CTFishTalk.com: Connecticut River - Linear Park to Farmington River 09/25 - Connecticut River Reports ( CT River Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

Fishface (aka Tim) and I fished the Connecticut River and the mouth of the Farmington River today. I pedaled my Hobie and Tim paddled his kayak. We put into the Connecticut from the Vibert Road Boat Launch at Linear Park in South Windsor. We got on the water at about 6:30 am and off at about 2:45 pm. The morning was drab and overcast. The air was cool until 11:00 am, when the sun came out and it became fairly warm. There was a brisk south wind and the current was flowing pretty quickly downriver as the tide went out. Here's a map of where we went:

We fished the laydowns that are immediately downriver from the launch. Tim threw a wacky black/blue flake Senko and a spinnerbait, and I threw a Yo-Zuri 2-1/2 inch white lipless crankbait, a War Eagle Firecracker (white with red, white and blue flakes) spinnerbait and a wacky watermelon/red and black flake Senko. We got nothing for the first 30 minutes, but then I landed a 13 inch smallie on my wacky Senko. After that, both of us pretty much threw mostly wacky Senkos. We had been fishing the laydowns all the way in to the shore, but the fish hit only off the tips of the laydowns, where the current was strongest. A short time later, I caught an 11 inch smallie.

We decided to work our way south to the channel created by an island off of the east bank of the river. Tim caught several little smallies off of the island (11 inches, 12-1/2 inches, 13-1/2 inches and 13 inches), but I had a rough time of it. The southbound water flow really picked up in the channel at the same time as the northbound wind funneled through it. There were two foot waves coming upriver with an occasional breaker. One actually broke over the bow of my Hobie. My problem was with the wind. High winds and a spinning real spooled with braid just don't mix. I spent more time futzing with my gear than fishing.

Tim agreed to head to the mouth of the Farmington and we began making our way there. I crossed the Connecticut ahead of and much further upsteam than Tim, and got stuck dead on a sandbar. I was able to pole my way to slightly deeper water with my Hobie's single-bladed paddle and finally made it to the south branch of the Farmington's mouth. When I looked back to see where Tim was, he was 1/4 mile downriver and, hallelujah, he was walking on water:

Tim's kayak has a much shallower draft than my Hobie, but the section that he crossed was almost dry. When he finally caught up with me, I asked whether he knew what his new nickname would be. He replied, "He who will never come here again?" Shocked

And I had been thinking "Jesus". Confused

As we worked our way up the mouth of the Farmington, we saw no fish and struggled to find more than a foot of depth. I wondered aloud about where all of the fish had gone as the water level dropped and we hypothesized that they were in a deep hole somewhere. Luckily, we were right and found the hole. Well, hole is an overstatement. Immediately south of the where the Farmington's mouth splits into a south branch and an east branch that each connect with the Connecticut, there's a deeper area that reached maybe six feet in depth. Now, keep in mind that the entire time we were out there, the water level kept dropping. We were probably an hour away from the lowest tide at that point in time. I caught a 13 inch smallie and Tim caught an 11 incher. But then, Tim caught the lunker smallie, which was 19 inches long and weighed 3 pounds:

The fish never stopped fighting. It ended up releasing itself by thrashing its way off of my scale. Tim immediately caught another 12 inch smallie and, soon afterward, I caught my personal best smallie, which was 17 inches long and weighed 2 pounds, 4 ounces. Tim got a photo.

We decided to work our way a little bit up the Farmington and soon found ourselves in Hobbiton:

Does anyone know what that old stone structure is (was)? We didn't get much action until we got as far up the extremely low river as we were willing to go. I caught only a stray 11 inch smallie along the way. But as we were discussing heading back downriver, I drifted a worm down a narrow channel and landed a 12 inch smallie. As I pulled it up to my boat, I saw two more right behind it and yelled to Tim to get a lure into the channel. Tim ended up getting three more smallies (12 inches, 14 inches and 12-1/2 inches) and I got two more (13 inches and 11 inches), all by drifting wacky Senkos. It felt like we were fishing for trout; finding a deep hole and drifting worms down the river. But I think that smallies are way more fun. Very Happy

As we began heading back to the launch, Tim decided to retrace our route down the south branch of the Farmington's mouth, while I decided to re-enter the Connecticut through the east branch. I had to kick off my shoes and roll up my pants to drag my boat over 25 feet of sandbar. There were clumps of grasses along the western shore and I decided to throw a weighted Rage Tail Space Monkey (i.e., a soft plastic crawfish) at them as I pedaled back to the launch. We were in full sun by then and I got to see a 10 inch smallie burst out of a clump of grass to chase down and snag my lure. When I finally spotted Tim downriver, he was 1/2 mile ahead of me. I called him on his cell phone to confirm that he was the speck I saw in the distance and heard him exclaim, "Oh, God!" as he hung up his phone. I guess that's when he landed the 14 inch smallie near the launch. When I finally got close to the launch, I felt a tug on the crankbait I had been trolling behind me and, surprise, I landed a 16 inch striped bass:

What a great way to end what started out as a challenging day, but turned into a terrific one. Whoo hoo! Very Happy

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DirtyDawg10 · Joined: 27 May 2009 Posts: 2238 Location: Granby, CT

Nice report! Sorry I had to miss it...I love catching smallies. Looks like a great time despite the walking on water and all. Very Happy

Cots6 · Joined: 18 Sep 2010 Posts: 42 Location: Simsbury, CT

You have the best reports, sounds like a great day of fishing to me! I gotta get something that floats so i dont have to shore fish anymore Crying or Very sad

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

Cots6

You should get one of these:

We were in Hobbiton when Tim said, "Hey, here comes a Hobbit now!" and we saw this sail come around the bend. It's a kayak with outriggers and a sail. . . and a dog! Shocked

Phil
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Cots6 · Joined: 18 Sep 2010 Posts: 42 Location: Simsbury, CT

haha actually, kira told me about some inflatable boats from Cabelas, and I checked some of them out. Found a nice inflatable raft sort of thing, 2 seats, rod holders...180 bucks. It's called a Fishfinder, so it must be legit right? haha. Def contemplating getting it though.

Fishface · Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 308 Location: New Britain

Nice report Phil as always. Phil you forgot to mention the second time I had to get out. Nice photos, I will post a few pics tomorrow.

Tim

Fishface · Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 308 Location: New Britain

A couple of photos

Phil's 3lb-4oz Smalie

Pockets where the Hobits live

Can anyone help me find my boat, This anchor was a bit out of place

SeaDog1 · Joined: 21 Dec 2009 Posts: 2629

Hey Fishface!

Go back and get that anchor -> it's a danford and worth a few bucks!!!!

SeaDog1

Flipper · Joined: 21 May 2010 Posts: 347 Location: Enfield

Next time you guys go down there, try launching at the Bissel Bridge on the Windsor side of the river. If you have 2 cars leave 1 at the Jennings Rd boat launch just before Hartford. Drifting down river from Bissel Bridge, once you get around the sharp bend, the east side of the river is nice and deep with LOTS of structure in the form of old wooden pilings. I fish for stripers and cats there, but they have to hold bass, too. If you leave a car at Jennings Rd - no paddle back up. This area is much more productive than the sand flats in the stream, I mean section of river you guys were fishing.
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PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

Thanks, Pike King. That's a terrific plan. I'm sure that I'll try it soon.
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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

Fishface · Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 308 Location: New Britain

Seadog if we get back up there I will the tide was to low to get out of the Kayak.

Tim