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River Report
This link has some very good updates
and information about the Housatonic
River.
and information about the Housatonic
River.
The url for real-time flows at Falls Village
If any one has a River Report e-mail it to thehffa@yahoo.com and it will be
posted on this page.
Here are some phone numbers to help:
HFFA HOTLINE 1-860-669-4359
NU HOTLINE 1-888-417-4837
FARMINGTON RIVER 1-860-7387327
TIP PROGRAM 1-800-842-4357
posted on this page.
Here are some phone numbers to help:
HFFA HOTLINE 1-860-669-4359
NU HOTLINE 1-888-417-4837
FARMINGTON RIVER 1-860-7387327
TIP PROGRAM 1-800-842-4357
Here ya go:
Dropping at a good clip now, clarity is at about 2+ feet & improving. We dropped about 200cfs since yesterday, bringing us down under 1,500cfs and coming
down quicker now. I'm predicting around 1,200cfs for a water level by Sunday morning, maybe even lower. Conditions will only get better with each passing day.
While the flow & clarity aren't what you would call perfect, fishing is definitely quite doable today if you want to come fish the Housy- you just need to adapt to the
conditions, and as I said above, they will get better with each passing day. Overall, fishing has been VERY good the past couple of weeks, and as the flow comes
down & clears more it should be red hot again. With the flow up a bit & having some color, you can approach the trout quite closely, and they don't get to view
your flies as critically. Use medium to large nymphs & streamers, and look for the current seams- fish your flies on the seam edges, and even into the edges of the
faster water, looking especially for pockets of softer water where rocks slow the water velocity. No need for light tippets, you can nymph with 3x and fish as heavy
a streamer tippet as you desire- I usually have 0x on. With the leaves popping out on the trees now, the Housy will drop & clear at a very good rate. Weekend
high will be 70 today, and in the mid 60's for Sunday- this should keep the Caddis active. The Green Caddis have been hatching all week, and tan ones are starting
to mix in.
Remember that all Caddis look tan in the air, you have to actually catch one in hand and flip it over and look at the underside of their body to see the true color. If I
was fishing today, I would focus on fishing nymphs the trout can see, stuff like bigger Princes, Stoneflies, and Green or Tan Caddis Pupa. Also bigger, gaudier
streamers. And even though flows are up from what they were, don't count out dry fly action in the evenings in the slower pool water, along the edges. Subsurface
you want to use bigger flies & fish closer to the banks, and on the surface you may find a few risers in the flat water of the Park below Corner Hole, down to the tail
of the pool- look along the edges. Some good streamer colors for the current conditions are black, white, brown, yellow or combinations of them, as well as Egg
Sucking Leeches. Focus on the seams at the edge of the main current, don't just walk in and throw out in the middle. The Green Caddis made for some very good
subsurface angling earlier this week with pupa & larva in the mornings/early afternoons, as well as some good dry fly fishing during hatching & egg-laying activity,
typically in the evenings, although mild, overcast days can see them trickle off virtually all day long. I catch some of my biggest trout of the year when the Caddis are
active.
The cloudy weather of late is also perfect for fishing streamers, and olive has been a particularly hot color recently- but play with colors, it can change, even on the
same day, depending upon water clarity, light intensity & the prevailing conditions. Lots of fish were landed over the last 2 weeks, and we have been gettting reports
of big browns landed on an almost daily basis, including some in the 21-23" class. That's a damn big trout almost anywhere. Had a good day on my birthday, May
4th, landing about 30 trout, with the best fish of the day coming last, at 8PM, a amazing looking golden colored 18" brown. My girlfriend Mandy caught it the
following morning on one of her first casts. Multiple big fish were landed over last weekend, including a measured 21" holdover brown (by Big Ed) and a 21.5"
rainbow, along with quite a few other 18-19" holdover browns & bows on nymphs & dries. Nymphing, not surprisingly, has been a very consistent tactic, but some
big fish are getting caught on dries, including the 21.5" 'bow that I mentioned above. Nymphwise, bigger stoneflies and caddis larva in olive to green & pupa in
green (esp. in the mornings) have been hot tickets lately. Seeing a lot of happy fishermen on the Housy lately. If you are flexible in your approach, you will catch
fish. Keep your eyes out for Baetis/Olives on overcast days, that's when they hatch best, and May is a very good month for them. They usually run in the #18-20
range.
If you like to fish streamers, Natural Zonkers & Muddlers are both deadly on the Housy, especially when the water is on the clear side. Change colors every 10-20
minutes until you find what works at that moment. Lots of nice rainbows, both holdover & "recent additions", in & out of the TMA, and some nice holdover
browns- quite a few in the 14-18" range, and a few in the 20"+ class. Biggest brown last week was a 22-23" beast on a big streamer, and a friend caught one on a
stonefly this week that taped out at 22 3/4". Dave Skok & I flipped rocks and looked at the bugs recently, there was a mind-blowing biomass of nymphs under
them- more varities of stoneflies than I could count, a variety of colors from about a #6 down to #16, all different sorts of Caddis larve from giant #6 free living
Rhyacophila down to #18 net spinners (in mostly greens & olives), assorted Mayfly nymphs, Midge Larva, etc. I'm really, really impressed at the average size of the
trout the CT DEP stocked in the Housy this Spring- the stocker browns I caught were all 12" or better, and I nailed a bunch of Rainbows they put in, averaging
about 14-16". Way to go DEP. Our 1,500 privately stocked rainbows went in on April 9th, 1,000 in the TMA, 500 down below it.
Torrey
Dropping at a good clip now, clarity is at about 2+ feet & improving. We dropped about 200cfs since yesterday, bringing us down under 1,500cfs and coming
down quicker now. I'm predicting around 1,200cfs for a water level by Sunday morning, maybe even lower. Conditions will only get better with each passing day.
While the flow & clarity aren't what you would call perfect, fishing is definitely quite doable today if you want to come fish the Housy- you just need to adapt to the
conditions, and as I said above, they will get better with each passing day. Overall, fishing has been VERY good the past couple of weeks, and as the flow comes
down & clears more it should be red hot again. With the flow up a bit & having some color, you can approach the trout quite closely, and they don't get to view
your flies as critically. Use medium to large nymphs & streamers, and look for the current seams- fish your flies on the seam edges, and even into the edges of the
faster water, looking especially for pockets of softer water where rocks slow the water velocity. No need for light tippets, you can nymph with 3x and fish as heavy
a streamer tippet as you desire- I usually have 0x on. With the leaves popping out on the trees now, the Housy will drop & clear at a very good rate. Weekend
high will be 70 today, and in the mid 60's for Sunday- this should keep the Caddis active. The Green Caddis have been hatching all week, and tan ones are starting
to mix in.
Remember that all Caddis look tan in the air, you have to actually catch one in hand and flip it over and look at the underside of their body to see the true color. If I
was fishing today, I would focus on fishing nymphs the trout can see, stuff like bigger Princes, Stoneflies, and Green or Tan Caddis Pupa. Also bigger, gaudier
streamers. And even though flows are up from what they were, don't count out dry fly action in the evenings in the slower pool water, along the edges. Subsurface
you want to use bigger flies & fish closer to the banks, and on the surface you may find a few risers in the flat water of the Park below Corner Hole, down to the tail
of the pool- look along the edges. Some good streamer colors for the current conditions are black, white, brown, yellow or combinations of them, as well as Egg
Sucking Leeches. Focus on the seams at the edge of the main current, don't just walk in and throw out in the middle. The Green Caddis made for some very good
subsurface angling earlier this week with pupa & larva in the mornings/early afternoons, as well as some good dry fly fishing during hatching & egg-laying activity,
typically in the evenings, although mild, overcast days can see them trickle off virtually all day long. I catch some of my biggest trout of the year when the Caddis are
active.
The cloudy weather of late is also perfect for fishing streamers, and olive has been a particularly hot color recently- but play with colors, it can change, even on the
same day, depending upon water clarity, light intensity & the prevailing conditions. Lots of fish were landed over the last 2 weeks, and we have been gettting reports
of big browns landed on an almost daily basis, including some in the 21-23" class. That's a damn big trout almost anywhere. Had a good day on my birthday, May
4th, landing about 30 trout, with the best fish of the day coming last, at 8PM, a amazing looking golden colored 18" brown. My girlfriend Mandy caught it the
following morning on one of her first casts. Multiple big fish were landed over last weekend, including a measured 21" holdover brown (by Big Ed) and a 21.5"
rainbow, along with quite a few other 18-19" holdover browns & bows on nymphs & dries. Nymphing, not surprisingly, has been a very consistent tactic, but some
big fish are getting caught on dries, including the 21.5" 'bow that I mentioned above. Nymphwise, bigger stoneflies and caddis larva in olive to green & pupa in
green (esp. in the mornings) have been hot tickets lately. Seeing a lot of happy fishermen on the Housy lately. If you are flexible in your approach, you will catch
fish. Keep your eyes out for Baetis/Olives on overcast days, that's when they hatch best, and May is a very good month for them. They usually run in the #18-20
range.
If you like to fish streamers, Natural Zonkers & Muddlers are both deadly on the Housy, especially when the water is on the clear side. Change colors every 10-20
minutes until you find what works at that moment. Lots of nice rainbows, both holdover & "recent additions", in & out of the TMA, and some nice holdover
browns- quite a few in the 14-18" range, and a few in the 20"+ class. Biggest brown last week was a 22-23" beast on a big streamer, and a friend caught one on a
stonefly this week that taped out at 22 3/4". Dave Skok & I flipped rocks and looked at the bugs recently, there was a mind-blowing biomass of nymphs under
them- more varities of stoneflies than I could count, a variety of colors from about a #6 down to #16, all different sorts of Caddis larve from giant #6 free living
Rhyacophila down to #18 net spinners (in mostly greens & olives), assorted Mayfly nymphs, Midge Larva, etc. I'm really, really impressed at the average size of the
trout the CT DEP stocked in the Housy this Spring- the stocker browns I caught were all 12" or better, and I nailed a bunch of Rainbows they put in, averaging
about 14-16". Way to go DEP. Our 1,500 privately stocked rainbows went in on April 9th, 1,000 in the TMA, 500 down below it.
Torrey