Southern CT local stream

alanb_ct · 05-13-2008, 09:10 PM

I had a couple hours free tonight, so I ran over to a local stream with a two fly Czech nymph setup. I used a bright green caddis larva and mayfly nymph, both in a size 16. They both had small tungsten beads. WOW! I am amazed at the effectiveness of this method. I fished only two small pools, and won't quote numbers but they were high. Best of all, some of the fish I caught were NOT fresh stock fish, but instead, 12in rainbow holdovers and native brookies! I caught 4 of those rainbows and two small brookies. The rest of the fish were recently stocked. I followed Aaron's recommendations by fishing every small area of the pool carefully. I went back and forth between pools. I am also impressed with how little weight is required; just the mass of the two beads was enough.

The area I fished was littered with snelled hook packages and bait containers (which I picked up). This place gets serious pressure.

My favorite area tonight was a small suction area underneath a rock wall. I was able to cast near the base of the wall and watch the current take the flies in to the void. Needless to say, some nice trout were in that void!

FK · 05-14-2008, 08:48 AM

alanb_ct,

Great report, I am very interested if you could repeat the success in late June or early July when the stocked fish are "cleaned out". I suspect many good fish are still in the river later in the season.

Regards,
FK

**AaronJasper** · 05-14-2008, 10:22 AM

FK,

The way Alain was fishing with the small weighted nymps will yield great results after the killers are done. Also, he will be able to use more stealthy flies because of the lower and slower flows. This technique is also about finesse as well.

alanb_ct · 05-14-2008, 10:35 AM

Thanks guys. I am also wondering how well this will work with the lower, later flows. Last night the river was up a bit from this week's coastal rain. In the lower water, I plan to try tiny weighted nymphs in a size 20, with a 1/16in tungsten bead. By the way a good fly for me last night was one that I saw Antonio from Portugal doing on the Euro-nymphing DVD. It is a generic-looking sulfur or olive nymph, but uses a turkey biot for the body and CDC for the wingcase. As the upper dropper, this fly took a bunch.

What amazed me the most was the strength of the holdover rainbows! These are not your typical stock fish! They gave me all I could handle on the 4 weight.

alanb_ct · 05-18-2008, 03:45 PM

I went back to this spot today for a quick trip on my way home from the Salmon.

At the first spot I was disgusted with what I saw. About 50ft of 15lb test, a large bobber and below the bobber a wire leader with a 3in Kastmaster sporting giant treble hooks! Wow - it seems like perhaps someone was desparate to snag a few trout. What a shame. This was exactly the sort of rig used to catch schoolie bluefish, but it was deployed in a 20ft wide river!! At another location I saw another big treble snagging hook, and this was right above the location where I caught so many last week.

I was still able to nymph 3 nice brookies in a half hour. I also fooled one small brown by deploying a wet fly tactic.

By the way, this stream has serious numbers of big lampreys this year, today I saw a bunch of the 3 footers.

alanb_ct · 06-02-2008, 09:34 PM

OK, I went back here tonight after dinner. The water is very low, in the 30cfs vicinity. I couldn't believe the numbers of folks out fishing. In all the good spots too.

I fished a tandem of size 18 mayfly nymphs on a straight 5X leader. I tied these flies sort of like flashback Hare's ears in natural and brown.

Fishing was excellent! The fish are really wary now, so stalking is mandatory. I caught a nice bunch, native brookies, a holdover rainbow, the rest stockie browns. I also caught 3 bluegills and 2 yellow perch. The panfish takes were really gentle-good practice I guess. I even spooked a serious-looking fish.

I fished a French-style and a greased leader method. It's amazing how dark the small streams get with all the trees. By 8pm, it was already hard to see.

By the way, I wet waded tonight with two pair of wool socks under my wading shoes. Big mistake! It never occurred to me that wet wading in mosquito-infested conditions is a bad idea, boy did my legs get eaten!

FK · 06-02-2008, 10:47 PM

Alanb_ct,

Thanks for the update, very interesting results.

This goes against conventional wisdom that the popular river is "fished out" within weeks of opening day.

Regards,
FK