The Farmington - Trip Number 2

Saturday, March 21, found me working the Church Pool of the Farmington River again. Things started off great with a 14 inch brown falling for an olive emerger on about the fifth cast. It was just like I had been dreaming about all week.

AND THAT WAS IT!! The cold and the wind kept the insects down and that kept the trout down. It also kept the flyfishers down too. The three longrodders that you see in this photo represented the bulk of humanity that I saw on the river. Two of these gents were tossing big, weighted nymphs (?) under even bigger indicators. I saw three fish taken between them in the four or so hours. I just couldn't bring myself to work that set up. I wanted to FLYFISH in a traditional way.

Time for a break. I'll be heading out very early Friday morning for a short trip to the Dominican Republic. Some sun, some fun, some cigars and maybe some fishing. I'll be back late on 4/1 and fully expect the Swift and the Millers to be totally fishable and the air full of Hendricksons!!!

See ya later,

Ken

A Good Dark Caddis

First, sorry for the less then perfect photo. Second, this is a good dark caddis that solves the problem of split wings on tent style caddis while using good old "throw out" material. Take some used "dryer sheets", mark it up with brown or black sharpees, back it with some clear tape and then cut it to shape. Take a hook between size 14 through 20, dub on a grey or olive body, wrap a brown hackle over the first third of the body, trim the hackle off the top and then tie on the taped wing. Dub on some black (or your color) material for the head and then you have it. The dryer material gives a great impression of the veined wing. Tape on one side only and have the taped side so it's on the top of the fly. It will last forever and trout love it.

Try it out!

Ken

P.S. Double click the photo to get a better look.

A Visit To The Farmington

Trout Fever is driving me crazy!!! The Millers is weeks away from being fishable and the Swift is running close to 600 cfs. What's a flyfisher to do? HIT THE FARMINGTON RIVER!!! I took a drive with my girlfriend to the village of Pleasant Valley, Ct. on Saturday, March 7 to check the place out, namely the fabled Church Pool. That was all that it took. I spent the next week waiting for Saturday to roll around, tying early black caddis and BWO emergers to add to the arsenal. Finally, I found myself waist deep in the slow water of the lower Church Pool yesterday morning at 9am. There were probably a dozen flyfishers spotted in the three hours that I was there with only four trout caught between them during that time. Most were working the surface imitating the dark winter caddis or the occasional BWO that floated by. I had one trout chase my caddis and it must of been my winter slowed reflexes that let it get away.

The Farmington is a great river and although I've had better results on this stream in the past it was just nice to be basking in the early Spring sun while working my fly rod.

Waiting for Spring

T.S. Elliot said that "April is the cruelest month". He's wrong. It's February!!! For the flyfisher it's the longest month even though it has the fewest days. A 30 degree day in February is colder than a 20 degree day in January. It has the most snow. It's the month where cabin fever rages across the flyfishing land. I'm glad that month is over.

It was a bad month. First, the flu knocked me out for a week. Second, the Swift has let me down. Last year February wasn't that bad on this river. My records show low flows and enough trout to keep my mind off the calendar. But this year, except for a two day period, the Swift has been 300+cfs since the first of the year. I like the Swift for it's light line fishing over low water, spooky trout. Slugging away with weighted flies is not what I want to do. So I'll just wait and tie more flies.

The above photo is of the lower, lower Swift at the second Bondsville dam. More on that in the future.

Ken