[PECo]

I paddled and fished the Connecticut River and the mouth of the Farmington River from the Vibert Road boat launch ramp in South Windsor with slim2043 (aka Tim) during the morning. It turns out that we probably should have given more consideration to the recent rain we've had, because the fishing was dismal in terms of production. However, we enjoyed a beautiful day. It was only partly cloudy and warm, probably in the mid-50s, and the wind that gradually rose up thoughout the day came from the south, so we didn't have to fight against both the current and the wind at the same time, which was very fortunate. The water level in both rivers was very high and it was running fast. The Connecticut was four feet higher than it was the last time I was there. Here's a photo from the ramp that I took on 04/11:



On 04/25, the water came up to within a couple of feet of the top of the concrete structure on the left and a little further up the ramp than where the front of my Saab is in the photo. Yeap, Steve, you wouldn't have had any trouble launching your boat, yesterday. When I launched in El Habañero just before 8:00 am, Tim had already been on the water in his Future Beach Trophy 126 for a while. No, I wasn't late. He had arrived waaay early. I hadn't seen him in a while and was finally able to pay up on last season's bet on the first game between the Chicago Bears and the Detroit Lions. My Bears lost. It was a good thing, too, because he had just run out of Zoom Green Pumpkin Red Brush Hogs. We planned to troll up the east bank of the Connecticut to the submerged wall before crossing the river and heading slightly back downriver to the mouth of the channel between the west bank and the island at the mouth of the Farmington. On our way up to the submerged wall, I trolled a Silver/Redhead Bomber 4-1/2 inch Wind-Cheater crankbait, while Tim trolled a big white soft plastic swimbait. We didn't get any hits. When I stopped at the wall to swap out the Bomber for a white four inch curlytail grub on a 3/16 ounce shakeyhead jighead, the current took me all the way back down to the ramp. It was really moving fast and there was a lot of debris in the extremely murky water, including logs and large tree branches. I couldn't see my white lure even a foot down in the water in bright sunlight. Tim had drifted down with me, so we decided to forget about fighting the current and trying to fish the wall, and headed across the river to the mouth of the channel. Unfortunately, the current in the channel, although better, was still flowing very swiftly. It was a challenge to paddle and fish at the same time. You'd get in only one or two casts toward a laydown before you had to paddle back upriver to it. After fighting against the current for a while, I told Tim that I was just going to paddle straight up to the mouth of the Farmington. It wasn't long before I totally lost sight of Tim, who ended up more than 1/4 mile downriver from me. When I got to the mouth of the Farmington, there was a deep-V fishing boat anchored there with one fisherman and a Bassyaks-powered Malibu fishing kayak with another:



Both had just arrived and neither had seen any fish, either. I wedged myself next to a laydown and threw lures downriver over it, while I waited for Tim to reappear. I threw the grub jig and the Bomber, but didn't see any sign of a fish. When Tim finally showed up, I headed into the Farmington, which was also running very high, but had a very gentle flow. Once again, the intersection where the murky water of the Connecticut and the clear water of the Farmington meet looked like the Rio Negro meeting the Amazon. We spent a good amount of time in the Farmington within 75 yards of the Connecticut:



I kept downsizing my lures until I was throwing a Pearl White Gulp! 2-1/2 inch Minnow on a 1/16 ounce round jighead. Tim did the same, until he got down to a white shad dart. Neither of us got so much as a nibble. Neither did either of the other two fisherman in the boats, one of whom had a line with bait in the water and was throwing lures, and the other of whom was drifting a soft plastic eel with the current of the Connecticut as it flowed past. Tim had to get off of the water at noon, so we headed around the upriver side of the island and back down to the ramp. I trolled the Bomber while Tim trolled a yellow perch patterned Rat-L-Trap:



We didn't get any action, not a single bite, before we got off of the water at 12:00 pm. I know that I've said it before, but I HATE murky water!
_________________
Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

[anointed130]

Next time peco!
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"Come after Me, and i will make you to become fishers of men"

Can i be a fisher of fish too?

~Tony~

[PECo]

I stopped at Batterson Park Pond on my way home. Tim had to go to work, not I. I got a couple of short largemouth bass and a decent yellow perch, all on a big bluegill patterned Strike King Bottom Dweller one ounce spinnerbait. I'm all good, now.




_________________
Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

[anointed130]

Thats all it takes to get your fix for the day! Man I would love to be retired...30 or so more years
_________________
"Come after Me, and i will make you to become fishers of men"

Can i be a fisher of fish too?

~Tony~

[PECo]

BTW, the water level at Batterson is up three feet from Saturday.
_________________
Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

[Seahunt_al]

Thanks for the report...I was planning a trip this weekend hopefully it'll clear up a bit. Personally, I would throw the largest plug I have in a bright color when the water is murky.

[DirtyDawg10]

Great report as always! At least you ended up getting something at Batterson.

[hila2006]

Good recovery Phil, it's really good to hear water levels are coming up also.

[PECo]

Seahunt_al - We were fighting the current for most of the day, so throwing plugs was really out of the question. That's hard enough to do from a kayak when the conditions are good. Yesterday was one of the few times that I've ever wished for a trolling motor.
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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

[slim2043]

Always nice to get out and paddle with you, Phil. Next time the report will go like "we couldn't keep the bass off of our lines. We tried to paddle but there was just too many fish"
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Never give up!