Posts Tagged ‘Blue Winged Olive’

Early Spring on the Farmington River

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
 

I arrived yesterday to the Hawes Campground, and made my way down to the campground pool in the early evening.

There wasn’t too much going on at the surface of the water, but every few minutes you would see a rise.  The water temperature of the farmington river there was between 49 and 50 at the surface. I hooked up a descent size trout with a Blue Wing Olive (BWO) Parachute Dry fly, but in the excitement I tried to muscle him in, and broke the leader.  It was the first fish on of the season, and the first on a new fly rod, that is a bit longer than the rod i’m used to.  Excuses excuses right? If i didn’t have them, I guess I wouldn’t be a fisherman!

Today I’ll probably head down to the church pool, which is just below where I saw the DEP stocking fish yesterday on my way in to camp.

The forecast shows a chance of showers later in the day, which may make the evening hatch a difficult (and cold) time to fish, I will probably start with the sinking line and some nymphs if nothing is going on on the water when I arrive.

See you out there!

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I Need a Smaller Camera

Saturday, December 5th, 2009
 

This past Friday and Saturday we were blessed with extraordinary weather for December. Just my luck I had both days off from work. I thought to myself a trip to the Farmington before my licence runs out and next year I have to pay 80$ or a short trip to the Swift.

I picked the Swift, and it turned out, I think in my favor. I parked at the “Pipe” parking lot around 11 am, and instead of working the Pipe section which can be crowded and I do mean crowded; I decided to work below the crib dam. I had seen a few tan caddis flies on the banks; they had worked the week before so why not this week. I tied on a Elk Haired Palmered Caddis and sure enough I had a small brookie in my palm. Sorry about the Pun; anyways in short order I reeled in two nice rainbows that followed.

I decided to move up stream right below the dam.  A really nice pool and no one in sight. After a few casts a huge rainbow attacked my caddis and broke the tippet. I shouted out Dam; again sorry about the pun.   I Looked in my fly box to pull out another caddis, I had many, but not a olive color; so instead tied on a BWO size 20. I was thinking that the color was more important than the type.   After a few casts I had a twenty inch rainbow in the net. It was the quickest fight that I’ve ever had. The bow hit my fly directly up stream from me and then proceeded to drift right at me I quickly grabbed my net and like that the fight was over. Not more than eight seconds had passed from the bow taking the fly until he was in my net.  Now I had one thought, man I wish I had my camera!!!  It’s a Nikon Cool Pix it’s one of the medium bodies, not exactly one that you might stow in a vest easily.  Maybe for Christmas I might get a smaller camera, who knows?

So Saturday found me in the same section with flurries in the air instead of bright sunshine like the day before.  I thought tan instead of olive.  I tied on a elk hair palmered tan caddis with almost the same results.  Four large bows about fourteen to eighteen inches long in about three hours.   Fly fishing in December with nothing rising and catching eight trout all on dries.  I can’t wait to get out again!  Maybe the Farmington.

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October Farmington River Trip Report

Monday, October 12th, 2009

The trip to the Farmington river this weekend, can definitly be classified a success.  We had a great time, explored a lot of the river, tied some new flies, and caught some fish!

Pumpkin Caddis Fly and it's real counterpart

Pumpkin Caddis Fly and it's real counterpart

It started out a very damp friday, with sprinkles coming down on us.  We spent the evening setting up camp, and fishing the Campground Pool, and the stretch downstream of it.  We noticed then that the Blue winged olive which should have been hatching was not, but instead, there was a pumpkin caddis coming up off the water.  Neither of us had a good match for it, so it would be off to the fly store in the morning to find the supplies to tie the fly.

The following morning, we went down to the Greenwood pool, and fished the area above it, where the water runs quickly pouring into the pool.  There were a lot of rises, and FishingChef pulled in at least one there to add to his count.  I had yet to catch anything.

After a quick breakfast, and shopping for some camping equipment, and fly tying supplies, we headed up to the Dam and West Branch Reservoir.  From there, after some sight seeing, we made our way back down to the campsite, stopping along the way to fish, and to explore new potential locations.  We ended at the Hawes pool, north of the campground, and then returned to the campsite to tie up some of the Pumpkin Caddis that we wanted to imitate what we saw hatching on the water the night before.

We ended the day just below the campground pool, fishing upstream.  FishingChef hit two little guys on the Pumpkin Caddis, but of course, it was the blue winged olive that was coming up off the water that night.  I tied on what that I had made previously, and was able to pull in two fish, one that was a real nice size just as the light was fading.

The next morning found the air temp down around 36 degrees F, and the water (54 degrees F) as still as can be imagined.  We perused the Church and Drive in pools, but decided to return to the Campground pool.  Then after packing up camp, we headed down to the Greenwood pool again, about to leave, when we spotted some action there, so pulled out our gear, and entered the water.

It was a terrific weekend of fishing, and exploring some new places on the Farmington River.  A place I’ve been many times, but rarely ventured to the other areas.

Most of all in the exploroation, I was struck by all the different fishing that can be done in all the varying spots along the river.

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