Fresh out of the Hudson

    The past week has left me feeling rejuvinated to say the least.  Warm, muggy, summer like weather has been the rule for south western CT the past few days, and you bet i took full advantage of it.  The down side of course is that work has picked up and i have been scoring some overtime shifts, because the money will not hurt.  Lets back track to Last Friday, April 22.  I got out of work at 7am and met Jan D down at the local salt pond.  The air temp was in the mid 30's and we had a nice NW wind on our necks, hardly bassey weather.  It was important to me, however, to get out and get some trigger time on my 8wt.  It took a few casts since I have been roll casting a little 4wt for the past month, but i shook the cob-webs off in not time.  It felt so good to let those first double hauls go.  The water felt cold and i was not seeing any signs of life, but Jan did catch a fish!  So there, the first bass of the season was at hand!  I fished Saturday in the rain and we slayed the trout.  Monday i got nothing in the salt again.  For the past 16 years i have taken the first bass of the year in the month of April, and i was going to stop at nothing to keep it going.

WEDNESDAY 11am

        I figured i had a few hours to wet a line before i went into work, so off to the tidal pond i went.  The weather muggy and humid, Bassey.  The water now felt warm coming out of the pond and my outlook on the adventure changed in a heart beat.  The first 5 casts resulted in 2 missed fish, 1 follower, and MY FIRST BASS OF THE YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.  Thanks to communication technology i was able to call Jan in like walking artillery into an enemy out post.  He arrived in minutes and we slayed a bunch of bass together.  I don't think i could have had a better day.

     The days are longer, the temps are warmer, the birds start singing at 3am.  .  Go Fishing, gardening, hiking, turkey hunting, shooting, camping, or relax outside, but get out and enjoy spring in all her glory!

An Ugly Morning

 

 

       High winds, heavy rains, cool temps, and raging rivers have kept anglers at home recently.

The Season Opens! Opening Day Savagery!

Every Year, on the Third Saturday in April trout season opens in CT.  As a youngster the opening day event was a right of passage.

Just a Note

   Yesterday the opportunity came up to fish a TMA in CT that i have never fished before.  My buddy Michael(michaelsw) from www.ctfisherman.com and i were eager to get out and enjoy a nice day of fishing.  I picked up two rainbows early on a nymph.  Around 9:30am small bugs started to hatch off.  Thanks to BrkTrt for recommending the New England Hatch guide to me.  I had it stream side in an effort to learn the bug life cycles as i fish.  I was able to catch one of the flies and identify it as a Caddis.  I don't have any dry flies that look like a caddis, but i did toss a #18 Caddis larva that i tied out.  I put the hammer down!  Most all the fish came as i lifted the little bead head off the bottom.  My buddy Michael was able to catch some on a small jig and swim baits.  I am just thrilled to put two and two together and have something work.  I will apologize about the lack of pics.  I forgot to put the memory card back in the camera.  I am really having fun with the trout attack. 
    It seems that each River has its own types of life, a unique finger print if you will.  The Minaus is loaded with small minnows and black stone flies.  The Mill river seemed to be full of Caddis.  The Norwalk has lots of different mayflies. 

LCR!!!!

 
Recently the good folks at Ruger have done there home work.  Ruger has come out with a nice line of compact carry pistols in the last few years.  They introduced the little .380 first and have added a 9x19 and .357 magnum to the line up.  For me, I felt the need to have a simple revolver for night time walks with the dog and in the house.  There are bad guys out there.  I hope never to cross paths with one, statistically i won't, but I want to be prepared.  After looking a several different 5 shot compact revolvers i chose the Ruger LCR in .357 magnum.  I chose the magnum model, because i can shoot .38spl, .38spl+P, and .357 magnum out of it.  Seems like it is a little more versatile than the regular .38.
    The gun is 17 ounces and has a capacity of 5 rounds.  I personally feel i am not going to need more than 5 shots for self defense, so capacity is not an issue.   Trigger pull is outstanding!  Yes, it is heavy like most double action revolvers; however, the LCR trigger has no creep.  That's right, the trigger on this pistol is silky smooth.  The Houge grips are great, allowing  your hand to stick to the gun.  Good grips will be great  when firing .38+p's or all out .357 magnums.  For now i have it loaded up with .38+p's because that is what i had on hand.    I will bring the gun out soon to see what it can do at the range.   

New York Fishing!

    The recent expansion of my fly fishing addiction has pointed me north to the state of New York.  I live in CT but New York is only a 4 mile drive, so it makes since to  purchase a licence and obtain a free New York City Water Shed permit.  I was able to get a smoking deal on A Fly Fisher's Guide to New York through Amazon(where else).  I would recommend this book to anyone setting out to slay trout in New York waters from Buffalo to Long Island.  Access is listed along with great maps and hatch charts!  What more could you ask for in a starting point.  I am very excited to get in on the New York trout fishing.  There is so much just 5 minutes from my house. 

Trouts

Warm temps and overcasts skies pulled me to the local TMA this morning.  I wish this was a month later because i would have hit the beach for Bass, but fishing is fishing.  I tied up some Black Flash Back Hair's Ears and i wanted to deploy them.  I was stream side by 1030 and with in a few slick drifts I watched the indicator go down and a nice Brown came to the bank.  The lucky trout has the distinction of being one of the first trout i have slayed on my own fly.  After i moved to another pool and was able to yank another trout out of the river on the same fly, good thing i tied more than one.  Unfortunately, at this point the weather took a dump, and i deiced to head back to the truck.  I did change flies to a nice White Calf Tail Streamer, and as i worked my way back i hit one more pool.  On the second cast, in the pouring rain I hooked a trout, however, he twisted free like a Mackerel.  As i prepared to roll another cast i watched the first lightning bolt of the year followed by a clap of thunder and a low flying airliner, in that order, WTF......   I have some nice Grundens rain gear, but they have yet to manufacture protection from lightning and air crashes, so i made my way back to the truck.  I am very happy that i was able to get some trout in the little time i had before work.  

Check it out.  In the pic of the trout there is a spoon in the sand below his jaw.  I got a trout, and a Free lure!!!  SCORE!!!!