Deerfield and Housy in Mass. fishing report for 6/30/08

**Brookie** · 06-30-2008, 07:10 PM

Took the ride up to the Deerfield this morning. I've only fished it a few times in the past and haven't done so great, so I was seeking revenge. I've been paying a little more attention to the flows and right now it's a friendly flow for about half the day if you start out in the morning.

I decided to concentrate on the lower TMA and I wanted to see how the euro-style nymphing techniques would or would not produce for me there. Fishing was slow at first, a rainbow in an odd spot here, another rainbow there. Previously, I had a brief conversation with Aaron about where the fish might be. You'd think this time of year, they'd be lying in the highly oxygenated riffles, but I didn't catch a single fish in this type of flow. So, after about 5 hours of fishing a variety of water, I only caught 6. Mostly rainbows and a brown.

I wanted to try one last spot before moving on and it was the money spot. I landed another 10 fish in about an hour, all Euro-nymphing with generic brown nymphs. I was really getting in the zone when I heard a rush of water... Sure enough it was the release coming down, which effectively killed my fishing there for the afternoon. All in all, not bad with 16 fish hooked, 15 landed.

On the way back to CT, I decided to check out a section of the Housy I've never fished before. I did a little homework and I had a hunch it might be good. Water level was a bit over 500 cfs which is moderately high, but definitely fishable. Water clarity was about 3 feet, water temp was (if I had to guess) mid 60's. I rigged up again and was fast into bass, but I kept plugging away. The persistance paid off and I finished the day landing another 4 trout, all browns. Fish were aggressive and not lethargic at all. They did have thermal refuge signs up in spots, but the trout I caught were well below them.

So... ended up getting 20 for the day

Sorry, no fish porn. I only take photos if they are over 18 inches. Obviously, I didn't get any that big, but most averaged in the 13-15 inch range.

Dave

**AaronJasper** · 06-30-2008, 07:39 PM

Good report. I wish that Alain and I had the intel to fish down lower. We went to the dam and it was slow to say the least. Now i know where to go next time. Also, I know slondeep went the same day that I did and had similar results. I guess certain sections are fishing much better than others. I found out after the fact that Dave did very well down there as well.

alanb_ct · 06-30-2008, 09:12 PM

I had a good time on Friday at the Deerfield, even though the fishing was slow up near the dam. Beautiful country, deep gorges and rugged terrain. I enjoyed seeing all the moose tracks along the shore. The upper part of this river has serious gradient, I was standing near one riffle looking upstream and could see the riverbed rising steeply in front of me. When the dam was opened, the first thing I noticed was all the foam dispersing wildly. That was the clue that made us get out. We did spot a lot of fish, but they were holding in unusual areas. When I go back, I'll explore some other stretches.

**Nymphmeister** · 07-01-2008, 06:47 AM

Aaron, Brookie is offering 1/2 day nymphing "tune up" clinics if you need some pointers

**AaronJasper** · 07-01-2008, 07:03 AM

Torrey,

Brookie can show you some stuff

He is doing quite well!

**Nymphmeister** · 07-01-2008, 07:28 AM

Aaron, Brookie is also offering 1/2 day Great Lakes Steelhead on the fly "tune up" clinics if you are interested. Rumor had it he sometimes kicks centerpinner's asses up there.

**AaronJasper** · 07-01-2008, 07:36 AM

I must agree the day that happened was the day after Justin and I landed over 100 steelhead of which many were caught in the beads. I must admit that Justin and I spiked the ball that day! We won the game the day before

When we figured we had to work for them we were like f this