CTFishTalk.com: Farmington River - Tarriffville 04/29 - Connecticut River Reports ( CT River Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

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

Thanks to the crappy weather, today, I finally have a chance to type up a report about the kayak fishing trip on the Farmington River that I took with DirtyDawg10 (aka Derek) and JJay (aka Jason) on Sunday. Both Derek and Jason could only fish during the morning, so we hit the river at 6:45 am from Tarriffville Memorial Park:

The air temperature was a cold 35 degrees, but there was very little wind and the sky was mostly sunny. The water was stained and slightly murky (smurky? Laughing

) and visibility was about three feet. The water level looked to me to be a foot or two lower than what I think is normal for the Farmington. The current also appeared to be relatively gentle, especially compared to the high, raging waters that we seemed to have during most of last season. We saw what I think were trout rising to the surface of the flat water. I paddled El Habañero, Derek paddled La Calabaza and Jason paddled his own Trophy 126. We paddled around the bend in the river at the park for 30 minutes before heading into the shallows of Pickerel Cove. I wanted to see whether there was any largemouth bass bedding activity in there, yet. Derek threw a crankbait and a spinnerbait as we entered the cove, while I threw only a big bluegill patterned spinnerbait. Derek hadn't been out of the water in a while and celebrated the occasion by coodinating his outfit with La Calabaza Laughing

:

We didn't get any hits in the extreme shallows just inside of the entrance to the cove, so we headed through the also shallow channel to the relatively deeper water in the southwest corner of the cove. Meanwhile, Jason stayed near the entrance. Neither Derek nor I got any hits or even saw any fish in the deeper water, either, so I downsized and began throwing a Pearl Silver Gulp! 2-1/2 inch Minnow. Still nothing. Sad

But at 7:45 am, Jason sent me a text message that he had boated two small largemouth bass and a chain pickerel with a white two inch curlytail grub on a 1/16 ounce round jighead on a slow retrieve. Here's the photo he sent me of one of the largemouth bass:

When I got the text, Derek was throwing his spinnerbait. Based on what Jason had told me, I advised Derek to slow his retrieve. He was mid-retrieve when he slowed it and, BAM!, he immediately got a hit from a small largemouth bass. I thought that he was about to get what would be only his second spinnerbait fish ever when it jumped off of the spinnerbait at the boat! Someone had failed to set the hook. Rolling Eyes

Meanwhile, Jason sent me another text message with a photo of a black crappie:

Jason paddled over to the southwest corner of the cove and joined us a little while later. I had forgotten to put my curlytail grubs in my boat, so I got a white two inch curlytail grub from him. It wasn't long before I boated a black crappie of my own:

And then a sunny:

And then a yellow perch:

I paddled over to the laydown out of which Derek had pulled the largemouth bass that he lost on the spinnerbait and told him that I was going to catch his fish. On the first cast, the grub jig got me a 13 inch largemouth bass:

We stayed in the cove for quite a while before heading out into the main channel of the river and paddling upriver a couple of hundred yards. I decided to tie on a wacky rigged Senko to throw into laydowns on the bank. The green pumpkin/red flake five inch Senko got me a little smallmouth bass:

It was my first wacky fish of the year. Whoo hoo! Meanwhile, the crankbait had gotten Derek a decent yellow perch out of another laydown. By the time that we headed off of the river at 11:45 am, the wind had risen out of the south a bit, but the air had warmed up to the mid-50s. I didn't see any largemouth bass bedding activity in the shallows of Pickerel Cove, so I'd guess that the water is still too cold for it. I also didn't see much greenery in the water. Hopefully, we'll get a warm spell and things will heat up, soon.
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CT_BASSman · Joined: 23 May 2011 Posts: 349

Awesome report as always! I plan to get out here within the next week or so. Hopefully this warm spell comes thru that they're talking about and things heat up!

rmflint · Joined: 16 Mar 2012 Posts: 360 Location: Wallingford

Wacky rigs have been the only thing producing lately along with pop-r's and floating frogs
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SAP284 · Joined: 07 Jun 2011 Posts: 655 Location: Central, CT

Nice report Phil!

I have had good luck with the slow retrieve lately too..I was primarily doing mid-retrieve and the bite started to die for me. When I switched to a slow retrieve with different patterns with a crank and swim bait is when I noticed a big change.
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PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

Yeap, I think that slow is the way to go, right now. The two biggest largemouth bass that I caught at Lake McDonough, yesterday, each picked up a non-moving wacky Senko off of the bottom. I got to watch them slowly float out from underneath a laydown. The little fish are moving fast, but the bigger fish are moving slowly.
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Michael · Joined: 28 Jan 2012 Posts: 3823 Location: Bridgeport

Great fishing Phil!

JJay · Joined: 23 Sep 2011 Posts: 113 Location: Farmington, CT

Great report as always Phil! You pretty much summed up a great morning on the water with some light action.
Met Derek for the first time - always a pleasure yak fishing with good company! Thanks again Phil for showing me the hidden power of the curlytail grub !

hila2006 · Joined: 22 Jul 2011 Posts: 582 Location: Ellington

Nice day out guys. The bigger fish do move slower with the cold water, but it's so hard to slow to a drag some days. But I always say, spring time is the best to slow roll a spinnerbait.

rmflint · Joined: 16 Mar 2012 Posts: 360 Location: Wallingford

Its possible that its cause I fish from land, but I have caught maybe 2 fish on a spinnerbait this year. Maybe the places I fish just suck though. Idk im getting depressed though I want to catch some damn bass, but i'm starting to think I need to find a way to get out on the water.
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PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

A wise man (aka flippy aka Jim), well, part of him, anyway Laughing

, once told me that it's better to go to the fish than to wait for them to come to you. That's the difference between fishing from shore and fishing from a boat. Wink

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

It was a great time with good company as usual. Nice to meet jjay too. Unfortunately I missed 2 bass. The one Phil mentioned and another decent fish came up and whacked the spinnerbait but didn't eat it unfortunately. I ended up only getting a sunny on a white grub and an 11" yellow perch on the crank. It was great to be back on the water again.

rmflint · Joined: 16 Mar 2012 Posts: 360 Location: Wallingford

I wish I could be "on" the water myself
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hila2006 · Joined: 22 Jul 2011 Posts: 582 Location: Ellington

It is true, it's better to be out on the water, than next to it, but it's still better to be fishing no matter how it is. You can always look for a good used kayak, for cheap money. We have the bass boat, but we also have a couple cheap Ocean State Job Lot yaks for smaller places. You'll get there.

rmflint · Joined: 16 Mar 2012 Posts: 360 Location: Wallingford

I want to get one for like 300 but its been a lost cause sofar
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