I fished the Northwest Branch of the Housatonic (along Waconah Street in Pittsfield) with my younger son this AM.
Sunny, blue skies, temps in the low 80's, and water levels on the low side.
We initially planned to target some small carp (which I had noticed when I scouted the spot a week or so ago) just below the dam, but all that seemed to be there (until just before we left) were sunfish and dace.
As we were leaving, my son "doodled" his bait in front of some crayfish to see if they would grab on.
As he passed over a car tire submerged in about 6" of water, a 9" rock bass exploded from inside the tire and seized his bait. Although surprised, he was able to land "the big fish" of the day.
We then tried the mud flats (about half the size of a football field) just above the dam.
The flats are extremely silty. So much so that, at one point, I sunk up to both thighs (fortunately while wearing chest waders) while attempting to cross the stream.
My son and I quickly spotted a half dozen carp swimming around like mini-torpedoes in shallow water (perhaps mid-calf deep), leaving a contrail of silt in their wake as they passed.
The carp (which I'd guess to be 2.5 to 3 feet long) were a lot bigger and more energetic than the ones that I used to fish for in Bemis Pond in Chicopee some 30 odd years ago.
Besides being larger and more vigorous, the carp were also a lot more finicky than I remembered from yesteryear.
For a half hour or so, my son and I cast hooks baited with pieces of corn without eliciting any reaction from the carp, although we did land a couple small perch between us during that time.
Clearly, we could have used some help from an experienced carp fisherman.
Finally, one of the carp took my bait - - but it did so suddenly that I was not prepared for it, and almost immediately snapped my line near the hook.
We stuck around for another half hour, but other than another small perch that my son caught, we did not have any more action.
This is definitely a worthwhile place for anyone seeking to target carp, although the shallow waters and mucky conditions make it a challenging spot to approach without spooking them.
