After a winter that went much too long and a slow-moving spring, the first weekend of May in Connecticut brought sunny days with temperatures reaching 80 degrees. Most of Saturday was dedicated to chores, but I was able to steal an hour at the local farm pond to test some newly-tied poppers. Despite the cool water temperature, I had quite a number of panfish strikes, with a few brought to hand. This was one of the largest and most colorful. I expect to see more of these and some nice bass as the summer progresses and the pond’s water warms.
The local beavers have been busy, working on what will become bass cover. I never see them in action, but they create a lot of wood chips.
On Sunday afternoon I headed to the Farmington River to meet my friend Paul. While I was gearing up, this escapee from a local chicken coop showed up. We were deep in the woods, some distance from any farm, so he was quite a surprise. I hope he finds his way back before he becomes dinner. It was mentioned that he would also be a great source of hackle, but I passed.
The day started out slow but ended well. Despite rumors of a healthy Hendrickson hatch, it had not yet arrived. Bugs were rare and fish rose sporadically. I took this first rainbow on a hares ear nymph. He was quite a slab and proved to be an impressive acrobat, launching into 4 vertical leaps before surrendering to the net. I’ll also give him the Mayweather award for being the best fighter of the day.
Later in the afternoon a hatch arrived and I landed two browns on small Hendrickson dries. The first was voraciously feeding on top. I had tied on a dry that matched the hatch, but was consistently refused. I took it down a size and he hammered it, bending the rod sharply and peeling off line.
The second I caught while leaning against the bank. I had reeled in and was talking to my friend when I noticed him rise about 20 feet away. I unwound a few feet of line and sent out a roll cast. He quickly sipped the fly and started running.
Hope your getting out for some spring fishing. Enjoy!
