Long Rod Chronicles

[westernmas]

Fished last night on the housy, flow wnet up a bit to 1180 but was managable.  3 browns and 3 bows.  A nice night with clouds and showers.  I think the challenging wading and the largeness of the river makes for an exciting evening. 

Do they stock bows in the housy down near you?  I believe in MA they only stock browns as they thought the pollution from GE up that way wouldn't allow trout to survive.  They then found wild browns reproducing up there and decided to supplement those with stocked brown trout only.  I did get a good sized bow last year up in Lee but that's the only one that I have seen before.

[lowaccord66]

Yes they do.  Those fish dont seem to stick around though.  State and privately stocked via a club but only a small section of the housy.  Bows ive been getting are smaller, some have really nice par marks.  The wild brown size potential is really solid in this stretch.  Caught a few over 20" last year.

[Steve H.]

Caught a few over 20" last year.

Very nice....were those on mice?

[lowaccord66]

Very nice....were those on mice?

No those were nymph fish during caddis/sulphur hatches during the day.  I mouse the housy in a very limited fashion because I am generally alone and the wading is difficult. 

[lowaccord66]

Made it out today from 2 to 530 on the farmington.  Probably landed around 20 between 4 pools.  Hendrickson spinner falls were making the trout aggressive but only in a couple pools.  Biggest brown took a bmar hendrickson nymph.  Also Im tired of leaky simms waders.  Time to send them back. 

[Steve H.]

Biggest brown took a bmar hendrickson nymph.

Just checked out Bruce's website and watched a tying video. Great stuff. Looks like he sells nice flies at a very fair price.

[lowaccord66]

His stuff is good.  We spoke about going on a dry fly trip because its one thing I dont do a ton of and could be better at.  Upcountry sells his flies. 

[lowaccord66]

Got into a few fish on the housy this afternoon.  Two bows were large.

[taxid]

Got into a few fish on the housy this afternoon.  Two bows were large.

Wow the colors on that bow are stunning!

[zwiggles]

Wow the colors on that bow are stunning!

X2!

[westernmas]

I got out for some stripers on the long rod over the weekend.  I started off on the south facing beaches Sunday with my surfcasting gear but timed the tide wrong wasn't about to wait for it to turn while also casting in a stiff wind.  I opted to take 45 minute ride down the coast to what I hoped was a secluded estuary but the wind didn't care.  I did catch the tide right but couldn't cast all that far with the long rod.  I was able to get a few casts out to the drop off that I like to target and came tight with two small stripers.  It is a little later than typical for me but I got the saltwater skunk off.  Now I'm looking forward to cuttyhunk in a few weeks.

[lowaccord66]

Good stuff Pat.

[Bartman44]

And it begins. I hope to get out there next week, way to break the ice.     

[lowaccord66]

Made it out from 1230 to 6.  Good bite in the pools I fished.  Flow is a bit low.  Lots of fat rainbows.

[westernmas]

Decided to let the Memorial Day crowds disperse before I ventured out to fish yesterday. The farmy is starting to become an absolute zoo, sorry Jon. Arrived at the river at like 730 and drove around checking spots for close to an hour but there were multiple people at each pull off. I tried a dry for a bit w no luck and decided to wait for dark. Place cleared out at dark and fished two runs all to myself. I hooked two fish on mice, had two other blow ups and landed one nice wild (I believe) brown of about 17”. Put up a good fight but the other one I lost felt much larger as they always do. Hooked both actually on the swinging w almost no movement on the retrieve.