TR Strange happening on the CT River

I just got returned from a weeklong trip to the Upper CT River in
Pittsburg, NH. Weather started off hot and humid, but soon turned cold
and stormy. Air temps after Tuesday struggled to hit 50 degrees and
heavy rain showers were frequent. I have been fishing this area for a
long time, so I came equiped for anything, and wasn't disappointed.
Actually, Monday, the second day, was quite good. BWO's began hatching
around mid morning followed by Sulphurs in the afternoon, with a decent
spinner fall at dusk. I managed about 20 trout ranging from 9" to 14"
and 5 salmon from 12" to 14", most on dries with a few on a #18 PT
Nymph.

Then the heavens opened up and the freakin' A/C went on maximum
overdrive. The water level steadily climed from an ideal 150 CFS on
Monday, to 200 on Tuesday, all the way to 400 on Wednesday, but
remained clear. Fishing became....umm...challenging, but not
impossible. I caught fish every day, employing the use of heavily
weighted flies and tungsten putty. The highlight came on Wednesday when
I hooked and landed a three pound brookie in really high water.

Then came Thursday. Water still at 400, raining like hell, air temp at
50. I had come up with a rig that was proving effective in the high
water....a tandem rig with a weighted Conehead Wooly Bugger as the
"main" fly, with a smaller "fly du jour" as the point fly. At one point
I had an SJ worm on as the point fly, and was dredging bottom, when I
had a hard hit. I set the hook and felt the unmistakeable throbbing
head shake of a heavy fish. As I applied pressure, he ran about 50'
downstream, and sulked on the bottom. I was able to slowly gain line to
the point where he had moved back to approximately the point where I
hooked him. At this point, it looked like I might actually land him, no
small feat under these conditions, (following him was not an option in
the high water), and my second really big fish in as many days. Just
then, I felt a drag on the line, as if the fish had hung me up on a
snag. I fed him some slack, hoping he'd free himself, (it's worked for
me before), but no go this time. When I applied pressure to him again,
he bolted downstream, taking me into my backing, and continuing to run,
while I still could feel the drag. At this point, I conceded defeat,
pointed the rod at him, and snubbed the line. He broke off immediately,
but as I reeled in the now slack line, I felt movement on the other
end. Could he still be on? I'm not that lucky. What was on the other
end was a 10" rainbow, who had eaten the Wooly Bugger, apparently while
the larger fish was hooked on the SJ Worm. What was the big fish? Hard
to say. My guess was another big brookie, but with the water that high,
it could have been a big brown or a laker up from Lake Francis. Anyhow,
that's the sort of thing that keeps me going back to that area each
June. Some years, like last year, are pretty mundane. Perfect water
conditions, hatches every day, and large quantities of average fish.
But every now and then, the water level comes up and strange things
happen.

BTW, any of you guys have stories about doubles?

George Adams wrote:
snip
BTW, any of you guys have stories about doubles?

Well, there was that time with the Koslowski twins. . . ;-)

Sounds like you had a good time, George. You deserve it. BTW, I'm
thinking of spending a few of my Father's Day points tomorrow afternoon
just north of the Rt. 9 bridge. Maybe I'll see you there.
--
TL,
Tim
---------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj/

I notice, that for som reason, the flow on the Swift was *increased* by
about 90 CFS about four days ago, and is once again dropping at
glacial speed. On the graph, the flow went up in a straight line, so
the only explanation I can think of is that they are releasing more
water from the bottom. Why? Who knows? Maybe they feel that by
releasing more water now, overall it will come back to normal faster.

Anyhow, I might sneak out for a bit tomorrow, but I've got to tell you
I'm more than a little tired of fishing high water, and my daughter
Diane closed on a house Wednesday, and is in the process of moving, so
I may glean a few more Father's Day points and help her for a while.

Just as an aside, the area I where I stayed in NH, received about 3.5"
of rain while I was there, but some other areas not far to the south
got 10.5" in the same period. Lots of black and blue dots in the north
country on the USGS map.

George Adams wrote:
snip
Anyhow, I might sneak out for a bit tomorrow, but I've got to tell you
I'm more than a little tired of fishing high water...

You should have been there, George. More fun than watching Kevin chained
to Liz Hurley. ;-) I landed two beautiful 'bows, the first on the
second or third cast before I ever entered the water, and the next
shortly after. Used the skittering caddis trick Gary taught me. Played
with brookies the rest of the few hours I had free.

Great fun - wish you were there.
--
TL,
Tim
---------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj/

Tim J. wrote:
George Adams wrote:
snip
Anyhow, I might sneak out for a bit tomorrow, but I've got to tell you
I'm more than a little tired of fishing high water...

You should have been there, George. More fun than watching Kevin chained
to Liz Hurley. ;-) I landed two beautiful 'bows, the first on the
second or third cast before I ever entered the water, and the next
shortly after. Used the skittering caddis trick Gary taught me. Played
with brookies the rest of the few hours I had free.

Great fun - wish you were there.
--
TL,
Tim
---------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj/

Sounds like fun. I finished unpacking and reorganized my fishing stuff,
then helped my daughter for a while. Were you fishing above rte 9? I
may go to the Farmington on Friday as I still have a little time
coming. Water level looks good, and Sulphurs should be on. Hopefully
will hit the Swift over the weekend, hoping the water will be down
another 50 CFS or so. Maybe see you there?

George Adams wrote:
Tim J. wrote:
George Adams wrote:
snip
Anyhow, I might sneak out for a bit tomorrow, but I've got to tell
you I'm more than a little tired of fishing high water...

You should have been there, George. More fun than watching Kevin
chained to Liz Hurley. ;-) I landed two beautiful 'bows, the first
on the second or third cast before I ever entered the water, and the
next shortly after. Used the skittering caddis trick Gary taught me.
Played with brookies the rest of the few hours I had free.

Sounds like fun. I finished unpacking and reorganized my fishing
stuff, then helped my daughter for a while. Were you fishing above
rte 9? I may go to the Farmington on Friday as I still have a little
time coming. Water level looks good, and Sulphurs should be on.
Hopefully will hit the Swift over the weekend, hoping the water will
be down another 50 CFS or so. Maybe see you there?

Taking this to email to leave more bandwidth for the Nawth Cakalacky
ping system. ;-)
--
TL,
Tim
---------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj/

"George Adams" wrote

But every now and then, the water level comes up and strange things
happen.

that one was indeed strange.

BTW, any of you guys have stories about doubles?

earlier this spring, i caught two small bass simultaneously on one
standard rapala. one on the front set of hooks, one on the back.

yfitons
wayno

"Wayne Harrison" wrote in news:1Wdte.29840$td.1833549
@twister.southeast.rr.com:

earlier this spring, i caught two small bass simultaneously on one
standard rapala. one on the front set of hooks, one on the back.

....please tell me that was a deer hair rapala wayno...don't ruin my image
of you... ;-)

Frank Church
....who gave all his hardware chunkin' stuff away...

George Adams wrote:

You had a great day, George.


BTW, any of you guys have stories about doubles?


Most of the doubles I've hooked have either broken off or thrown the hook.

My coolest memory was one of the few I actually landed. I had on a dry
and dropper and a smallish Rainbow grabbed the dry and when I got it
in close, it ran under a boulder just downstream from me. I pulled it
out from under the rock and out shot a nice Brown. The Brown was VERY
agitated and chased the smaller fish around. It reminded me of the way
that smallmouth will sometimes followed a hooked fish up to the surface.
I let the smaller fish swim around (it was too big for the Brown to try
and eat) to see what the Brown would do. The Brown spotted the dropper,
took it and was hooked. All this happened about three feet away and
it was very interesting to watch. The two fish fighting together or
against one another, were very tough to land.

Willi