I fished the four marks within the Housatonic River TMA today, late morning to early afternoon, and while the action was spotty I was able to score my biggest brown of the season on a Squirrel and Ginger.
I began the day dedicated to the streamer cause, but after 45 minutes I’d only had one bump. Since there were tiny BWOs (size 18-22) and caddis (size 16) in the air, I switched over to a three-fly wet fly team. That produced one stocker rainbow. The third mark was a blank, so I returned to where I’d seen some fish rising earlier. Not really classic wet fly water but the trout were clearly on small stuff (as evidenced by the sipping rise rings) and emergers of some sort (the tell of splashy rises). I missed two before connecting with a 20″ holdover brown.
The take was gentle but unmistakable, as was the fish’s size once it realized it was hooked. Love the comfort factor of fishing with Maxima 4-pound — ain’t no trout in this river going to break that.
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It’s hard to take a beauty shot mid stream when you’re flying solo, so this is the best I could do. Still, you get some sense of this truttasaurus‘ length, and check out the ginormous tail. The mouth of my net is 17″ — this one did not slide in easy. We like that problem! Wet flies fished in the film, delivered to active feeders, continue to be a highly productive big fish method.
River conditions: 450cfs and rising, light stain, some leaves and pine needles, 58 degrees. And crowded for a Tuesday in October! Thanks to everyone who greeted me by name today, and as always, if you’re on the river and you see me please say hello.
currentseams.com 
That must have been you fishing below the covered bridge before noon. A belated HI Steve
Could have been! Hi back. 🙂
Thanks so much for the report. Have to break out the squirrel & ginger and three fly soft hackle rig you taught me to use .
Was there camping last week with TU and all they wanted was size 22 or less BWOs/ or would take an occasional ISO. Saw no caddis whatsoever.
Greg, your comment brings up an interesting point, which is: the wrong fly presented correctly will outperform the right fly presented incorrectly. These fish were clearly on tiny olives; I was just feeding them stuff in the film at a dead drift or on an enticing dangle. So, the last two times I’ve fished I’ve caught trout on soft-hackles that were 10-6 sizes too large, and an entirely different bug than what they were feeding on. There are two morals of the story: make it easy for the buyer to buy, and always give the fish a choice (they will always tell you when you get it right.)
We threw 24 and 26 at push them up and only took 2.
Every day and pool presents a unique puzzle. Glad you found fish and got into a couple.
Puzzle is a perfect metaphor. If it was super simple we might be playing golf instead
Glad to see truttasaurus is still alive and well in the Housy! Your comment reminds me of a particular trip to the river, many, many years ago: it was a slow day, and we ended up on the
south bank of Corner Pool- not an ideal place with the steep bank and all the overhead cover,
but that’s where they were, lazily working the subsurface in the shade. A well-earned dead drifted
Picket Pin in the film substantiated your theory of ‘wrong fly presented correctly’ to a T. As always,
thank you for sharing your outings.
Thanks for sharing your memory, Dave. They’re one of the best things we catch and keep.