Spring in December!!

I fell right in the brook yesterday, and didn't even care that much, because, for Dec. 22nd, it was surprisingly warm. (60ish).  There was a really thick morning fog, and then mostly overcast afternoon, with brief bursts of sunlight. After snow last week, and temps never higher than the 30's the week before, I had to get out.
Me and a bud hit a stream we had only ever caught browns in before, that was about to change...

  sunny rays hitting the water started a few rings on the surface, and soon I had a Huge 4" Bk to hand.

A first for this stream, & proof that they are there!

Red squirrel? Red fox? Coon mask?

Can you guess what this hair came off of?
It has a white tip, followed by a black band, fading brown to red.  1 1/2"

first icy guides of the season

Check it out..

Oct. 13, West Branch

I somehow got home first today, and found the Package my wife told me not to F... with!!!  
 It's a 27" long piece of 1 1/2 pvc from Pa. (with something inside)  Whatever is inside is wrapped in bubble wrap, so I cant really see anything.   I cant figure it out.... she knows not to buy me a rod, I'm really picky, Maybe an antique Trout Priest?   Anyways,,,,,,,,
   I haven't put up a post in  a while, so I'm giving you a heads up.... post coming.  I plan (depending on how hung over i am) on attending the CFFCM Arts of the angler show in Danbury Ct. http://www.catskillflyfishing.org/programs-events/art-of-the-angler-show/  should be super sweet. I'll let you know.

Super Thin Blue Lines

    Yes, the above picture is of a stream. and as you can see, flows have been down.  
  Yesterday I went out exploring, looking for thin blue lines my favorite way... Google Earth.  you'd be surprised how many streams are in your own backyard.  Those little drainage ditch looking trickles that you drive over without a care in the world may often be a pristine stream twisting through the woods, out of sight from the roadway. 
 Driving around,chasing a stream, many of it's intersections with roads looked promising, but at the same time, the turtles, lilly's, and punk'in seeds deterred me. I did not want to waste my time having 3" pumpkin seeds eat all my flies while scaring all target fish.... move on...
  So this watershed I was following is prettymuch a 10 foot wide stream that is fed by swamps, and other little "roadside ditch" trickles.  I decided to dig deeper.  I was in search of something better, something untouched, something magical.
  While searching a few backroads I nearly drove right past a small access road. The familiar brown post with yellow writing caught my eye. "Parking for Hunting"    I nearly locked up all 16 pistons of braking power!!!  RRRRRReverse....  I had come across a Ct. Wildlife Management Area that was open to hunting. Not being a hunter myself, I had never heard of this one, but acording to Google Earth,,, I was close.  the thin blue line that I was chasing was snaked through the woods of this state land. (or so I thought).  So, out of the car, and a hike began.
  This Hunting area looked pretty neat,   An old farm, (most of New England is an "old farm") setup, there were 9 old fields that instead of corn, were full of tall grasses, and overgrowth. The State had a few tractors littered throughout that it looked like they used to mow/hey this mess once or twice a year. The trails were nice, for the most part, with game birds jumping out of the trails edge all day, but I wasn't here to chase birds. Checking my mobile map, I found out that I was much farther away than I thought.
  I began following deer-trails through the edge of the fields into the woods, where I found remnants of a once busy farm. (piles of rocks)  Trodding downhill, I was scanning the treeline for a clearing, I knew the creek ran along another clearing out in the middle of the woods.  hike, hike, hike,  there were no trails, the deer-trail long gone, at least the tree canopy kept much of the underbrush at bay..   Skip Ahead... About 40 minutes after i got out of the car, I had found the "thin blue line" I was searching. 
 Standing all alone in the middle of the woods, I said aloud 'WTF"  the stream was pretty much a dried up creekbed in a swamp. next to no water at all.  Just as I was about to hike back, a pool no bigger than a dinner-plate made ripples.  again "WTF"  but this time, I said it aloud because of my amazement.  There was fish!  

  I laid my bag down in the middle of the stream to not only illustrate the size of the stream, but the lack of water. It was almost dry. I circled the 'pool' that first gave away the inhabitants.  The familiar darting waves caused by spooked fish, had nowhere to go but in circles.    After finding a un-spooked pool, soon, a fish was at hand.

This wild brookie, maybe a grand total of 3 inches was just as fun to catch as any.  having to bow cast into pools containing maybe 5 gallons of water is really tricky! 
  Downstream, maybe a half mile, I found a little more water, and was actually able to get a small 10 ft. cast in.   These fish are ultra spookable!  30 ft. away, if you step on a stick, forget about it. gone.  all in all, I spooked about a hundred monster 3" fish, landing two.  with the grandaddy of the day being this giant:

I'm naming this creek Rose Hill, after the terrain and hunting grounds that it is on. (maybe it is already named rose hill?)
  Here's some more wild photos that I couldn't twist into todays dialogue.

There are like 2-3 trout in this small pool!!! the 5 gallon pools are about every 10-20 feet, and there are trout in Every one of them! 

so dry, the fall leaves seem to be the only flow

backcast? this stream at this point is maybe 14" wide!

this feeder stream Shewville? actually held water here, and trout that might be 4-5"

this is a downstream look, where Rose Hill on the left, and a Shewville trib on the right, actually flow unconnected along opposite sides of a stonewall for maybe 300 yards before combining waters, and actually starting to resemble a stream

this 5 ft. wide river lol  holds fish!!!  lots of tiny tiny fish

priorities

I was supposed to be out getting hardware to build a new front door today... I know the wife is going to give me an earful about priorities when I get home.  

Labor Day Weekend Browns

   This weekend, my reggae band had a show in Hartford, not my favorite place in the world, but hey, also not far from a river that I haven't been to in a year.   I guess it was a compromise, I did have to cross the Connecticunt River, but fishing was involved, so it all evens out.   
   This river looked to be in great fishable condition, cold water, great flow, insects, clear water.. really good stuff.   With four of us out there, we didn't miss a pool, whether we fished it, or spooked it.  these fish  were pretty smart, and saw us coming several times, but in the end, the hunger of small brown trout for the dry fly overcame.    Nobody caught anything bigger than a hand, but fooling them on the surface is always fun,   size doesn't matter :)  
 

  This section of stream really caught my attention, I love finding waterfalls in the woods, and this one was easy to find.   Not far from the road, and with very little low branches to grab your flies, it was begging to be fished.  maybe only 150-200 yards long, there were maybe 5 living room sized pocket pools suspended on the side of this hill, all separated by waterfalls like this one.   A few small browns were taken to hand here, and afterwards, a small nap was needed.... Remember, this was the day after not only a late Reggae show, but the day that the local cider mill, Clyde's, opened for the season.   2.5 gallons somehow disappeared before Sunday morning.

This cider picture was taken on an Old Mystic stream the day before.. only brookies here!!   Notice the rise behind.  I was the first proud drinker in line this year for the hard, and I'm pretty sure they knew my anticipation.   The guy in charge of the casks handed me this fresh gallon with the came care a new parent would hand you a newborn infant.  With very solid eye-contact he said; "Its'a very good this year"  We were not disappointed, it was very good. do your soul a favor and buy some before it's too late    http://www.bfclydescidermill.com/

some sort of oyster mushroom I ran across,  not sure if this particular one tastes good (I've put them in pasta before).  I could have easily filled up a trash bag with all the shrooms on this one log... amazing.

I'm not the best on identification, so it's best to leave alone.

we all had a good laugh at this sign. Located in the parking area, it let everyone know what kind of behavior was not permitted.  LOL 

  I thought that the moss covering this rock looked so cool.  it kinda covered a large part of a wet, dripping cliff too. Trout live in the most beautifully scenic places on earth!

small, but cold and deep.    many parts of this stream were over my knees!!! super deep

more swamp yankee photos!!!

sweet photos like this end up on my tumblr all the time.... if you're not already following me you should.

Ct-swampyankee.tumblr

(I put up a couple of these photos today for the limp Cobra contest)

I took a crap on the side of the road today. (with video)

actu. .ally it's kind of a funny thing  ..

   I had left my video function on my phone on.   kind of sucks because I think that first crappie might have been the larger of the two.  who knows....  for all I know I caught the same fish twice.    was definitely surprised at the size of these craps. I pulled them out of a stream about 12 feet wide with my 5' lined w/000.
  
   These last few warmer months have taken toll on the local streams. The mixed browns & brookies have been replaced by sunnies, blue-g's and monster crappie.  this fun fighting fish was maybe 9" long... 
     earlier in the night I had taken a video of a turtle swimming upstream, and when (5) minutes later, thinking I was taking a photo... I took a short video of me handling my first crap of the night.  Enjoy.

 so small, I had to photo.  haha,,

there were Two of these turtles, pretty good size to them too, maybe 14" across 

Fly Fishing in the mail.

I love getting mail.  I get that little-kid excitement.  Not quite sure if it's the anticipation, the opening, or just knowing that it's not junk mail, it's something that I look forward to.  sometimes it's special hooks i'm waiting on for that special pattern in my head,  or super hard to get Japanese tippet, whatever it is,... it's feeding my fishing addiction.
  Today in the mail, it was a book.  (actually came quicker than expected)   I'm surprised my wife let me open it instead of hiding it for christmas, a birthday, etc..   this book was written by a Connecticut resident that many of you may know as Brk Trt.   (http://smallstreamreflections.blogspot.com/)   It is a collection of photographs with captions sharing a fly-fishers passion for the hidden gems of small streams.  Really well put together, great quality glossy photos in a hardback.  Great job Alan!!! 
   If you aren't already following his blog... Whats wrong with you?    get over there now.


Jim..... Here's a shot of my new flooring, as requested.  haha

1:35 am. snappa on'a cinda

I fuggin hate bluefish.   My life is a shambles

Hot and Humid in Ct.

The weather  lately in Connecticut has been almost unbearably hot and humid. I've been making the choice to do most of my fishing at night for striped bass.

 don't get me wrong I've been doing plenty of trout fishing and freshwater large mouth fishing.   there's nothing more I like better than being stream-side under the shade of a nice canopy of Hemlocks, maybe catching a hatch... or maybe just a nap.  
it seems that lately home renovation projects have really taken a front seat to fishing during the daytime. I may not have a beautiful photo of that 14 inch brook trout I've been chasing all summer... but I have beautiful birch flooring now  and a happy wife. (sometimes?)
the other day I called in sick to few different responsibilities I had and decided to go ahead and fish a local stream with a friend. extremely overgrown and extremely hot, the trip turned up nothing but sunfish and fall fish. it did still feel good to get out of the house though. . sometimes even though I don't catch any brookies, I'll find something to take a picture of.