Past Trip to the Farmington

These pictures above are of a trip I took to the Farmington this past April. We were fishing during Hendrickson season and the dry fly fishing was fantastic. At Around 2:30 both days we fished a Hendrickson hatch occurred. At around 6:30 at night the spinner fall would occur. The 2:30 hatch was very good and led to some very good dry fly fishing yet at some points the 6:30 hatch felt like a blizzard. In between the hatches I would use a dry dropper with a Hendrickson dry fly dropped down to a small egg. This egg caught the biggest trout pictured above and the smallest trout pictured above. The rest of the fish were all caught on dry flies. I believe most of the fish were stocked although I am not 100% sure. All of the fish above were either caught in the drive in pool or in the riffles above it. 

Pennsylvania US Youth Fly Fishing Clinic

This past weekend I headed down to Central PA for a fly fishing clinic held by the US Youth Fly Fishing Team. The clinic was hosted in the Sieg center on Fishing Creek in Lamar PA. I got to the stream at around 12 on Friday. I fished the rest of the day with the help from some great local fishing guides. I caught 2 brookies on dry flies in the first couple of hours and unfortunately got skunked the rest of that day. I fished a lot on Saturday and got some more awesome casting instruction from some amazing fisherman. I didn't end up getting anything until one of my friends and I hiked a bit upstream to a spot we were pretty confident no one had hit. Once we got up there the rain let up and the fish started rising. I took out a Hendrickson spinner with an egg sack as it was the closest imitation I had to the sulphur spinners that were falling. On the first cast with this fly I caught a nice brookie, the second biggest pictured above. A little bit later I caught another smal brookie and a small brown. The next day one of my friends and I decided to get up real early to fish the same spot we had so much luck the day before. After a couple of minutes I caught a nice brookie and seconds later my friend caught the biggest brookie pictured above fishing a walts worm with a Czech nymphing rig. I believe that fish was around 13 inches. We headed downstream to search for some tigers in a nearby tributary but unfortunately did not find anything. We then decided to head back upstream. I headed a bit upstream of where we caught the last. At the new spot there was a promising looking undercut bank and an overhanging tree. We weren't getting anything on nymphs anymore and there was nothing rising. Yesterday I heard some of the guides taking about catching a lot on dries even without a hatch, I put two and two together and tied on a size 12 elk hair caddis, using it as a sort of an attractor pattern. I tossed it under the tree with a backhand cast and drifted the fly inches from the bank. A brown smashed it, swam downstream and continued to jump multiple times. I was able to quickly land it as my friend had another fish maybe 20 feet downstream. I quickly ran over and was able to get his in my net as he left his back at the center. We were both very excited, his brookie being his best fish on a dry and my brown being my best wild trout on a dry fly. We headed back downstream where we found Joe Humphreys talking with some guides. In about an hour he took us out on the creek and taught us the slack leader cast and told us many great fishing stories. After having him coach us for a couple hours he told us to go out and use what he taught us. I then fished for another hour and my parents picked me up. This was probably my most memorable fly fishing experience I've had to date. I caught some of my best fish and learned from some amazing fly fisherman. This is something I would recommend to any kid wether he's an expert or a begginer, everyone there learned something and caught fish.

First Spring trip to the Swift

A frustrating trip at first, this expedition out to Massachusetts's Swift River payed off eventually. Eamonn and I show up at around 2:30 to the route 9 bridge and started fishing. Not really knowing what to expect, stocking wise, due to the previous year's stocking schedule, we start fishing just above the bridge. Not seeing lots of interested fish going after our flies, a caddis nymph an a squirmy wormy, we switched to streamers. The Circus Peanut and Mike's Meal ticket got some attention at the Y-Pool but only one fish bit so we decided to explore. At the top of the right tributary of the of the Y-pool where there was little to no current and plenty of cover and space for the new stockers was where we got the most luck. Jigging a tungsten weighted jig style egg was what caught this beauty and a couple of other ones that got away. A weighted midge also worked well in this area by just letting it sink to the bottom,getting the attention of the stockers. As it started to get dark and we were heading back the egg fly was what nearly caught another nice fish which ended up swimming under and around Eamonn's legs and then breaking off. We had another bite where my line got stuck in a tree after the hook set and snapped most of my leader off. Even though most of the trip was spent figuring out what fly to use, the one fly that stood out and caught the most fish was the simple egg fly. This trip taught us a big lesson, never discount simple flies.

-Will

Western Road Trip

 

These photos were taken during a western road trip my family took a few years ago. Back then I was not as good of a fisherman as I am now, although I was able to catch some good fish. We flew into Denver then drove through NM,AZ,NV,CA,OR,WA,ID,MT, and then back into CO. During the trip I was able to fish quite a bit. I fished in an alpine lake in the Colorado Rockies, I fished in the Smith River California, I fished in the Madison, Yellowstone, Gallatin and Deschutes rivers as well as some random creeks in the Wyoming Rockies. On the Smith River I caught a small what I believe to be native or wild rainbow trout ( the first picture). In California I also fished in a small coastal creek where I caught the second fish pictured above which I believe to be a small King Salmon Smolt. After driving through Oregon where I made a quick stop at the Deschutes River I headed into Idaho for about a day. After Idaho we drove into Montana where I spent a couple days.In Montana I had the most luck on the Gallatin River where I caught 20 or so rainbow trout. In addition to the Galattin I fished the Yellowstone River, The  Madison River and Rock Creek. 

Once back in Colorado I fished in an alpine lake on Mt.Evans. Although I did not catch anything I got many bites from very aggressive cutthroat trout which was very fun. Overall this was my favorite trip of all time and someday in the future I hope to return with more skills.

Central Pennsylvania Trout Trip

Last May I attended a U.S Youth Fly Fishing Team clinic held on Fishermans Creek and Spring Creek in central Pennsylvania. There I spent three days learning from some amazing fisherman, from kids on the team as well as guides and even Joe Humphreys. During the time I was there they filmed part of Joe Humphreys movie, you can actually see me a couple of times in the trailer they released.

     During the clinic I was introduced to an entirely new type of fishing, European nymphing with a sighter instead of a bobber. In addition to this I was introduced to jig head nymphs. I used these techniques and flies for the entirety of the clinic and still use them today. The brook trout above was caught on a dry fly during an evening sulphur hatch on Fishermans Creek. The brown trout was caught on a baetis nymph on spring creek. Overall the clinic was a blast, I learned a lot and in between caught some good fish too. I would recommend  this clinic to any teens (as it is a youth clinic) who want to learn more about fly fishing. 

First Trout Trip of the Year

Today I fished the swift for a few hours with many bites but very few fish. I first started out fishing a WD-40 with a caddis nymph as an anchor down at the pipe pool. I got no bites there so I headed up to the route 9 bridge. There I saw a spin fisherman catch a big trout on a spinner so I switched to a circus peanut to try to imitate a small brook trout or sculpin. Immediately I started getting many bites. I worked my way upstream until I finally caught the fish seen above. I walked even farther up to the y-pool where I had many bites. After fishing the y-pool for half an hour I ended up leaving. There were very few fish in the river at this time so I was pumped to catch this guy, especially sight fishing with a streamer.

Talking Trout Interview 1/31/16

Fisheries and Wildlife Interview - 1/31/16(Click here for Interview)

Above is an interview with Commissioner of Fisheries and Wildlife, George Peterson, Chief of Trout Stocking, Ken Simmons, and Fisheries Biologist Todd Richards. The interview discusses topics such as; what is the state of wild trout in Massachusetts, what is the state of Atlantic Salmon, both sea run and landlocked in Massachusetts, and what exactly is the goal of trout stocking. In addition to this, Mr.Simmons, Peterson, and Richards discuss what exactly their job entails as well as what sort educational background each one had to have to get to where they are today. The various trout hatcheries throughout Massachusetts are discussed as well as some interesting facts about the net zero energy building the department of fisheries and wildlife works in. In addition to the scientific and more technical aspects of the interview, many good fishing spots around the state are mentioned as well. Overall the content in the interview is fascinating and filled with valuable information for people interested in not only Massachusetts cold-water fisheries, but the future of Massachusetts wild trout and salmon.