Good to meet everyone last night, and thanks as always for sharing the water. Youâll find a little river history, a little reconnoiter, some trout and smallie basics, and a couple of my favorite Housy fly patterns. If I had been a baseball player this spring, I would have been Jeromy Burnitz. Best action was from 8pm-8:30pm — as night fell, the bigger fish action tapered off and the smaller guys came out to sip bugs in earnest. Mysteries as yet unsolved (but I have my theories): Why such lousy action on wets? It was tough fishing until he found the right fly, and then an orange Stumpbuster and a rust Woolly Bugger did the trick. They didn’t get to be big by accident. (see above). And they don't get as much pressure from the ''River-Runs-Through-It'' crowd as those mouth-weary Montana browns. There’s no single, simple answer. The fly it chomped on was about three inches long. I can always tell it’s a good fish when my forearm starts to burn mid fight. Pricked a few but only one to hand and he was small. It works as well on eastern freestone river smallies as it does on English chalk stream browns. We will get you going! He's trying so hard but he's all off balance, his weight is too far back, and it's like he's not seeing the ball.''). Northern Pike Down in the southwest corner of the state, the Housatonic River is home to some real life river monsters. – Target shallows in low light, particularly shallows near deep water. During the summer months the small mouth bass fishing is excellent and it is not uncommon to catch 20-30 bass a day. Picture them hanging out on the bottom of a deep hole during peak daylight. On top of the fog, it mustâve been the start of the commercial oyster fishing season in the Housatonic, as the Oyster Army was out for the first time this fall. A quick zip in/zip out (there have been a lot of those this summer) last night from 7:00pm-8:30. I began to feel that I knew what was happening under water, where the fly was, and which movements of the strike indicator were meaningful. There will come a point where the bite will shut down, which is usually about the time you can no longer see your fly. I like its long WF taper for mending. We were fishing big nymphs on a 9-foot leader, with a smaller nymph on a dropper, casting 20 to 30 feet over currents of different speed. I admit that smallmouth bass are often easier to catch than trout. You’ll find a little river history, a little reconnoiter, some trout and smallie basics, and a couple of my favorite Housy fly patterns. But the fish are asleep in the shade. Water temperature is the most critical factor in terms of trying to determine whether trout will be active or not. The trout, that is. The best part was a few some-teen inch slobs in the mix, all on the Countermeasure at dusk. Countermeasure. I hit bottom in Montana in June. Regardless of whether the subject is the river (242cfs, 76 degrees, clear) or the smallmouth (many of them, mostly in the 8″-12″ class with a couple at a foot-plus), a splendid time was had. Rivers are home to some of the best smallmouth bass fishing on the planet. Last night was textbook: increased activity once the sun went behind the mountains, a feeding spike from 7:30pm-8:30pm, then shutdown at dark. You want all the good water. As I was wading several people on inner tubes floated by, one of them with a fly rod. Fished from 7:30-9pm, down Kent way. James Gorman Outdoors column discusses smallmouth bass fishing in Housatonic River (Conn) as means of alleviating frustration of midsummer slump; photo (M) My money’s on “at the business end of a Countermeasure.”, Dusk can be a magic time, but the big fish bite window is sometimes frustratingly short.Â. When the rain let up and the fog started rolling in, I headed for the sound. Today I headed out to the Housatonic River for what I thought was going to be a chance to chase trout with dry flies. You can spot these so-called thermal refuges by the signs that tell you not to fish within 100 feet of the tributaries. For a quality coldweather fishing experience, look no farther than the Housatonic Riverâs tidal estuary, where you can enjoy a thriving striped bass and Atlantic salmon fishery all winter long. I went on a float trip down the Madison River during the salmon fly hatch and did not catch a fish. Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of fishing the Housatonic River for smallmouth bass with a friend of mine and Harry as our guide, To say Harry is both knowledgeable about the river and putting you in the best places to catch fish is an understatement! OK, I was fishing on the wrong side of the river. The Housatonic River Catch-and-Release area consists of two separate reaches. We’re taking glacial. Last week as I was walking out of the river at 8:45pm, I nearly stepped on a monster smallie that was cruising in about a foot of water. After the previous night’s blizzard, why only a few white flies? Even after it became difficult to see the fly, I was still hauling in pipsqueaks. No white flies yet, but I made my own hatch at dark with a White Wulff, landed one, and ended on a high note. I’d been licking my chops all year, waiting for the Housy smallmouth season. So I upped it to the 8-weight (260 grains). The upper reach extends from the Rte. Do you know where your trophy Housy smallie is? I was intrigued that I would get several bass on the black — consecutively — then 2-3 bass on the white. So much for the cold front theory: three bass in the 10″ class on the first four casts. It is also a superb but underrated smallmouth bass fishery in the warmer months when the trout fishing ⦠For Housatonic River Flows at Falls Village: 1-888-417-4837. 20 bridge in Lee downstream to the Willow Mill Dam in Lee. One was that the section of river we floated was maybe a day or two past its peak, so the fish were full instead of crazily voracious. Part of it was the drought, which made for challenging conditions. Actually, I did foul-hook a whitefish, which I believe looked at me with its sucker-like mouth and said something scornful and unprintable. So I fished that for a while, cleaned up, then switched over to a Gurgler. Summertime Smallmouth on the Housatonic River. From sun up through early evening during the warm weather months on the rambling Housatonic River in Massachusetts and northwest Connecticut fishermen can be seen wetting a fly in search of a feisty brown trout or muscular smallmouth bass. 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