Connecticut - A Great Fly Fishing State! April 24, 2015

I feel so fortunate to have access to such great fly fishing opportunities here in Connecticut.  Last couple of weeks I've been hitting a lot of small streams for trout.  Most have very little fishing pressure and the results have been very good.  The hot fly has been "Torrey's Bead Head Hare's Ear". 

This fly has been magic for me this spring.  So I've been having some great times Trout fishing but the lower Housatonic has been stuck in the "Winter" mode with very cold air and water temps.  Boat fishermen have been hitting nice pods of fish, spin fishermen have landed some nice fish, but wading fly fishermen have not done well this spring.  Well the past few days the river has finally turned on for us fly guys.  In fact the whole river has turned on.  Conditions have been miserable.  Last night after work I went to the river mouth.  It was sleeting, hailing, snowing and raining.  As I was putting on my waders there were wind gusts from 30-35 miles per hour.  4-5 cars full of anglers turned around and went home, not even bothering to get dressed.  I met up with Internet Fishing Star "Bear" Cochrane.  "Bear, in all our years of fishing this has to be one of the worst weather conditions we've ever experienced."  "How many times throughout the years have we had great fishing days when the weather's been miserable."  Had to give it a try.  We walked out to the river mouth with one spin fishermen.  He lasted all of 5 minutes and headed back to his car.  It was just us two crazies left out in the river.  10 minutes later, with unbelievable winds blowing in our faces, Bear and I started hitting fish on virtually every cast.  No keepers, but some really strong fish just in from the ocean.   I got tired of catching fish.  In fact when we left, the bite was still on.  My fingers were numb from the cold and suffering from my first case of "Striper Thumb" this season.  How fortunate are we CT guys to have primo trout fishing opportunities and such a great striper fishery.  And "Oh by the Way", fishing with a friend is the best.

Internet Fishing Star "Bear" Cochrane

with Housy Stripers 



Paul's May 2015 Fly of the Month

Black & Purple

Hook:  Wet Fly hook of choice size #12 to 20.  (I sometimes use dry fly hooks – TMC 100BL works well for this pattern)

Tying thread:   Uni 8/0 in black.

Tail:   3-5 black pheasant tail fibers.

Abdomen:  Black thread forms the abdomen.  After the abdomen is ribbed,  it is coated with “Hard/tough as nails”.

Rib:   Copper wire.

Thorax:  Purple UV Dub.

Legs/hackle:  One or two wraps of black hen neck fibers.

If you haven’t noticed from other Fly of the Month posts, I love black subsurface flies!  This is one of my favorite wet fly patterns. I usually fish it in a double rig with a Hare’s Ear wet fly.  The UV dubbing is like a beacon for trout. 

Start the thread at the eye.  Wrap down the hook to the hook bend.  Tie in your 3-4 pheasant tail fibers approximately the length of the hook shank.  Next, tie in your copper wire to be used for your ribbing.  Build up the abdomen to form a slender body.  Leave enough room to dub a small ball like thorax and the leg/hackle.  After completing the thread body, rib it with copper wire.  Tie and cut the wire off.  Give it a couple coats of “Hard/Tough as nails”.  Next dub your thorax.  Usually a couple wraps of dubbing does the job.  Don’t overdub.  The entire fly should have a slender profile.  Next, tie in your hen hackle by its stripped stem.  Make one or two wraps, tie and cut it off.  Next build up a small head, whip finish and apply head cement. 

If you have any questions about this fly or would like to submit a pattern of the month I can be reached at 203 305-3850 or e-mail me at pdinice@frontier.com .