The kind of thing you like to see, especially if it’s your second cast of the day – a bent rod, with a tenacious rainbow on the other end …

Even on days like we’ve had lately, the fishing on nearly all stretches of the Connecticut River has been just as hot as our temperatures. That’s pretty hot, and the last couple of days were no exception just south of Pittsburg as well.

Yes, another "rainbow in the net" picture!
Yes, another “rainbow in the net” picture!.

With a high sun, and very little in the way of hatches coming off, the switch rod was a great way to cover some water with a streamer, and it worked to perfection both yesterday and this morning.

This one was one of several that were hooked 60′ – 70′ away, and it’s a lot of fun to feel the tug from distance. While five rainbows and a brown found their way in to the net, there were several others that got off, as well as many other hits.

The fly of choice was the Rolled Muddler, a sparsely tied muddler pattern that has been a good one on the Upper Connecticut River for several years. Unfortunately, this is my last one, and we have no more in stock in our modest fly shop either.

The dealer has discontinued the fly pattern, so efforts are being made to coerce, oops, coax a local tier to reproduce the pattern … yes, this could get expensive.

We have heard excellent reports from the Trophy Stretch as well, so this is a great time to escape the heat and humidity and catch fish at the same time.

If you’re interested in learning the facets of two handed casting, we have our second Spey Casting Clinic coming up on Saturday, September 19, so please check out our webpage on the class.