Reeling in an atlantic salmon on the Farmington River in Connecticut
The FishingChef caught this 19 inch Atlantic Salmon on the Farmington River, at about 4 in the afternoon. The hatch was a dark hendrickson, but his closest fly was a blue dun. The salmon took the fly once, spitting it out and then hit it hard a couple casts later. Of course the Atlantic Salmon is catch and release only on the farmington river, so it was released after it made it to the net.
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!
Campground pool looking upstream in the early morning fog
This past Friday afternoon, I had just made the turn for the Hawes American Legion Campground. I checked in and headed to camp 12. A nice enough camp with plenty of space and for the most part pretty level ground. I would be waiting a few hours until my friend Scott would be arriving. The weather wasn’t awful; a light rain was falling, with a slight coolness. Not cold by any means; helped by me wearing every fleece that I happen to own.
So I suited up and headed for the Campground Pool. Somewhere in the woods I made a wrong turn and ended up at Hawes Pool just north of the Campground Pool. So I decided that I would start my weekend of fly-fishing here. I tied a size 20 BWO (Blue Winged Olive). On my second cast it produced a very, and I do mean very, small Brook Trout. I thought to myself not a bad way to start the trip.
I had worked my way down to the Campground Pool and found two fishermen; fishing in a kayak, I made some small talk and found out that the men had been planning this trip for some years. They were older, and it seemed to me like it was a trip of a lifetime. I thought to myself this is what fishing is all about; getting out with friends and trying to reel in the big ones. It wasn’t long until Scott showed up, so we decided to set up camp and get back in the water.
Upper end of Greenwood Pool, where the water runs deep and fast
Saturday morning found us in the Greenwoods Pool; it had produced for me the week before. There is a nice riffle at the head of the pool, with a very deep section and a long wide flat; A GREAT POOL! The water levels are really low and my guess is the trout and especially the larger ones need the oxygen. So off we went to the head of the pool just down river of the riffle. I had noticed some Pumpkin Caddis flies on the way in. I tied one on that was similar but not exact. A nice brown came to the net, despite the difference.
The fishing had been very productive; Scott and I made it past Riverton all the way to the Hogback dam and back. We finished the day back at the Camp Ground Pool, where Scott proceeded to reel in two very large trout; large enough to make the trip worthwhile. I’ll be looking forward to the next time on the Farmington. I shutter to think, that snow will be on the ground and ice in the fishing pole guides. It still will make for a great time on the Farmington.
Look for a post on the Swift River this week.
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
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.