This is the time of year when you’re reminded that the remaining comfortable fishing days are few, and you better get out and enjoy them while you can. During my drive to the river, I heard on the radio that the number of daylight hours in CT is now less than 12, and falling.
The temperatures have dropped by about 10 degrees in the past week. With the daily highs only reaching the low 70’s, it makes for some very cold water and enjoyable fishing.
Both the Housatonic and the Farmington are fishing nicely, and there are many new reports touting the quality of fish caught. This post is no exception.
Yesterday afternoon I met up with a friend on the Housatonic. We stuck to an area that we knew held both rainbows and browns, and on occasion produced some nice smallmouth as well.
Thanks in part to the state’s stocking program, I picked up a number of rainbows and browns. Although I don’t think all of these came from a truck, I’m guessing most did. The mix of caught fish was about 75% browns, 25% rainbows. The browns looked really good, but the rainbows had some of the scrape marks associated with stocked fish.
While I would like to say that I took most of these on dries, the truth is I watched a number of dry fly anglers walk away frustrated while I continued to catch fish on a nymph rig. I did pick up a couple on a Usual, but they really wanted small BWO emergers. We just couldn’t go small enough to satisfy them.
The browns were especially aggressive, and I found that my nymphs were in shreds after 2 or 3 hook ups.
Another noticeable difference was that the most of the fish were caught in the early afternoon – not the evening. Usually the fishing picks up around dusk. While we did see quite a few fish sipping emergers, they were not as active or aggressive compared to the early afternoon.
Although I didn’t realize it at the time, the markings on the fish in these pics vary dramatically, proving that some of the best fall colors are not always on the foliage.
Hope you’re finding time to get out and enjoy some fall fishing and the colors that come with it. Enjoy!