Mid-to-late September is traditionally the time I like to revisit my favorite thin blue lines to reacquaint myself with the wild things that live there. But not this year. Connecticut is in drought conditions ranging from abnormally dry to extreme. Many brooks have been reduced to a trickle; in some cases, entire sections have gone dry.
While I’m fond of the expression, “nature finds a way” — and it always does — now is not the time to be fishing small streams. Hopefully the fish have survived the heat and dry of summer by hunkering down under a cut bank or in a deep slot or a spring house. It’s been harsh conditions for months now, and the last thing they need is to have the life sucked out of them by doing battle with us. (And the spawn is coming, as if that weren’t stressful enough.) Don’t be fooled by cooler air and water temperatures or one rainstorm — these fish are in survival mode.
So please — if you really love small streams and the trout and char that live in them — put the small stream rods and the bushy flies away until flows get back to normal. Thank you.
It’s all bad news. This is already a week old. And the statewide streamflow table is even worse.
Thanks for posting this message, I have not fished for trout in almost 3 months because of the low water. Even stayed away from the farmington due to low flows.
I hope fellow fishers head this advice.
I posted it in part because I’ve recently seen some (what I think are local) posts with shots of wild char. It’s just not a good idea to stress these fish any more than necessary. Feel free to share this on your social media — the more people that get the message the better!
Agree, concentration on the fall run in RHody
RIch
Good health is true wealth
I’ve got my eyes on some spots closer to home, but I keep hearing a lot of good reports about RI.
Agree whole-heartedly. If you want to catch trout, there are 9000 newbies bumping into each other in the Hous right now, and you couldn’t fall in if you tried.
Ah. Another place to avoid…
[…] only come up moderately. Still, we won’t complain. More, please. (And please stay off the thin blue lines. Remember, the stocking truck doesn’t visit wild trout […]