Autumn colors

There is nothing like the fall in New England, particularly when it's sunny with seasonable temperatures.  The color of  the leaves and the fish can be visually remarkable, while the smell of clean fresh air is invigorating.

Making up for discouraging salt water fishing

One of my favorite fish to catch and observe is the little tunny.  When they arrive in our inshore waters in late summer my mania to pursue these beautiful fish comes on strong.  The problem is that they can be very frustrating, due to their behavior and ability to be everywhere but where you are.  Adding to the challenge of pursuing these fish was the fact that my boat was out of commission for many weeks, right during the time that these creatures invaded our waters in significant numbers.  While I have finally been in the right place at the right time a couple of times (landing 6 on the fly rod and 4 on the spinning rod), my time on the water friday was almost unbearably frustrating.   Hence, I decided that a trip to the nearest wild trout stream was in order on Saturday.  The beautiful brookies that I caught there made me forget (temporarily) about my generally bad luck pursuing the other fish that I am enamored with.

Mid-september beauties

While my recent saltwater fishing attempts have been completely unsuccessful, I have had some great visits to a couple of my favorite small brooks.  It seems that the cool weather (and some rain) has inspired some of the resident wild fish to enthusiastically attack elk hair caddis and grasshopper patterns.  Below are some pictures of the fish that I have been fortunate to capture and photograph over the last week.  The last and largest brookie was caught on a Shroeder's grasshopper in the foam in the center of the pic.

Slow Farmy day

I went to the Farmy today with BRK TRT and in spite of the great weather did not find the river in a generous mood.  Try as I might, I was only able to entice, hook and land one fish, the rainbow pictured below.  Other than that fish I only had one very brief tussle with a salmon parr.  Not a banner day on the Farmy, but I'm sure I'll return for more humbling.

Remarkable fish

The brook trout is truly a beautiful and remarkable fish.  The fact that it survives under conditions that are far from ideal is a testament to its tenacity.  I have the utmost admiration for this fine creature.  While trying to scope out a brook that I was told harbored wild fish, I crossed the one pictured below and couldn't help but briefly explore it.  In spite of the incredibly low flow rate, the water was cool so I took a few casts.  I missed a fish in the first pool, spooked one in the second and finally caught one in the third and last pool that I visited.  With more water this brook may prove to be a nice stop this fall.

After the recent rain

I had the opportunity to visit two streams this past weekend, hoping that the recent rain had both significantly raised the water levels and perked up their residents.  While neither proved to be the case, I was at least able to catch a number of nice little brookies.  The water temperature of both streams was low enough that I did not feel like I would harm the fish if I handled them with care (67 and 60 degrees F).  At both streams I was able to entice the fish to take flies on the surface (Ausable Bombers, parachute hopper, and Henryville Special), although at the second stream the majority of hits were from very small fish.  While my fishing partner, Alan, seems to have the knack for periodically catching one of our favorite brook's low abundance residents (i.e. wild brown and tiger trout), just after he did it yet again I was shocked to hook and land a nice wild brown trout myself.  All in all it was a nice visit to what he affectionately calls brook trout forest.

August sights

I went to a favorite brook today with Allen (BRK TRT) in search of wild brookies.  Before proceeding up the stream we checked the water temperature and, while it wasn't as cool as we'd like, it was not unreasonable (67 deg F).  The water level was still low, unaffected by the recent rain.  I am sure that the majority of streams in CT are in need of a substantial influx of cool water.  Like the rest of the country, we need rain.  That said, both of us had numerous strikes by the streams smaller residents.  Elk hair caddis, Bombers, Usuals and CDC-emergers all stimulated the little guys to rise to the surface and strike, invariably without getting hooked.  On a few occasions I was able to successfully hook and land one of the stream's gorgeous fish, as you can see below.  Sadly, I think it is time to allow the summer to pass, returning in the fall when the temperatures (air and water) have dropped and it is safer to fish for the brook's magnificent residents.