That’s an exceptionally beautiful Connecticut River brown trout, caught and released by TTL Fishing Guide Mickey Cunliffe (yes, even guides take the time to fish, every chance they get) last night. Mick was slinging around a ridiculously large articulated streamer and this brownie took it. He was right behind the drooping branches of a big tree – fish that structure, people!
Smallmouth bass and fishing for them is pretty foreign to me. Sure, we have smallies here on Back Lake (they’ve been here for nearly twenty years, illegally stocked way back in the day), but it seems as though our smallmouth bass are, in fact, small. There’s so many of them in our lake that their growth may be stunted, and while I have hooked up with a couple of sizable bass over the years, it can’t be considered anywhere near consistent.
Whatever word you want to use: fortunate, lucky, opportune, etc., having the upper reaches of the Connecticut River in your back yard makes for a long and fruitful fishing season, all year long.
It’s been a little while since our last report. A combination of obligations and getting the dogs ready for the rigors of the grouse hunting season (just a bit over two months away …) has meant less time on the river for me lately. Relying on the reports of others, the fishing has been good, and a recent change in the river flow may mean even better days lie ahead.
Yesterday was our annual “Guides Drift”, where five guides and myself fish together, tell jokes that everyone has heard before, and razz each other about our casting abilities (or lack thereof, in my case). Since the pike drift was such a big hit last year, we decided to do it again, on one of our hottest days of the summer …
The hexagenia hatch continues on Back Lake, and it seemed to be particularly robust last night. Quite a few hexes were coming off the lake, particularly as daylight faded, but there also seemed to be brown drakes still coming off as well, leading to a lot of surface activity.