Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT
Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 9:07 pm Post subject: Connecticut River and Farmington River 06/10
Fishface (aka Tim) and I fished the Connecticut River and the lower Farmington River from the Vibert Road boat launch ramp in South Windsor's Linear Park today. The ramp was silted up with sandy gray mud, so we launched from the shore a little downstream from it. We got on the water at 8:45 am and paddled across the Connecticut to the south passage of the mouth of the Farmington. We had more mosquitos than we could stand, partly cloudy skies and quickly warming air temperatures. The water temperature was 69-1/2 degrees when we launched and rose to 74-1/2 degrees by the time that we got off the water at 3:15 pm. Luckily, the seven mile per hour north-northwest wind that had been forecast ended up being a much gentler three miles per hour. I pedaled The Other Woman (aka my Hobie Pro Angler) while Tim paddled El Tortuga (aka his Future Beach Trophy 126 DLX). Sorry for the Marlin Perkins routine again, but I had another wildlife adventure. As Tim and I approached the west bank of the Connecticut, we saw a Canadian goose doing the backstroke. Really, I'm not kidding! As slim2043 would say, it was supine in the water :
Although we saw a large fish occasionally jump out of the water on our way to and into the Farmington, we didn't get much action. Tim had a hit on a trolled white four inch Mister Twister swirlytail grub, but by the time that he was able to grab his rod and twist around in the seat of his kayak, the fish got off the hook. I quickly tired of swimming-type lures and tied on a wacky rigged five inch green pumpkin/red flake Senko. I drifted it under a laydown and landed a 13 inch smallmouth bass:
We saw a bald eagle snacking on fish on a couple of different laydowns, but didn't get any more hits before we entered Hobbiton:
By the way, I'd greatly appreciate it if someone could tell me what that heck that old stone structure is. It's just upriver from where the Farmington splits into the two passages that flow into the Connecticut around the big island on the west bank of the Connecticut. As we headed upriver against the two mile per hour current, we couldn't find any fish. I pedaled past the Loomis Chaffee School and up to the culvert that runs underneath the road to the north of the school. At this point, I was ahead of Tim and no longer had a wacky rig tied on, so I yelled back to Tim that he should paddle up and throw his in front of the culvert. He got a bite as soon as it hit the water and landed a keeper largemouth bass:
We headed upriver only a little further before deciding to drift back downriver with the current. Before we did, however, I spotted a beat up looking 20 inch northern pike in the shallows that swam off when it saw us. We didn't get any more hits before we left the Farmington. After we passed Hobbiton, we headed back into the Connecticut through the north passage from the Farmington. I had gotten pretty far ahead of Tim as we went down the Farmington and heard him yell, "Fish on!", behind me as he landed a keeper smallie on his trolled grub. I continued down the west bank of the Connecticut while Tim, I later learned, landed a couple of small white perch and short smallies with his grub. After he made it further out into the Connecticut, he trolled down the west bank, while I crossed the river and trolled the east bank. He headed back to troll the south passage of the mouth of the Farmington while I headed for the laydowns that are just downriver from the ramp. After a while, Tim joined me at the laydowns. While we discussing the pros and cons of using braided fishing line, I saw the braided line on my wacky rig begin to move on the surface as a fish picked up my six inch green pumpkin/red flake Senko from the bottom. I reeled in the slack line and set the hook, and the fish dove for the bottom. It doubled over my medium Ugly Stik rod and pulled The Other Woman back a couple of feet. Tim actually asked, "Did you hook a carp?", before I finally got the fish to the surface:
I landed a smallie! It was 18 inches long and weighed two pounds, seven ounces. Whoo hoo! We soon decided to call it a day and as we slowly worked our way back toward the ramp, I saw a fish struggling in a laydown near the shore:
It was an 18 inch chain pickerel! And it was supine, slim 2043! After I backed The Other Woman into the laydown and flipped it over with my paddle, it slowly swam away underneath the laydown. Yeah, I'm building up my fishing karma! Tim helped me haul The Other Woman up the steep and slippery bank, and we got out of there by 3:30 pm. We think that the fishing was slow because of the heavy rain we got last night. The water in both the Connecticut and the Farmington was turbid. It was hard to see the bottom in even two feet of it. Hopefully, it will clear as the weekend progresses. _________________ Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!
PECo aka Phil it's slim2043 aka Tim! Lol! Looks like you guys had a good time today while I was working ... Great report as always! Thx for the shoutout! Its time for me to recline and go supine until next time.
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Do your part. Our lives run downstream. Recycledfish.org
as far as that stone structure. When i was fishing the farmington a few weeks back for shad i asked my friend the same question and he said he had always heard it was an old alter where they would do baptisms and what not.
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... Great report as always! Thx for the shoutout! Its time for me to recline and go supine until next time.
