First, Happy Easter!
Next, a few late mini reports. Last week they bumped up the flow from the Hogsback dam. I fished the Farmington below and in the permanent TMA on Thursday. The results were poor: I hit five spots and found fish that wanted to eat in only one of them. Could have been a combination of higher water, cold water, high pressure, or just not my day. But when I guided Joe and Wayne on Friday, the fishing wasn’t any better. The weather was glorious and there was plenty of hatch activity, but we had a tough day. Both Joe and Wayne fished well and hard — in the end, the river won. We’re already looking forward to the re-match.
Third cast on Thursday. And that was it.
Good Friday is my traditional striper outing in honor of the greatest fisherman ever, Simon Peter. The Bass-O-Matic was humming along at full tilt — fishing partner Bob Griswold and I caught dozens and dozens of stripers. If you’re a glass is half full kind of person, the good news was that these 14″ fish represent a strong local showing of the class of 2015. There were a few low 2o-inchers in the mix to keep things interesting. The bite shut down at dusk, and we called it a good striper thumb day.
Representing the Class of 2015, Mr. I-Can’t-Keep-Away-From-Your-Fly. Very aggressive feeders, and legions of them. Where’s my five weight?
currentseams.com 
Steve
I have had the same striper result, of sorts. Some spin and some fly. 10-14″ fish all week and two at about 20-21″ for S&G’s. What puzzles me is the numbers of rats vs last year. The YOY was not necessarily a good one and I have already caught more than the entire spring 2016 run. The “great” 2011 YOY fish were absent last spring but showed strong in Oct thru Dec. They are fish so unpredictable is them.
Ditto on the number of fish compared to last year. I guess we should enjoy the bounty.
Steve, We ran into volumes of small stripers last week. After behaving like a glutton I decided on a different tactic. I was using hand over hand striping into a basket. Instead of setting the hook, I kept pulling them in by hand without raising the rod. When they were about 15 feet beyond the rod’s tip I let go of the line. Most shook off the hook and freed themselves. Good to see so many fish.
Ted
Yes, I did something similar. It’s nice to have such a problem (I’m catching so many fish I’m tired of unhooking them). I’ve heard from many others about the abundance of these small fish.
Interesting news.
We;ll see what materializes here to the east.
Lots of yellow perch in the stream. Full of roe. I found one dead and thought it might attract a striped bass in the tidewater but I got too tired to try.
They’re fun, but I’d like to see them in five years. 🙂