CTFishTalk.com: Lake Housatonic 11/08 - Connecticut Lake Reports ( CT Lake Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

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

I had never fished Lake Housatonic before and Wanna Fish (aka Carl) wanted to take his boat out for possibly the last time this year, so we decided to fish the lake and launch from the ramp at Indian Well State Park:

Here's the description of the boat launch from the DEEP's website:

The lake is the last impoundment of the Housatonic River before the tidal portion of the river begins. The park is open from 8:00 am to sunset. We were on the water at 8:30 am. Although the season is supposed to run from April through September, the chemical toilets and floating wood dock are still there:

The air temperature stayed in the 40s and the water temperature hovered between 52 and 53 degrees the whole time we were there. The water was extremely clear and wasn't moving much. As I drove through Shelton on my way to the park, I saw the Derby Dam, which is on the south (i.e., downriver) end of the lake, and there wasn't any water flowing over or through it at all. Although the weather forecast was for a northwest wind increasing from nine to 16 miles per hour throughout the daylight hours and partly cloudy skies, we lucked out with light winds and mostly sunny skies. Carl motored us up the lake past Indian Head Rock to where the shallow rapids begin. We stopped just before he would have ripped the lower end of his motor off on a rock we didn't see until he dropped the trolling motor on top of it. Shocked

We started a drift back down the lake with the wind and what little current there was, and both started throwing crankbaits in the five to eight foot deep water. Carl threw a small, brightly colored crankbait with a small lip and I threw a sinking Wild Shiner Size 75 Spro Aruku Shad lipless crankbait. We didn't see any fish or get any bites. Now, I have to tell you something about Carl's boat. He actually has four fish finders on it. Yes, four! There are two, older Lowrance finders, one on the bow and one on the console, and two newer Humminbird finders, also one on the bow and one on the console. Although the Lowrance finder on the bow isn't hooked up, the other three are, but they never seemed to agree with each other. While the Humminbird finder on the bow kept marking fish, neither the Lowrance nor the Humminbird finder on the console did. I told Carl that I didn't have much faith in the finders as we drifted past Indian Head Rock to where the lake widens out and deepens to 16 feet. But then the Humminbird finder on the console marked a single fish two feet off of the bottom. I mentioned it to Carl and let my lipless crankbait sink to the bottom behind the boat. Sure enough, the fish we had marked hit it. I don't think that Carl believed me when I said I had actually hooked it, but I quickly cranked up a decent smallie to the side of the boat. I didn't want to futz with a net or get my hands wet, so I tried to lift it into the boat, but it dropped back into the water. Oh, well. Confused

But we finally saw a fish and I started to get a little more confidence in the Humminbird finder on the console. Unfortunately, though, I saw the finders on the console mark only three or four more fish the rest of the day. Sad

We ended up working our way down the lake, drifting with the wind and the current, although mostly with the wind. It stayed mostly around 10 miles per hour, but rose throughout the day with occasional periods of sustained gusts over 20 miles per hour. In addition to the lipless crankbait, I also tried throwing a small crawfish jig and my usual striper jig, which is a White Pearl four inch Zoom Fluke on a 1/2 ounce jighead, while Carl also threw a Silver Buddy. Just after 11:00 am, Carl snagged a weed with the Silver Buddy, but, to his surprise, it began to pull back a little bit as he reeled it up:

Whoo hoo! Unfortunately, that was the last of the two and only bites we had the whole day. Crying or Very sad

When the wind rose to a sustained 15 miles per hour and we both began to feel a little cold, we headed back to the ramp and were off of the water at 1:15 pm.

Although Carl is ready to put his boat away, I'm getting ready for schoolie striper season on the lower Housy. I have my fingers crossed for a warm, dry and windless Winter. Very Happy

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Wanna Fish · Joined: 30 Jan 2012 Posts: 662 Location: Earth I Think

It was good fishing with you again Phil. Digging up my heavy duty winter clothes for Striper Season. Hope to see ya soon. I stopped by the marina today near Sunnyside to get an estimate on winterizing the Skeet. Pretty reasonable. There were boats in the water trolling the area for stripers already. The marina owner said that the river is starting to load up with stripers already.
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