Good news is that the salmon are running in to the Magalloway Stretch right now, with some very good angling … at times. It’s still salmon fishing after all, so they are on the feed one moment, and then quiet the next, for no apparent reason whatsoever.

Today brought quite a change to our weather – very windy and much cooler than it has been, but we are supposed to get back to our former weather pattern tomorrow, which will be welcome.

We’ve had a good amount of much needed rain the last couple of days, raising the water levels of the Connecticut Lakes.

We should probably have good river flows for salmon on the Magalloway Stretch for the next week or so – swift, so that First Connecticut Lake continues to fill. As a result of First Lake needing water, we’re thinking that the flow out of First Lake in to the Trophy Stretch should remain moderate (156 CFS as of today). This should help fishermen enjoy early season fishing on the Trophy for the foreseeable future as well.

The river flow at Murphy Dam was raised a bit today (up to 400 CFS from 300 CFS), as Lake Francis is at a good level currently, and this flow will be dependent on weather going forward most likely.

“What’s Working?”

Smelt patterns have generally worked the best on the salmon lately, with most of them taking it “on the swing” in traditional salmon fishing style. The salmon pictured above was taken and released by Chuck DeGray of North Country Fly Shop on his beautifully realistic Conehead Soft Hackle Streamer. There’s been some real quality fish caught, and long distance released over the last week, so it’s a thrill when one is on.

Not much happening with dries yet, but that could turn on at any moment once we have another warm up. Water temp yesterday was 44 degrees, so we’re very close to having some consistent top water action soon. BWO’s, Adams, Hendrickson’s, and CDC Caddis would be good patterns, and don’t forget some small brown stonefly patterns as well – they have been crawling around the rocks the last couple of mornings.