Connecticut River Fishing Update: 2/18

Finally, a nice day today to ply the 36.5 degree waters of the Connecticut River, in search of trout. Alas, while it was great being on the water, we took the bagel.

We received over two feet of fresh snow this week, making it a bit of a chore to get to some of our favorite fishing spots – yes, snowshoes might have been a good option to get out there. Still, it felt pretty good to cast streamers to as many of those fishy spots as possible.

When the water temperature is this cold, the fish are usually conserving energy in slower water than we sometimes find them in during the summer months (seems like a long way off right now). Consequently, dead drifting or slowly drifting streamers is pretty much a requirement, and forget about stripping your fly to entice a strike – the fish are simply not going to make the effort to chase a fly when the water’s this chilly.

While Chuck and I marveled at the warm sun on our faces and generally beautiful scenery, we also continually reminded each other of our rusty casting abilities (especially mine) and lack of fish for both of us.

It has been an “old fashioned” winter this year, and nothing like the mostly fishable days that we had last winter. Also, we have not had much to write about concerning action with the fish this year – even on the few days that we have fished, not much has been going on – for us.

Near the end of the day, we did venture to a couple of the more popular spots near the village of Pittsburg and ran in to a few anglers that had some success today, so that was good to hear – at least someone was getting some action today.

Snow Update:

We are now up to about 135″ of snow fallen in Pittsburg this season, which is probably around average most years, but it seems like a lot right now, especially after this week’s deluge of the white stuff. The snow pack is pretty deep, and northern Pittsburg has much more than the village. There’s nearly 4 feet of snow around Deer Mountain Campground in the northern part of town, so you can only imagine what there is all the way up around Boundary Pond and Third Connecticut Lake.

Last year, we dealt with a lack of water for the lakes and the river for most of the summer – that might not be the case this year!