Summer fun with carp

I hate to say this, but Connecticut kinda sucks for trout fishing in summer. Sorry.

I hit the Salmon River as often as I can these days, but with sunny days and temperatures that melt your brain inside your skull the trout really aren't biting. Every so often I'll get to go out in the dark or during a rainstorm and the fish will take what I'm throwing, but I am, of course, at the mercy of the random New England weather. Most days the forecast calls for sun and we get random brief thunder showers. When it calls for rain we get sunshine and mugginess. Thanks weather.com. I may as well ask a magic 8 ball.

HOWEVER...

I'm nothing if not stubborn, and I refuse to let the summer heat beat me. I'm making an effort to target bass, though I have few bass flies. Wooly Buggers and Clousers will do the trick, but truthfully any small item moving in the water is prey to them. I've hooked small bass (and numerous sunnies) stripping in a dry fly. Whatever works. Though I have yet to LAND a largemouth bass on a fly rod, it's not from lack of trying.

My new mechanic is on the Quinnipiac river just downstream from the Wild Trout Management Area. The river is low and slow right off the bat, regardless of weather or spring runoff, and it's just a little bit grimy. Naturally I pegged it as a decent bass river, and set myself up with a 3x tippet and a white wooly Bugger. My backcast was blocked by the treeline, and I lost several flies the last time I fished here because I overestimated the clearance. I can only get my fly out so far with a roll cast, but I did my best. I varied my retrieves: short and fast, short and slow, slow and steady, fast and steady...even jerky erratic movements. The sunnies are building their nests this time of year so they were extra aggressive. I was pulling them in left and right, quickly unhooking them, then releasing them back into their pool. 

I also had a hookup with a largemouth on a slow drop and a jerky, erratic retrieve. He wasn't very big, but he yanked like he was. I fought him for a minute or two, then he unhooked himself. I'm using only barbless hooks, which obviously means my fish come unbuttoned pretty often. However, I feel the benefits outweigh the detriments, and my conscience doesn't gnaw at me quite so much.

While trying to re-entice the same bass, I saw some large carp swimming by. I immediately tied on a small Klinkhammer dry and started casting to them, only to have them refuse it over and over. I watched where they went and saw the carp were congregating at the head of the pool, so I reeled in my line and got a little closer.

I've been listening to the Orvis Fly Fishing Podcast on a regular basis and watching their videos, and there is a good amount of information about fly fishing for carp. I did my best to remember what I'd seen and heard, and I made it a point to follow these carp and try casting to them. My Klinkhammer was getting waterlogged and I had no floatant with me, so I switched to a smaller dry fly. While casting to the carp I kept hooking up with juvenile smallmouth bass, which, under normal circumstances would have been cool, but in this case it was more annoying than anything else. I did my best to quickly unhook them and get my fly back out to the carp before they swam off. 

Eventually the carp had refused my fly enough to warrant changing the pattern. They weren't really hitting the topwater stuff at the moment, and they were clearly digging in the mud for underwater bugs. I tied on a size 12 pheasant tail nymph and began casting to them. I had to get my fly to drop right by their heads or else they would just ignore it. Eventually a smaller carp took the fly and I set the hook, only to have the carp run and snap my line. I did the same thing with a second carp a few moments later.

The third pheasant tail I tied on, I dropped right by one of the biggest carp and he took it. I set the hook and that fucker RAN! He went clear to the end of the pool and back. As soon as i started reeling and putting pressure on him he would do it again, and again, and again...this fish would not let up. I spent a good 15-20 minutes fighting this fish, only to realize my net wasn't big enough to handle him, and besides, every time he saw me reach out with it he ran again. Eventually he had tired enough that I could swing his head out of the water and scoop him up with my puny trout net. He was so big his back half hung out of my net and I had to carry it into the shallows with two hands! I'm horrible at guessing weight, so I won't bother taking a stab at it and making an ass of myself. All I know was it was a solid fish. I unhooked him and released him back into his pool relatively unscathed.

So I'm going to continue to target carp when possible during the summer months. Connecticut is full of them in just about every small pond and slow river. Hell, theres a large group of them in the river right behind my tattoo shop! They are quite hard to hook, even harder to land, and are pretty damned fun overall. I need to tie up some carp (and bass) flies and put them to good use over the rest of the summer.

Trout are great, but fuck 'em if they don't want what i'm selling. any port in a storm, as they say.

Thanks for looking!

New year, more fly fishing

So I have all but abandoned my spinning gear in favor of a fly rod. I still go out on the bass ponds once in a long while, but the fishing has been so lousy lately that I haven't caught ANYTHING on spinning gear this year. Instead I have just been going out for trout on the salmon river in Colchester as much as humanly possible. It's about half an hour from my house, and the fishing is generally good.

Over the past few months I've caught numerous brown and rainbow trout on flies I've tied myself. My most successful patterns are my flashback pheasant tail in sizes 12-18, and a woven caddis nymph pattern that I adapted from one that was given to me earlier this season. That said, I've also been doing well with zebra midges and a few streamers. I have yet to hook a trout on a dry fly, but I remain hopeful. The current hatches are size 20 caddis flies, which I did my best to match using cdc feathers and dubbing. 

My best trips are always on rainy days. I love fishing in the rain. It seems to deter a lot of other fishermen, and the fish are my apt to eat my fly if the water is moving a bit faster. 

Here's are some of the beauties I was lucky enough to catch this season. 

Flyin' a little too high

At the Roc City Tattoo Convention in May of this year Sharkey and I went out fly fishing for steelhead with Eddie Molina of Hand of Fate Tattoo in Ithaca. Eddie's lettering tattoos are astonishing. If you're in the area go check out his shop. I hadn't used a fly rod in about a billion years, since I took a fly fishing course in high school. Needless to say I struggled with it. However, on the way home Sharkey and I couldn't stop talking about fly fishing, and we stopped and purchased fly setups at Cabela's on the way home from the convention. Unfortunately I haven't had a lot of time to use it. Luckily my wife was nice enough to let me practice in the yard once in awhile, but that's about it. I've barely gone fishing at all lately, and to be honest, it's a little maddening. 

Luckily today I had some free time before my tattoo appointment, and I decided I was going to do some fly fishing, by hook or by crook (no pun intended). Most of the better fly fishing spots in CT are far enough away from my house that it wasn't feasible to go for only an hour or so. I decided on Wadsworth Falls in Rockfall, which is part of the Coginchaug River. They stock it with trout annually, though it's hard to believe there would be any left this late in the season. 

The open flat area is usually under water earlier in the year with the spring rains and runoff. During the summer heat it dries out substantially, making wading fairly easy.

While wading out I saw a fingerling pickerel, which I'd never seen before. It actually took me a second to register what kind of fish it was. Before I could snap a picture, he was gone, probably off prowling along the rocks in search of minnows to ambush. 

I had my fly gear stashed in the pockets of my overshirt and pants, neither of which offered much room. I was wearing my redhead wading boots and socks, and was prepared to get wet. I rolled up the cuffs of my black work slacks so as not to soak them before work. I started out with a small brown pheasant tail nymph. I tied on about five feet of 5x tippet and began casting upstream towards the falls. 

I couldn't get the nymph out very far and couldn't figure out why. It was because the breeze created  by the waterfall was blowing it back. I started casting across the river and got a little more distance. I could watch tiny bluegill follow the nymph and peck at it, but no serious bites. 

After the nymph I tied on a green and yellow "trout poacher" fly I adapted from a Joe's Flies spinner. After a few casts I lost it in a tree. 

One thing I noticed is that the breeze was tangling my line pretty badly. Every few minutes I had to untie a wind knot of some kind or untangle my fly from my rod. This got annoying really quickly. 

After losing two more flies to the local foliage, an olive green dry fly and a black dry fly, I tied on a small grasshopper I purchased at Cabela's a week earlier. It floated well, and had a large enough bait profile that I was getting numerous strikes, but kept missing the hook set. I can cast these things decently, but setting the hook and reeling them in is another matter entirely. 

Eventually I got a solid hit and dragged the fish in without using the reel. It was a tiny White sucker, maybe about 2 inches or so. I was thrilled to have finally caught something on a fly rod, even if it wasn't a trout. 

I quickly unhooked him and let him go.

After a few more casts and

missed strikes I managed to bring in a small pumpkinseed on the same fly. 

 

I suppose I shouldn't get too excited over a pumpkinseed. After all they do go after just about anything in the water. But regardless it was a lot of fun and I hope to do it again soon. 

Thanks for reading!

Withdrawal

So it's been a bit since I went fishing. My wife started her new job this week, and that means that the morning shift with Henson falls to me. It's awesome because I love spending time with my son. The only thing is my early morning fishing expeditions are pretty much shot except on school holidays and weekends, and I generally need to work those days. 

I've been practicing my fly casting in between appointments at the shop and I think I'm improving. I definitely want to get some time on the river soon. I've never landed a fish on a fly rod before and I'm excited to give it a try. 

Regardless, new posts soon, I promise. Sorry for the lack of updates, but I assure you it's for a good reason. 

Cedar Lake

Went out with my father in law, Tim, on his beautiful boat that he made himself. Water was low at Cedar Lake in Chester, CT, so launching the boat through the tangle of weeds at the boat ramp was tricky, but Tim got us through. Tim got a nice largemouth on a white spinnerbait while trolling the area around the camp, which was the only thing we got in the boat all day. I missed some hook sets on a Booyah Pad Crasher and a Savage Gear Line Thru Trout.

Regardless, nice fish Tim! And thanks for taking me out on the boat!

Fuck Yes Fly Fishing!

I'm getting more and more stoked on the idea of fly fishing these days. I've been practicing my casts and am looking forward to getting out on the water soon. Stay tuned to see how bad I fuck up!

Snag hag Beelzebass tees

Snag Hag Beelzebass tee shirts now available! Sizes small through 2XL, $15 each, shipping included. PayPal is patrickmurdough@yahoo.com. If you want one you'd better grab one, it's a small run of shirts. Thanks for looking!