Upper Housatonic Report

After racking 'em up yet again at the Farmington Friday afternoon for a couple hours, I had the great pleasure of venturing somewhere else with Brookie (Dave). We fished the upper Housatonic river in Southern MA. Dave fishes like a real predator, and is really skillful at picking apart the river.

We caught good numbers, but had to work for our fish. Most of the fish we caught were '09 stockies, but we also landed some beautiful holdovers and probably wild browns. Dave lost an epic standoff to a REALLY large fish that was most likely a huge brown, but could have possibly been a carp. We saw an ~8lb carp in an area upstream. I am guessing that it was a ~24in brown. If the water had been a bit higher, I believe he would have stood a better chance at landing it; as it was, it was sort of stuck in a small pool/pocket. We'll get that one next time! This is old hat for Dave, having just landed the 23in hog recently.

A few scenery pictures from a river in an industrial setting
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This is a fertile river with lots of insect life
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We landed a good bunch of these size fish, and I think these two are wild
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In one area, there was a gentleman fervently casting caddis dries in an area. After he left, Dave and I did the classic TPO "squeeze." I was on the West bank and Dave on the East. After we landed about our seventh fish he got back out of his car to watch. He was mumbling something under his breath, but finally said "What'r you usin'" I replied "caddis." It is a good feeling to have success once in a while!

On the way home through CT, I couldn't resist a quick stop in the TMA. The water levels are outstanding. I chose a spot in some pocket water while waiting for one of the popular pools to clear out. When it did, I moved in, and nailed 5 really nice rainbows before dark. Torrey came in around 7pm and schooled me at the head of the pool, landing a giant holdover bow, about 19in, and fighting a beautiful copper holdover Housy brown that got off, but looked to be at least 17in. Water temperature this evening was a perfect 60deg.

By the way, I'm not making a big deal out of it, but the Simms studded Vibram soles were completely useless on the slimy limestone rocks in the upper Hous. I felt literally like I was walking on ice all day. Dave wore studded felt and had a much easier time. My next trip there I am wearing my Korkers shoes; the wading conditions are really tricky - you could easily fall in and drown there.

A great day on the mighty Hous!

Geez... Ya had to do the TPO squeeze! The poor guy probably felt like ," Who are these guys DW & AJ?" :) Great report Alain and sounds like it was a really fun day.

Alain,

I think that have fished that spot before ;D What a great section of the hous. I like it up there even more than CT. I like the fact that there are also wild trout up there. That makes the possiblity of hooking a monster ever better. Stocked trout simply do not grow as large as a wild trout does.

Those are some nice fish.. I have never fished that area, does MA take CT licenses in that area on the housy?

USCG716,

Rule on the Hous.....when you cross the state line, you must have a MA license.

The only exception is the upper end of Colebrook River Lake (old RT8) the CT license is fine up to the iron bridge just off the highway.

Some of the ponds on the border will also have license sharing,,,,,read the CT rule book.

Regards,
FK

Thanks for the info.

Alain gave me way too much credit. The guy is approaching master status when it comes to euro-nymphing.

It was fun to put the techniques into action on a different part of the river and do well with it.

My first 11 years of fly fishing I too was one of those guys who insisted on dries. I see those guys in the Tully. I am so glad I learned how to nymph fish. I owe so much to this site!

Steve

That's some great looking wet fly water guys, pleased you had a great day there.

Interesting what you say about the Simms boots. I do of course accept that we may introduce invasive organisms by way of moving from one water source to another, but sorry guys, l do not buy that felt soles are the sole reasons, there are way to many other ways we can inadvertently do this. Landing nets for one, fly lines, even flies will carry didymo and those are a few starters.

Brookie, did you not fish wet fly while you were there.

Davy.

I didn't this time, Davy. I felt I had to keep pace with Alain! so I fell back on some tried and true methods. The water we fished was perfect for euro-nymphing techniques.

I did, however fish them exclusively with the slime line the afternoon before on the Housy in the TMA in CT. I did fairly well, landing 15 or so. Got a couple on the Peter Ross in the anchor position, but most came on the Partridge and Flash. The techniques definitely work, as you well know. I'm pleasantly surprised (but certainly not shocked) how well they work at times.

I tried different presentation approaches, but the best seemed to be as the fly just started it's swing. I also got several with the slow hand twist retrieve.

I have yet to try the wets when the hatch is well under way. I'm looking forward to it though. If I can get 15 during a non-hatch period, then I would think the potential is there to really slay them when the fish are in an active feeding mode.

Curiously, I didn't get any in an upstream dead drift presentation, but then again, that's why you have more than 1 tool in the arsenal.

Dave