Connecticut Salmon on the swing

The simple pink fly in the upper right corner was the go to fly this past July in Alaska. A good bet for these Atlantics. 

November 22,2011 Atlantic Salmon

Has an epic day on a Connecticut river yesterday. Blue skies with a prolific midge hatch early afternoon. Did not come up on any trout sipping but  I am sure they were around. Instead I worked some long runs with the spey. When I first arrived at the run I saw a roll about 100 yards down river. With a lot of good water to work it took me about an hour to swing my first fly into the fishy section. On the third cast I switched actions with a wiggle motion rather than a little tick tick and ZZZZZzzzzz! It was amazing to see the fish attack the egg sucking leech with such violence. The feed on flies such as these or say an intruder are incredible. I believe that many times the attack is out of self defense rather than hunger. How would you like a lamprey swinging into clamp on your face? The Salmon jumped and danced multiple times. I usually do not like to boga grip freshwater fish however, I took a quick peak and the hen turned out to be just under 7lbs. A true brute!

She wanted a sweeping left to right wiggle motion...not the tick tick. Fly has beautiful action and is tied on a 2/0 gamakatsu, black bunny strip, 2 strands of purple flasabou, black marabou,with orange dubbing as an egg/head. Simple but effective. Especially with this current rain we are having!

November 23, 2011 

On the saltwater scene I just got off the boat with no luck. We stayed in Riverside harbor and found some schoolies. Are true target however, was a searun brown at the Mianus River confluence. Maybe with some real rain we will get a chance. Snapped my 11 foot switch today...here is a clip of what happen....

Bad luck on the water today. No sea run brownie to be had and a left over banana peel in the car to deal with. No wonder. 

On the upside we did see a beautiful push of stripers. The Cormorans' were also hydro planning in the shallow mud flats for minnows. Maybe with this rain that we so desperately need we will soon move the shy and temporarily acclimating sea run fish here or on the Saugatuck River.