Housatonic Hour, 5.23.10

Fished the Beaver Kill, Willowemoc, and West/Main stem Delaware over the weekend. Will post a separate report later. Short story: BK fished well; Delaware mixed (though Ross caught one fish and it was twenty-one inches long); Willowemoc.....well, let's just say I'm convinced there are no fish in that river.

While fishing the Willow on Sunday morning I was tying on a WD40 that worked very well last time I was on the Housy and an idea suddenly formed in my soggy head.

I asked Ross if he'd like to go to a place where I knew there were fish.

Of course, he agreed.

Ninety minutes later were were fishing a popular hole along Route 7. Flows were perfect and the hole had only two guys working the water. We'd only have about an hour to fish and then scoot home by the appointed hour we'd mentioned to our wives.

I started nymphing with a #14 Lightning bug and #18 Olive WD40. I was very quickly into fish on the WD40 -- a hefty brown and his little brother. Worked my way out into the current and started catching grass on the bottom pretty regularly. It was about the tenth time I was clearing my hooks that the lightbulb went on again.

Grass = Scuds.

So, off came the Lightning Bug and on went a #16 BH Green Scud.

More fish, now 'bows. Two quick fish on the 12-14 inch range on the Scud.

I then moved on up to one of the better lanes in this hole after two guys moved upstream. After a couple of drifts I got a very solid tug. Line zipped off the reel like it does when you foul hook a twelve inch fish in the tail but it turns out that he was solidly lip hooked on the WD40 and powerful enough to have his way with me for a bit. After a nice fight with several good runs I had an eighteen inch Rainbow at hand. He had a nasty slash on his right flank that was mostly healed. I can only imagine how he got that one. Either a bird of prey or maybe he tangled with that Survivorman guy.

I spent the next fifteen minutes casting an emerger pattern to a couple of rising fish. I got two fish to take a slash at the emerger but nothing on the hook. By now the lack of sleep and hours of casting had caught up to me and I was actually ready to leave the water even though the best of the hatch was to come.

Sometimes enough is enough.

It's nice when the water and trout cooperate with your plans.

Return to the Nonayme River, 5.8.10

Frustration Pool, Noname River

I returned to a river near my home this past weekend. It is a small river that holds a mixed population of trout, mostly Browns and Rainbows. It is not stocked by the state but there are plenty of escapees from upstream clubs and downstream impoundments. There's also a healthy in stream breeding population though they're mostly long lean fish. It's tough living in this high gradient stream

One of the benefits of this stream is that generally no waders are necessary. There's little understory to snag a cast so casting from the bank is possible. And there are plenty of small gravel bars to wade onto with waterproof boots. I left my hippers sitting by the bank and while my feet got wet from the few occasions when the water got over my boots, it wasn't too bad.

I started at a broad open pool that once yielded a fat Rainbow. Today was not to be a repeat. I hooked several small trout on the PT dropper under a Stimulator. They all shook off easily. I was tormented several times by a dark backed trout that took a swat at the Stimulator. I was hoping I'd find it to be a larger Brookie but he never got on the line and remains in the pool's depths.

A Brown Trout's Brother

I worked my way up and downstream nymphing the small pockets and runs with the dry-dropper rig. After a half hour or so of no action I changed up to a Soft Hackle Lightning Bug under a small Thingamabobber. That was the ticket. In one pocket I took the two biggest fish of the day. An eight inch Brown and his twin brother.


 





I also managed a handful of small browns with fresh parr marks. So, there's a good breeding population in the stream though they're all long and lean. That tells me that life is not easy in this small river.

Brown Trout w/parr marks

The trout in the below pool were the most accommodating. The flow is swift and they have to take what they can get. Very nice.

Quick and Easy Pool

While I was fishing, the wind came up quickly. Lots of small branches were falling about and splatting in the water. About 20 yards down stream from where I was fishing at that moment there was this loud crack and a thirty foot maple tree crashed into the river. It was not more than twenty feet from where my hippers sat on the bank. Every subsequent creak and crack in the forest had me looking over my shoulder.

It was a splendid afternoon to be out on a small stream.

Housatonic River, 5.2.10

With the potential for evening thunderstorms and my in-laws due to arrive mid-afternoon, I thought it best to get out for a bit of fishing. The Housy's flows were near perfect and I could just envision fish rising across the expanse of Sand Hole.

I drove north at around 2:30 p.m. and decided to fish a stretch I'd been fishing lately above the covered bridge. I've heard others have had luck up there with some good surface action and I hadn't yet so I decided to give it a go.

On the river

The water could not have been more picturesque and two gentleman were already working a piece of water when I arrived. I wanted a spot above them and found it vacant. Unfortunately, there were no rising fish to be found. I worked a dry-dropper rig for a bit and had no luck.

With a smattering of Hendricksons about I hoped that the fish might be up closer to the riffle. Off came the dry and on went a Golden Stone and a flashback Hares Ear. Just at the foot of the riffle I picked up a nice nine-inch Brown. He definitely looked like a wild fish instead of one of the stocked fish I'd run into later. The Brown took the Hares Ear.

Wild Housy Brown

A short while later as I worked farther out into the main channel the strike indicator made a very subtle jig and upon setting the hook I got a vigorous Rainbow to play with. The fight lasted far longer than I would have expected for one of his size but with water temps near perfect he did his best to get away. The 'bow took a #14 soft hackle Lightning Bug.

Housy Rainbow

By this time the skies had begun to darken and being about a ten minute walk from the car I decided to beat a hasty retreat lest I risk a drenching rain. That said, a little drenching might have cooled me while walking in waders in eighty-five degree heat.

When I arrived back at the car I decided not to take off the waders. Something in my brain said there'd be rising fish downstream and if I just checked it out perhaps there would be a piece of water available to me.

Sure enough there were plenty of spots available in many of the popular holes along Route 7. I pulled off at one that can accommodate six or eight people. Unfortunately, there were five people fishing the spot that I had hoped to fish. I lit a cigar, sampled the single malt, and watched them for a bit.

They were all working dries to rising fish though the rises were sporadic and a tight line was infrequent. Before long the two guys working the upstream lie left the water and so I suited up.

From my perch by the road, I had seen a few fish working along the bank so I targeted them first with a cripple emerger. It was just the thing. I managed three trout quickly to hand. With no other fish rising I began to prospect about and was rewarded several times with splashy takes. A few I wasn't able to get a good hook set, a few LDR'd but a few also came to hand. It was a variety pack of Browns and Rainbows.

A presumably stocked Brown

Most of these fish looked to be stocked but they were just finicky enough to make it interesting without the pure frustration that late season, educated trout can inflict. The fish all tugged well and swam off strong. There's nothing like spring fishing!

The rumbling of distant thunder began to seem a bit closer and a few raindrops telegraphed the potential for more than a few so I decided to call it a night. All in all, a very rewarding trip to the Housy on a particularly perfect day.

Skies Clouding Over