner. 

     I tied up some big flies for the Drake hatch and decided to go with a friend (who shall remain nameless in this case!). I asked him to drive in case we got caught. Since I never had a problem in the past, I thought it might have been a fluke. We fished, the hatch was pretty good, and I nailed one of the hardest fighting Farmington browns I've caught in a while. The fish was perfect and had no elastomer tags. He freaked out every time he saw the net. I suspect that trout might have been a wild fish. He absolutely nailed a sz. 10 Cream Variant, which is such a fun fly when it works. I was riding high until two police cars stopped us on the way out! Quickly, I stashed my hat and glasses under the seat. It worked, and we got off with a warning. Another friend wasn't so lucky and was actually ticketed.

     I went back once more, but set my cell phone alarm to get me out before sunset. It was a rainy day and the fish were taking olives and I managed a few browns from a very fussy pool. The drakes hatched early and I hooked (and lost) one nice trout before I had to go. As I packed up, an officer drove by to make sure I was leaving. What a drag...that spot fishes best right before sunset and into the night. It's a shame it's now regularly patrolled and off-limits. Oh well, I'm happy to have done as well as I did there in my few trips. 

Wild Farmington River rainbow trout

     A Farmington River first for me was the wild rainbow trout (pictured above). To my knowledge, it's only the second wild rainbow I've caught in Connecticut. Wouldn't it be great if there were a lot more of them...and bigger? It makes me wonder about some of the fish I have lost...

Finally...a carp! Small, but I'll take it. 

     The past couple of weeks, I have been focusing on carp fishing. Rowan L. was kind enough to show me the ropes. It took three trips and a couple of blown hook sets to land one, but I managed to land three on my third day. They were all small, but we have our sights set on something much larger...possibly the largest exclusively freshwater fish that swim in our state...But they are so difficult to hook....hopefully more on that later...

     So, that's about it. Luckily, the summer has been going much better for me than the spring. With the rain and mild summer, I'm cautiously optimistic about good fall fishing this year. I will be doing more frequent posts than I have been and will be doing some prep work for the upcoming Connecticut salmon season, so check back often.

My Best Guide Trip Yet

M's first trip - 2013 (4 mos. old)

     A few months after my son, "M," was born, I was ready to get on the water. 2013 was a brutal winter and I had a pretty serious case of cabin fever. Even if it hadn't snowed so much, I just needed to get out of the house. Seeing how a newborn would be confined to his carrier, I figured a quick fishing trip might be possible. I timed it for the Quill Gordon hatch on a local river. 

     Things didn't go according to plan. As a baby, M demanded to be held and walked around almost all the time. It was exhausting. I thought he might be distracted enough by the sights and sounds of nature for me to catch a fish or two. I had only made a few casts before M cried. He didn't want to be in the carrier. He wanted to be held, just like at home. So much for my brilliant plan. 

    After the first trip, I decided to wait a bit before trying again. A few months later, a stroller trip to Connecticut's Salmon River ended pretty much the same way. After that, I decided to pull the plug on fishing with M in year one. In his second year, we made a couple successful trips to the Naugatuck, largely due to the novelty of a toddler carrier backpack. By the time M was old enough to run around, he had gotten sort of wild, that way little boys often do. He was too wild to bring fishing. It just wasn't enough action for him and it would have been dangerous to leave him on the bank. I fished on my own for the next two years. 

The apprentice

     This winter, four year old M developed an interest in fly tying. I showed him some basics and he soon asked, "Where are all of my tools?" I laughed, but he didn't let me off the hook. I had to get him his own set of tools. I had enough of the basics at home, but we made a special trip to UpCountry Sportfishing to fill his box with tools and some bargain bin materials. It was still too cold to fish, but the seed had been planted...

     ...Fast forward to last Friday. The weather had been warm enough to make a local Quill Gordon hatch a possibility. I had a much needed day off and had planned on fishing alone that day. However, my plans change suddenly,  as they often do. I called an audible and brought M back to the original river. We returned to the pool he last visited when he was four months old. I told M that I would do the casting and he would fight the fish, just like we had practiced in the basement two weeks prior (on the rod and reel he claimed were his). 

Fish on!

     As expected, there was a Quill Gordon hatch, albeit a light one. We hooked up on a cripple pattern, but lost the brown trout early in the fight. The other trout didn't have much interest in a dry fly, but they nipped at a sz. 14 Hare's Ear wet fly. It seemed too small, so I switched to a larger wet fly, a sz. 10 Leading Coachman. 

     Bingo! It wasn't long before we hooked up in the tail of the pool. I handed the rod to M. He reeled the wrong way at first, but got it right after I offered some expert advice. It wasn't long before I netted M's first trout, a nice little brookie. Unfortunately, the fish slipped out of my hand when I tried to take its picture. Shortly after the excitement of landing his first trout, M dropped my 20-compartment dry fly box into the river. I fished it out of the current with the tip of my rod. 

M's second trout

     After laying the fly box out to dry, we went back to it. It wasn't long before we hooked up again. After another urgent lesson in which direction to reel, M brought his second trout close, this time a little rainbow. After landing the first fish, M really wanted to net a fish himself. That wasn't going to happen, so I handed him the net with the rainbow in it. The fish kicked, startled M, and he dropped the net into the river. I jumped in after the net and the water went over my hip boots. Like my fly box, my right leg was totally soaked. It was a small price to pay for the memories. 

     We had to leave shortly thereafter, so we packed up and headed out. I took off my soaked socks and put on a pair of flip flops. After putting M in his car seat, I congratulated him on a job well done, catching two of the three species of local trout. He whined loudly,  "But I wanted to catch a brown trout, too!" 

The lucky fly, set aside for safe keeping

Breaking in a New Rig on the Delaware

A nice view downstream

   

     Last week was a long one. Since moving into our house almost three years ago, we knew a deck replacement would need to happen sooner rather than later. The old deck was neglected beyond the point of making repairs worth the time or effort. So, during my wife's school vacation week, we tore the old deck out and built a new one. It's nice to have a new and bigger deck, but it felt like a sort of crummy way to spend a week of beautiful weather. Luckily, my friend Harold asked me to join him and guide Steve Taggart on a Saturday afternoon/evening float trip down the mainstem of the Delaware River. 

     The weather was beautiful, albeit a bit too sunny to make most of the trout willing to come up for a dry fly. Despite the effects of the sun, we were able to headhunt for enough large risers to keep us busy throughout the day. Given the funky wind, I probably should have rigged up my 6 wt. dry fly rod, but I wanted to try out my new 5 wt. combo. I strung up my Beulah Platinum 9' 5wt. and an Abel TR2 reel. We expected to see Hendricksons on the water, so I tied on my favorite fly for that hatch, a variation on Bob Quigley's deadly Quigley Cripple. 

Beulah Platinum 9' 5 wt. and Abel TR2

     It wasn't too long before we found a few risers. This was my first time fishing the Delaware, so it took me a little while to wrap my brain around fish that weren't necessarily staying in one place to intercept insects. Trying to anticipate where the target would rise next was tricky. I eventually pinned one down and hooked up to a brown about 16-18 inches. I was surprised at how strong these browns are! They can be difficult to lift. I thought the brown was as good as landed, but it popped off at the last second.

A variation on the Quigley Cripple is my favorite fly for the Hendrickson hatch.

     As the hatch progressed, we moved downstream and continued to hunt for large fish. We struck out in an area with rising fish on the far side of a few complex currents. Throughout the day, we found good targets and managed to prick a few with one of Steve's comparadun patterns. 

     For me, the highlight of the day was when Steve spotted a large trout at the bottom end of a pool. From a distance, it was difficult to tell if it was a trout or a beaver. He was sticking his head out of the water, gulping bugs off the surface. Each time his head went back under, his big back would show, followed by his tail. He was cruising laterally in a fairly broad area. He wasn't traveling in any discenrable pattern, so I tried my best to guess where he would emerge next. 

     After throwing a half dozen casts that went unnoticed, I laid out a cast that happened to landed a couple feet in front of where he was moving. We saw the big head pop up and engulf the comparadun, followed by his back and tail. The hook struck home and it was game on! He didn't run far, but he was very hard to move. I got him on the reel and I was able to hear my new Abel sing a bit. He ran towards the boat and wound up circling us. At one point, I was really worried that he was going to go underneath. I stood upon the boat's middle seat to help clear the line and leader from getting hung up on the boat. 

     The first attempt to net the big brown trout was unsuccessful. The full length of my 12' leader was outside of the rod tip and I couldn't get the fish high enough. He circled the boat again and I prepared for another landing attempt. Steve gave me the order to strip into my leader when the fish got to the stern. I stripped, then lifted the hefty trout off the bottom of the river. Steve dropped the net at just the right time and the brute was finally landed! He had a great big kype and was a real handful at about 22". 

     The big guy was my only fish brought to hand that day but, when the trout are that big, strong, and difficult to hook, I don't feel like I missed much. Given it was my first time on the Delaware, I was pretty happy with how everything turned out. I can see how this river can be addicting for dry fly fishers. I can't wait to get back.

Good way to break in a new rig

Magog Smelt

Two slightly different flavors of Magog Smelt

 
     With most of my fly tying orders completed, I'm beginning to focus on tying for a June trip to two of Quebec's finest salmon rivers, the Bonaventure and the Grand Cascapedia. My first Atlantic salmon fishing experiences were on New Brunswick's Miramichi River. Years later, my fly box still leans heavily towards Miramichi patterns. At one time, I was inclined to fish these flies in any salmon river. They have worked most places I have fished them. Despite my success with Miramichi flies, I began to feel like I was missing out on the overall experience by not devoting more time to tying patterns that are more often used in other parts of the Atlantic salmon's range. For this trip, I decided to tie a number of patterns that are commonly used in the Bonaventure and Grand Cascapedia.

      I was most excited to tie flies used for fishing in high water. A lack of snow will probably result in lower-than-normal rivers for the time of year I will be fishing, so I anticipate using mainly smaller flies. Snow or no snow, rain can happen at any time. Instead of being caught with my pants down and not having enough high water flies, I decided to tie them anyway, even if I don't use them.

     I have been told that Magog Smelt is a popular high water fly on many Quebec Rivers. I am very familiar with this classic bucktail, having fished it for trout on many occasions, though I have never fished it for salmon. I have confidence in the pattern, so I wouldn't hesitate to try it under the right conditions.

Smelt snout brown

     My most memorable experience with the Magog Smelt was during an early spring trout fishing trip to Vermont in 2010. My friend Bobby was my guide and we were fishing an area not known to harbor many brown trout. Unlike many surrounding waters, the fish in this particular stretch of river are not stocked. Bobby stressed that we after quality, not quantity. Most of the river's inhabitants are wild rainbow trout, with a few native brook trout scattered about. Though we didn't find any monsters, we caught several fiesty rainbows and brookies in a few different streams. Brown trout are not often seen in the rivers we fished. After fishing a fast run in a large river, we moved to a slower stretch of water upstream. It wan't long before I felt something slam my bucktail. The fish was a strong fighter, but was eventually brought to hand. Bobby was shocked to see a brown trout. I was just happy to have caught a nice fish. Shortly thereafter, I landed a nice rainbow trout on the same fly.

     I'm not sure why I never bothered trying one for Atlantic salmon. I had a few in my salmon fly box for several years. They had been gathering dust, so I made a place for them alongside my trout streamers. If I have the chance to fish one in June, I will. If not, I've heard they make terrific striped bass flies.

Magog Smelt var. (sz. 3/0)

Magog Smelt (variation)

Hook: Alec Jackson 2062 (Steelhead Iron - nickel finish)
Tip: Oval silver tinsel
Tail: Teal flank fibers
Rib: Oval Silver tinsel
Body: Pearl flat braid
Throat: Red hackle fibers
Wing: White, yellow, and purple bucktail with UV pearl Krystal Flash; topped with peacock herl
Sides: Teal flank feather
Cheeks: Jungle cock
Head: Black

Farmington Frog Gurgler - aka "Bluefishing for Trout"

It ain't easy being green

"What are you fishing for, bluefish?"

That was one of the snarky questions I was asked the last time I fished this fly. It was nearing sunset and I was targeting aggressive brown trout. These particular trout weren't interested on feeding on insects like their smaller brethren. After ten minutes of casting, a large brown boiled at my Gurgler Frog. A few minutes later, I had another vicious rise. 

"You see?" I replied. "Sometimes these picky trout actually go after stuff like this."

"They're probably not interested in eating that fly. They're probably just trying to get it out of their territory." 

"Why would I care about the reasons why a trout takes a fly so long as he takes it? Aggression, hunger, boredom...it doesn't really matter to me." My opportunity counter the other angler's antagonism had arrived...

...but I didn't say it. At one time, I wouldn't have hesitated. Now, I'd just prefer to be left alone to fish, waste my time, disturb the pool, or whatever. 

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The truth is, the Gurgler Frog doesn't always work. It doesn't even work most of the time. Obviously, it's no Prince nymph or Parachute Adams. But when it works, it is FUN. When trout decide that it's frog time, it's probably the most fun I have while trout fishing. When it's really on, I guess it is like fishing for bluefish. I've had afternoons where cast after cast was met with explosions from good sized brown trout. Most rises don't result in a hookup, which probably gives plausibility to  "territorial aggression" hypothesis. Sometimes I do hook up, though. Whether or not they eat the fly, the extremely volatile rises are entertaining enough to keep fishing the frog pattern. 

I find the Farmington Frog Gurgler most effective at the beginning of the season, when trout are just starting to rise to the surface for hatching insects. I discovered that it works well when an afternoon Hendrickson hatch is winding down, but before the spinner fall starts. I've also fished it during the Hendrickson emergence and have caught large fish who weren't interested in rising for insects. A Hendrickson spinner fall is too good to pass up, so I usually go back to dries when that happens. 

Another good time to fish this (or any other Gartside Gurgler pattern) is right before sunset. The trout let their guard down and can be willing to throw caution to the wind. To my surprise, I haven't had much luck with Gurglers after dark. 

I try to make as much commotion as possible, which means that it probably shouldn't be fished in close proximity to other anglers. I make it land with a  big "Splat!" Then, I throw a big upstream mend and pop it across stream, letting it pause for a moment between pops. The strikes usually happen while the fly is resting, though I've had browns chase it clear across a run while I stripped it quickly. As always, it pays to experiment. 

Is it the best way to catch trout? Definitely not. Might it offended the delicate sensibilities of purist crowd? Possibly. Will fishing it make you look like you're a little off your rocker? Probably. Is it a really fun way to catch trout? Hell yeah!

-----------------------------

Farmington Frog Gurgler

Hook: TMC 8089 #6

Thread: Olive 3/0 or 6/0

Tail: tuft of olive grizzly chickabou; a few strands of pearl krinkle flash

Legs: 4 olive grizzly saddle hackles; 2 on each side of the shank, concave side facing out

Shellback: Green closed cell foam, folded over on itself to form a lip in front (w/optional black and brown dots)

Body: Chartreuse or pearl Estaz

Froggy Arms: Olive speckled centipede legs, knotted

A trout caught by Ron Gaul on opening day 2015.
Proof that trout eat frogs!

Hammonasset Trout 1 - Little Guy 0

My future netsman

This little fella has been going more and more places lately, so I figured why not fishing? I thought I had this all figured out. We'd go to the Hammonasset River, a mere 20 minutes from home. Worst case scenario, his great aunt is only a mile away, tops. I put on my hippers before leaving home. My rod was already rigged up with a Golden Olive Dabbler and a small Silver Invicta. I figured today was the day to introduce the little guy to his first trout and I figured I had about ninety minutes of fishing time to get the job done. 

I should have taken the dirty diaper upon arrival as a sort of foreshadowing. Fortunately, the back of my Mazda Tribute is the perfect baby changing station. We took care of the stinky mess and were on our way. It was a short walk downhill to a pool where, according to my friend Pete, the trout "rise with blatant impunity."

We made it to the pool and found some small risers. Unfortunately, they were chubs. After bringing two to hand, I spotted a decent sized trout rising in the tail of the pool. Because of the nature of the pool, I had to work downstream to cover the bulk of the deeper water. I hadn't thrown close to enough line to cover that far down the pool before an unexpected thirty minute meltdown began. 

I knew we were done for the day. He wanted out of the car seat and wanted to be held. I tried to calm him down so I could get that one elusive trout and we could be on our way, but it wasn't meant to be. It was time to head home. 

I wish I could give some kind of helpful fishing report to the locals, but we weren't there long enough to see much happen. Plus, my attention was mainly focused on the bank, not the water. On the drive home, I told his mom about my shortest fishing trip ever. She replied, "30 minutes? That's a pretty good amount of time outdoors for him!" Was our trip a success? I didn't think so, but maybe I was wrong. 

I'll give him another month or two before we attempt this again. I know of a stream filled with wild trout and decent enough stroller access. In the meantime, I'll have to phone the Duke of Roxburghe and tell him to postpone our trip to the Alta River until further notice...

Ausable Wulff and Bomber: Enlarged Trout Flies for Atlantic Salmon

Ausable Wulff #4 and Ausable Bomber #6

I believe it was early July 2010 when I brought my friend and fishing partner, Mark, for his first taste of   Rhode Island trout fishing. Our destination, the Wood River, holds a special place in my fly fishing memories. I hooked my trout on a fly from the banks of the Wood when I was thirteen years old. I don't get back there often enough, but I look forward to making a few trips a year. 

Nowadays, almost all of my trips to the Wood happen during a magical time of early summer. The hot and muggy New England weather triggers the Wood's mega hatch of Hexegenia Limbata mayflies. The Hex is North America's largest species of mayfly. The hatch occurs after dark, sometimes coming and going in the blink of an eye. A good Hex hatch is about as exciting as trout fishing gets for me. I love casting big, bushy dries to the sounds of rising trout. Who needs to see rises when you can hear them so clearly?

I hate to drive all the way to the Wood for what could potentially be as little as a half hour of Hex fishing. To maximize my time and gas money, I like to spend the afternoon chasing the Wood's other attraction, the native brook trout. I love small stream trout fishing and the Wood (and its tributaries) has enough brookies to keep an angler busy until darkness falls, the Hex begins to emerge, and the stream's larger inhabitants come out of hiding.

A well-camouflaged Wood River brook trout

Mark is a brook trout junkie and my usual routine sounded good to him. I was going to share the Wood and its residents with Mark, but little did I know Mark had something to share with me. He gave me one of his favorite brook trout flies, a #12 Ausable Bomber. Created by the late Fran Betters, this Adirondack dry fly has become a staple of the small stream trout fisherman's arsenal. It did not take me long to catch several brookies on Mark's Bomber. Since that day, I never leave home without several Ausable Bombers, as well as its sister pattern, the Ausable Wulff. Both have proven equally effective for me, so I can't say I prefer one or the other.

A beautiful native New England brook trout

The Ausable Wulff is tied on the tried and true Wulff template. It's not a new fly to salmon fishermen. I recall seeing it in my all time favorite book on the subject of Atlantic salmon fishing, Fishing Atlantic Salmon: The Flies and the Patterns (Bates and Bates Richards, 1996). Though it's currently out of print and it sells for a relatively hefty sum, it's worth every penny. Anyhow, a small Ausable Wulff (tied by Betters) makes an appearance on page 182. 

A wild Connecticut tiger trout & #12 Ausable Wulff

I've never heard anyone mention that they've hooked an Atlantic salmon on an Ausable Wulff, however, it looks like it has a lot of potential for Atlantic salmon in rivers with tannin colored water. The same goes for the Ausable Bomber. I decided to tie the two in what would be considered very large sizes for these particular flies. If the planets and stars align just right for me, I really hope to try these out in Newfoundland this summer. I think they'd be a pair of killer flies for the surface oriented salmon of "The Rock."

I modified the dressings a tiny bit from the originals, but will make note of what Betters' used to tie these two flies. I'd be curious to know if anyone has had success with either of these on a salmon river, so please let me know. If you have a chance, check out my friend Mark's fantastic blog, Fishing Small Streams. While I have been up to my ears in dirty diapers lately, Mark has been knocking them dead on local streams!

Ausable Wulff (salmon)

Hook: Mustad 3399a #4-#10

Thread: Fluorescent orange 6/0

Wing: Calf Tail

Tail: Woodchuck 

Body: Hot orange seal fur (original calls for rusty orange Australian opossum)

Hackle: Brown and grizzly, mixed

Ausable Bomber (salmon)

Hook: 4XL Bomber hook #2-#10 (pictured is a #6 W.W. Doak Bomber hook)

Thread: Fluorescent orange 6/0

Split Wing: Calf Tail (original calls for a single wing)

Tail: Woodchuck
Underbody: Orange closed cell foam (for enhanced float-ability...not found in the original pattern)

Body: Hot orange seal fur (original calls for rusty orange Australian opossum)

Body Hackle: Brown and grizzly, mixed; ribbed with thread

Front Hackle: Brown and grizzly, mixed

A view from above

A Brief Departure - Part II, Some Flies

An eclectic mix from around the globe

Pictured above is my box of flies for CT sea run brown trout fishing 2013. Like I said, I'm fairly new to the game, and several of these patterns are new to me. I tried to include a smattering of patterns from the UK, Denmark and America. The UK flies came from various sources. They're all common wet flies. The Danish flies came from Martin Jorgensen's great articles on the Global Fly Fisher website. The American flies are a mix of trout flies and saltwater patterns. There are a couple of salmon flies thrown in, just because the formulas seem to work well*. 

Left side of fly box:

Elk Hair Caddis (just in case!)

Crazy Charlie

Burning Man

Medicine (Hugh Falkus)

Red Tag

Grease Liner

Mummichog Muddler  (post #12)

Li'l Stinker (see below)  

Green Butt Blue Charm*

Grey Fred

Chartreuse and White Mini Clouser

Sunray Shadow (aluminum and plastic tubes)

Right Side of fly box:

Teal Blue and Silver 

Red Tag

Mallard and Claret

Bloody Butcher

(some of these flies are transplants from other boxes and have already been chewed on, so forgive their scruffy appearances)

Most of these flies are impressionistic as opposed to imitative of specific food items. Of course, to a trout, the impression might be of something very specific. Last season, my largest sea run brown (about 5#) took a Sunray Shadow tied on a plastic tube. I lost another in that size class on a Black Sheep tube fly (tied on a Shumakov Long Range aluminum tube). I'm not one to try to rationalize what a fly looks like to a fish or why they take it. I'm just happy they take it at all. However, to me, those long, skinny tubes could have easily been taken for sand eels, especially the Sunray. 

Another fly which worked for me was the Mummichog Muddler, which is probably no surprise given its track record on Cape Cod sea run browns. We have plenty of mummies in our estuaries, so I'm sure these browns are very familiar with them. 

*The outlier for me last year was a Black Bear Green Butt. It was a really dark, overcast, drizzly day. I wanted a black fly and that was the only black fly I had on me. I figured what the heck...well, it worked. Why not, right? The fish that took it was a real beauty...a plump, football-shaped, silver trout, fresh from the sea. 

So flies that look relatively similar to actual food seemed to work best for me. That led me to create this fella for the upcoming season:

Li'l Stinker Grass Shrimp

It gets its name from the antennae and tail, which are made from the guard hairs from a skunk's back. It should work well for striped bass as well. I'm sure a Crazy Charlie would work well enough (I have caught plenty of resident trout on them), but this one was a fun tie. I'm anxious to take it for a swim.

Our first baby is due in the next couple of weeks, so this might be my last post for a little while. As far as fly tying goes, it's all trout flies on the docket for the time being. I have a feeling I'm gonna want to spend as much time as I can with my new little buddy, so the fly tying might take a back seat for a bit. If I catch any sea trout and manage to get pics, I'll post them. I'm really looking forward to warmer weather and longer days...

A Brief Departure - Part I, The Fish

Nice to finally meet you, Mr. Sea Trout!

One of New England's most elusive game fish is the sea run brown trout ("sea trout" in Europe). You only hear rumblings about them here in Connecticut. I think it's partly due to the fact that people in the know don't want competition for a fish that's scarce to begin with. Also, they're not really a great fish to pursue for those who simply must catch something. My limited experience with these ghosts has been humbling to say the least...though not humbling enough to turn me off. In fact, chasing them is starting to become my other fishing obsession (second only to Atlantic salmon fishing).

I'm not going to reveal too much in the way of specifics here. Honestly, I don't know all that much. I only began fishing for them last season. I still have everything to learn about them. I was successful in catching a few, however. All the fish I hooked seemed to follow some general trends. After catching one in the 5# class on my first trip (beginner's luck), I had a streak of about 6-8 outings in a row without so much as a pull. The next fish planted the seed of a certain trend forming and the following one drove the lesson home. All it took was about 2.5 weeks worth of outings for me to get it through my thick skull. While I was busy getting skunked day in and day out, my friends were hammering resident trout on the Farmington and Housatonic Rivers.

What are these trends? I'm afraid you're going to have to figure them out on your own! It took a lot of research and dues paying to get such meager results, but it was worth the effort. I found my own little slice of angling refuge and I'd like to keep it that way. It's not like it's any secret. The information is there for those who care to do the research.

I will post some thoughts though. I feel like some aspects of this local fishery go almost completely ignored. Like I tell people with regards to broodstock salmon fishing, the first thing to do is to read a book about it.

I have three knowledge bases to drawn on when chasing these fish...one was from personal experience abroad, the second is from reading about how it's done "across the pond" and the other is from local sources and going out there and doing it close to home.

My first run-in with sea run brown trout was in Nova Scotia. I was on a salmon fishing trip with friends and we fished a couple of sea trout runs between salmon fishing outings. I caught one puny sea run brown, but saw a couple of fish landed that were a little bigger. At times, I thought I could have been fishing for striped bass.  Schools of trout slashed through schools of bait. My first source of info was from direct experience with the fish and the fishermen who chased them, albeit brief.

My second source of info was voracious research on all things European sea trout-related. Books, videos, websites, internet forums, personal correspondence...even an in-depth conversation on a flight from Murmansk to Moscow. Every little bit helped, though. I noticed distinct differences between sea trout fishing in the UK and sea trout fishing in the Baltic countries (mostly Denmark). Speaking in the most general terms, UK sea trout fishing reminded me of Atlantic salmon fishing, where as Baltic sea trout fishing reminded me of what I saw in Nova Scotia, but with more saltwater. My two favorite sources for info are Hugh Falkus's "Sea Trout Fishing" and Martin Jorgensen's Global Fly Fisher website.

The third piece of the puzzle was from relatively local sources. By "local," I mean from all over New England. From what I gathered through reading and from talking to people, New England sea run brown fishing sounded like a cold-weather version of Nova Scotia fishing, but with fewer trout.

The synthesis of all these sources is still happening in my mind and will continue for some time. I will say this, however...without a little of that synthesis taking place last year, I never would have caught the few I did, much less a very respectably sized southern New England sea run brown trout (the second one was no slouch either and was the prettiest brown trout I've ever caught...dime bright, clean as a whistle!). Curiosity, research, perseverance and thinking a bit outside of the box paid off (and luck). This is probably an appropriate subject for my first blog post of 2013. The thought of hooking more salty browns has replaced salmon fishing, if only temporarily.

Stay tuned for  Part II, the Flies...