CURRENT HATCHES Click on the insect images below for details.
Blue-Winged Olive Terrestrials: beetles, ants, hoppers, etc. Isonychia Flying Ant Photos by Thomas Ames, Jr. © Copyrighted images - Used by permission.
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Housatonic River Conditions Cornwall Bridge, Connecticut
Torrey on the roof checking weather conditions for the River Reports
Water Level
Water Temperature
Water Clarity
Release Schedule
Current Hatches
SMALLMOUTH BASS:
A big "Thank You" to the Rainbow Club who donated $1600.00 and HFFA who donated $500.00 to this fall's Rainbow Stocking Again - Thanks from everyone.
I commissioned CD Clarke to paint the Housatonic River and Covered Bridge -painting is finished & on sale in the store - I own a couple of CD's paintings and they are a treasure.
UPCOMING EVENTS/CLASSES/CLINICS: Hardy/Greys Day - September 25th with Crosby Beane - He will again bring in the latest and greatest from Hardy/Greys, and they have a BUNCH of great new products debuting this Fall, including 11' trout rods for Euro style fishing.
Road Trips with Torrey- -September 17th-19th- Fishing the Catskills in Roscoe, NY- The Beaverkill, Willowemoc, Neversink and West Branch of the Delaware are all within striking distance. Cost for trip is $110- this will cover your lodging, but you will be responsible for other expenses. Here is the link to get a NY fishing license online: https://nyfgisales.appsolgrp.com/fgnyia/html/index.jsp -October 15th-17th- Esopus Creek in the Catskills, NY- wild rainbows along with stocked & wild browns, with a shot at a trophy fish up from Ashokan reservoir. I'm still working on lodging/pricing, but call if you want to get on the list. -November 12th-14th- Salmon River, NY- Steelhead time baby! Big runs of my favorite fish, from 5-15+ pounds, with shots at trophy browns (averaging 4-7#, and running up to 15+ pounds) and maybe a late Coho or two. Tentative pricing looks like $140, this will cover 2 nights lodging (incl. Continental Breakfast), you will be responsible for other expenses. Strike Indicator Nymphing Clinic, Saturday, September 25th, 9AM-1PM- -RodRule measuring tapes- back in stock again, these clear tapes apply directly to your rod or landing net and allow you to quickly & accurately measure your fish. I think I have one on just about every rod I own, keeps me honest. They can be removed and leave no marks, and you can lay the fish alongside the ruler without every taking them out of the water. Unlike other brands, these actually adhere quite well to your rod. Rodrules come 2 to a pack, great product & inexpensive too. -Greys GRXi+ rods- New entry from them in the low to upper $100 range. These rods cast almost as well as a high end premium rod at 1/4 of the price. Surprisingly nice looking rods with double locking reel seats, impressive cosmetics, rod tube & unconditional warrantee. Temple Fork Outfitters better watch out, they have some serious competition now! I think these rods are going to be big sellers, all of us who cast them in the Fall were literally shocked that a rod well under $200 could cast so impressively. Two thumbs up, and the clear winner at that price point. New Books: -Tying & Fishing Tailwater Flies, by Pat Dorsey- noted CO guide & fly shop owner Dorsey is a fly designer for Umpqua and has written 2 previous books and has a DVD. Two dozen killer guide flies are presented in very clear detail, with history, great pix, pattern dressing, and specific fishing advice for every pattern presented. Includes many orignal Dorsey patterns, as well as his personal variations of proven classics. Advice from a guy like Dorsey, who plys his living on the technical & hard fished South Platte River in CO, is especially valuable because he has to consistently produce trout for his clients on a tough fishery. Dorsey is best known for his Mercury series of flies with glass beads, and he presents them here. The last chapter on organizing your tailwater fly boxes has great photos of box after box, neatly loaded with fly patterns that will make you very jealous. Nymphers seeking smaller flies for the Farmington, Croton, Delware & other hard-fished rivers with find some great stuff, and there are some dry flies too. Book is autographed. Two thumbs up, this one is going into my personal book collection. -Learning from the Water, by Rene Harrop- the author is one of the best anglers to ever grace the Henry's Fork in ID, where he has fished it for well over 50 years, and maintained a fly tying shop on it's banks sincer 1968. Known for his signature CDC fly patterns, he shares his favorites for a variety of insects, from nymph thru spinner. Other info includes long leaders, setting up your fly box, fishing the edges (banks), how to successfully plan a Western fishing trip, midging, a caddis system, and many other chapters. Tons of info combined with numerous pictures make this a serious book. Those of you fishing for tough trout on rivers like the Delaware in NY will really appreciate this book, it's nicely done. Book is autographed. -Trout Lessons, by Ed Engle- this is the latest from well known Coloardo guide, American Angler columnist, and author of "Fishing Small Flies" & "Tying Small Flies". Engle is both a good writer & fisherman, and the theme of this book is how to catch trout on tougher days when your usual techniques & flies aren't working. Some of the topics covered include: dealing with high/dirty water, skating dries, specialized streamer tactics, attractor flies, assorted nymphing tactics (short line, tight line, indicator, suspension nymphing, bottom-bouncing, strike detection, etc.), difficult trout, meadow streams, small streams, tight line tactics (for streamers, dries, wets & emergers), fly triggers, sunken dries, etc. Scattered throughout the text he gives you many fly suggestions (with pix & dressing recipes) for patterns you probably haven't seen before. This is a solid book by a very knowledgeable & experienced angler, and it would be an excellent addition to any trout fisherman's library. -Common Sense Fly Fishing, by Eric Stroup- PA guide & fly designer for Spirit River- I'm super impressed with this new book, it really cuts to the core of what's important, and is well-written to boot. You can tell it was written by a guy who spends a lot of time actually on the water fishing. Excellent coverage of nymphing (both high-sticking & indicator fishing), dry flies, rigging (very good advice), "guide flies" (deadly but simple flies), reading the water (excellent chapter), and some often overlooked stuff like: position of rod & angler, line control, mending, how to drift your fly properly, approach, etc. I was surprised at how much I liked this book, it's not yet another re-hash, there is good, solid info not commonly written about here. Two thumbs up, anyone of any experience level should own this book. -Sight Fishing for Trout, by Landon Mayer- Great follow up book to "How to Catch the Biggest Trout of Your Life", both by a full-time Colorado guide. Landon is known from all his articles in magazines and pictures on the covers of him holding up giant trout, and one of his "secrets" is that more often than not, he knows he is fishing to a big trout because he spots them first. Beautiful pictures get you psyched up & teach you how to do what he does and locate the fish visually. He also covers nymph rigs, dries, and streamer tactics that fit into his personal system of catching big fish. An excellent book by a great guy who is truly talented & experienced, and who also is good at teaching it all.
Favorite Books: Bestsellers: *************************************** We need your donations to stock more trout this Fall and keep the Housy fishing well. We lost trout this Summer due to the the extremely hot weather & drought. The more money we raise, the more trout we can stock. The state will be stocking 9,000 trout in early/mid September, and to help get the trout population back to where it should be, we are raising money to stock extra fish this September- any size donation is appreciated - we are hoping to stock 2,000 nice big rainbows if we can raise enough money. Great Trip to Montana - Linehan Outfitters - Joanne and Tim were great hosts - fishing was good - food was superb - check out our Facebook page. Last day of the heat wave, then back down into the 70's, with lows mostly in the 50's. Should be a very pleasant Labor Day weekend. Big Carp and smallmouth are being caught lately- check out the Facebook page for recent pics, Carp were landed well over 20# and bass into the upper teens - looks like Earl is going to drop some rain on Friday, we sure need it. Bass fishing remains good, with quite a few above average size bass landed this Summer. Harold did well on Pike last week, I think cooler weather then put them on the bite. He hooked a couple that were big enough to scare him, not that it takes much to do that. September & October are two of the best months for them, although most anglers are focused back on trout then. Guide Bert Ouellette produced multiple big smallmouth for his clients recently, with quite a few in the 16-18" class. Spoke with Bill Hyatt recently, head DEP biologist for the Housatonic River - they have not yet crunched the final numbers for the sampling with regards to the trout lost - but we lost a good many - on a good note - they had an excellent smallmouth sampling and these types of conditions create a good population of next generation(s) smallmouth. Temps permitting (which is likely), we are going to try to do our private trout stocking in early/mid Septmember- we need donations to raise enough money to stock 2,000 nice trout, please help us out if you can. And as long as it's not hot then, the state is planning on putting their 9,000 trout by mid September, including some very nice sized browns. With the low, clear water, the smallmouth continue to bite well and the fishing for them with both fly and spin tackle has been good to excellent, depending upon who you talk to. Summer conditions really get the smallmouth bass going, as well as the crayfish they like to feed on. As the water rise into the 70's and beyond, the bass get more active & bite better. Smallmouth have been biting well most days, with our guide trips frequently producing bigger fish (16-18"+) this Summer. For those of you spin fishing, 4" Senkos are crushing bass, esp. bigger fish. Check out our September Road Trip to the Catskills- details at the top of Comments. We are also doing one in November for Steelhead on the Salmon River in Pulaski, NY, it is starting to fill so call & reserve if you want to go- I'm cutting it off at 5 people plus me. Reports coming back from our guide trips and customers are still of good bass fishing, the low water this Summer is ideal for catching them. In particular, some sizeable bass have been caught this season, some pushing into the upper teens. Fishing pressure remains light. Lower water conditions are making the wading easier than normal, and stacking up the bass in areas with some depth to them, making it easier to read the water and find concentrations of fish. The increased water temps have the bass & crayfish very active- I think the crayfish come out on the short end of that relationship, Lol. In addition to the normal subsurface fare (medium to large streamers, crayfish patterns & larger nymphs), popper/topwaters are producing some better bass. For some reason, poppers seem to really appeal to the bigger bass. See paragraph below for more specific fishing advice. Wet wading is generally the way to go on the Housy in the Summertime during warmer weather- much, much more comfortable than wearing waders on hot days. I have my best Smallmouth fishing here when the water is low and warm, the hotter the better. Fishing pressure is usually pretty light this time of year on the Housy, significantly less than during trout season for sure. During Summer, the warmer weather and higher water temps make it time to target the Smallmouth Bass in the Housy. As the trout fishing conditions worsen in the Summer, the bass fishing actually gets better and better- the warmer & lower the water, the faster the bass fishing is. On our bass trips, Pike, Largemouth & occasionally Carp also mix in sometimes. If you do hook trout while bass fishing during warmer weather, please play them quickly and make sure they are properly revived- warm water temps are stressful to them due to the lower oxygen content. Smallmouth bite well at midday when the water temps go up, and I normally don't bother to start early for them anymore- I personally prefer to fish in the afternoon & evening when water temps are higher and they are most active. Harold commissioned CD Clarke to paint the covered bridge - he owns a couple of his paintings and they are spectacular - we are selling this painting at the store.
Not everyone is aware of it, but despite the fact that the Housatonic is best known for it's Spring & Fall trout fishing & beauty, with great hatches and large holdover trout, the river becomes a world-class Smallmouth fishery in the Summertime when water temps heat up. On good days when they are biting well, it's not at all unusual for a skilled fisherman who knows the river to land 30-50+ fish, and friends of mine have caught well over 100 bass (on flies) on exceptional days when conditions were just right and the bass were really biting. Those of you catching bass incidentally in the Spring & Fall while you are trout fishing probably think almost all the Housy Smallmouth are 4-8"- not the case. While there are lots of small juvenile bass, if you specifically target bigger fish with large streamers (3"+, up to 6"), Crayfish patterns and popppers, you will find a substantial amount of fish in the 12-16" class, with some hitting 17-18"+. Water temps in the 70's and 80's gets those fish really active, feeding like crazy, and hunting Crayfish- the Housy is LOADED with Crayfish, probably a Smallmouth's favorite food source. We all like Lobster, right? Lol. Lots of protein & calories in a single crayfish. Take a break from trout fishing and give the Smallmouth a try, you might be pleasantly surprised. Under normal Summer conditions (meaning warmer air temps and water temps in the 70's to low 80's), wet wading is the way to go, much more comfortable. You can use your 9' #5 trout rod, although you will be limited in terms of the size flies you can cast. I recommend a 9' #6 or #7 rod, it will enable you to throw poppers and larger streamers that will appeal to the bigger bass and help you get by all the dinks. Keep your leader heavier, I mostly use 2x and heavier when bass fishing- think 0x-2x with streamers & poppers, and 2x-3x with nymphs (sizes #2-10, don't go smaller or you will get almost all small fish). When temps drop a bit and trout get more active and mix in with the bass, dead-drifting Princes and Stoneflie appeal to both species. If you fish below the TMA - please do not park on private property - we are getting complaints from the land-owners - and they will shut down access and stocking priviliges if fishermen keep trespassing and parking on their properties.
We are trying to get the DEP to extend the TMA to include the section of the Housy from the Rt 7/Rt 4 Cornwall bridge down to at least North Kent, if not all the way down to the center of Kent. It's going to take a lot of angler support to accomplish this, the DEP has had mixed feeling about this in the past, but they seem to be starting to warm up to the idea. There is a trememdous amount of ideal trout water in that section, and it would be awesome to see it managed & stocked to it's potential.
Once again, poachers have been active this year as they have been the past few seasons, both in & out of the TMA. They have been keeping fish in the TMA (esp. in Horse Hole) & spin fishing in the Fly Fishing Only section (esp. in Cellar Hole & the Park), as well as fishing down below the TMA without licenses and keeping more than their limit of fish- without a license, all fish kept are illegal. We need all of you to be proactive and call in violations, the DEP needs to receive calls from people other than us calling all the time from the shop. The TIPS (Turn in Poacher) hotline # is 1-800-842-4357, the last 4 digits spell out the word "HELP" in case you forget the number. And for the record, all calls made to the hotline are logged and they look at the data each year to see where they need to beef up enforcement. While they are way underfunded & understaffed in terms of Conservation Officers, they will make every effort to dispatch one if at all possible. Get as much info as possible- number of people, general description, vehicle & plate #. Take a pic of them & their car if possible with a digital camera or even cell phone. If we get some more of them nailed, the word will get out that you don't want to poach on the Housy. This is a problem we can all help to improve with a simple phone call.
A note on etiquette. In recent seasons, we are seeing more and more fishermen who crowd others and do not seem to be aware of proper etiquette. Nobody likes it when they have a big chunk of water to themselves and somebody steps in 20-30 feet away, and starts casting to the fish they are working on. When you approach a piece of water that another fisherman is occupying, ask yourself how far you would want someone to stay away if you were there first- try to stay at least a cast and a half away if possible. And DO NOT EVER throw to the same fish or water that another person is fishing, even if you can reach it. That is a HUGE no-no, do not be surprised if you get yelled at or get your ass kicked if you do that to someone- I'll have no sympathy for you. The Housy is a big river, and there is plenty of water for people to fish, even on a popular weekend. If the spot you want to fish is occupied, don't crowd that person, just go elsewhere. Believe me, there are TONS of fish (and big ones) all over the upper and lower TMA's, and outside of them also. Don't fish Corner Hole, Sand Hole, Cellar Hole, etc. on a busy Saturday at prime time and expect to have solitude- the easy access spots almost always hold the most fishermen. The Upper TMA is somewhere in the vicinity of 10 miles or so, and the lower one is about 2.5 miles, giving us all plenty of water to spread the pressure out in. Just make sure to practice courtesy and common sense, and treat other fishermen as you would like to be treated, and it will be a better experience for everyone. Housatonic River Outfitters- Donates more than 1% of Gross Sales to Environmental Causes, Youth Organizations,Women's Groups, Local Charities and other Non-profit agencies
Housatonic River Outfitters
E-Mail:hflyshop@aol.com
Orders/Info (860) 672-1010
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