Back Lake / CT River Fishing Update: May 11

What a difference a day makes! It went from midsummer temperatures over the last few days back to cold and blustery today. That didn’t stop our guests from getting out on Back Lake, but they really earned their trout today.

The fishing has been pretty good the last couple of days on Back Lake – trolling has been the preferred method, as it usually is at this time of year. While most of our people have been using hardware (the Super Duper, in copper, has been the most consistent), flies usually work well at this time of year as well.

Gray, Black and Red Gray Ghosts are all good patterns, and don’t forget the Mickey Finn, Golden Demon and Harris Special too. In fact, most of the classic streamer patterns should get you some action out there.

As far as the other lakes go, Lake Francis has iced out, as did First Connecticut Lake yesterday. The water is especially cold in the lakes right now (low 40’s), so a bit more warm weather should heat up the fishing on the big lakes. There were boats trolling around for salmon and lake trout today on First Connecticut Lake, so perhaps they are getting in to fish already.

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Those boats were apparent out on the lake as I was fishing Magalloway Inlet earlier today. Though the river flow (445 CFS) and lake level remain on the high side, there are salmon and lake trout in this section of the river right now, and the next week should be good fishing up there. It was good today, with the majority of the action on streamers (Gray Soft Hackle, but Olive would do the trick too), but some people were using nymph rigs with good results too.

The water temp was 40 up there today (air temperature was a balmy 35 degrees this morning), which is a bit on the cold side, but it didn’t seem to deter the salmon any. Some really strong energetic takes today, and don’t be surprised to find a laker on your line – they dog down hard but fight really hard.

As for the other sections of the Connecticut River, the flows are coming down slowly but probably not enough to risk getting yourself in to the water. We anticipate better flows in these sections however, possibly as early as the middle of next week. Keep checking with us for the latest info.

Remember, if you’re looking for knowledgable fly fishing guides when you visit our neck of the woods, we have a great lineup of people to take you out, show you something new, and see some great water at the same time. Please visit the “Guide Services” page of our website for more information.

The salmon run is here and it’s Mothers Day weekend – seems to be the same starting time every year and Mother Nature did not disappoint!