Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT
Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 12:34 pm Post subject: Farmington River - Tariffville to Simsbury 08/01
DirtyDawg10 (aka Derek) and fished the river this morning from 5:30 AM to 11:30 AM. It felt like a cool Spring day for most of the time we were on the water, although the sun did begin to blaze a bit during the last half hour or so. After we launched, we demonstrated remarkable self-control and immediately paddled upstream from Tariffville Memorial Park to the overhead powerlines in Simsbury without putting a hook in the water:
We didn't really move that fast! For some reason, YouTube double-timed the video I took with my son's inexpensive Olympus point-and-shoot camera.
We didn't catch anything of any size today. I think Derek caught 4 largemouth bass. I ended up catching 9 largemouth bass and 2 smallmouth bass, all on wacky-rigged Senkos and Dingers. Here's everything that I caught:
11 inch LMB
10 inch LMB
9 inch LMB
8 inch LMB
12 inch LMB
11 inch SMB
14 inch LMB
8 inch LMB
9 inch LMB
13 inch SMB
8 inch LMB
Here'd the 13 inch smallie:
I hooked a decent largemouth bass after I landed the first 8-incher. It looked to me to be at least 17 inches and over 2 lbs, but the drag on the spinning reel I was using was set too light to get it into the boat. I need to take that reel apart! I fought the bass for four or five seconds. It never tried to jump, but pulled strongly away from the boat whenever I got it close. When I stopped cranking the reel to tighten the drag, it was able to spit the hook. Sonofa*itch!
Like last Friday, today was an absolutely beautiful day for fishing. Thankfully, the day's not yet over. Whoo hoo! _________________ Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!
Joined: 27 May 2009 Posts: 2238 Location: Granby, CT
Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 5:37 pm Post subject:
Damn! Can I paddle or what!! Phil needed some pedal power to keep up with me...
That pic shows 2 things...how stable the Hobie is and how horrible the fishing was because it's the only picture I took today. I ended up with 4 LMB. A 10", 12" and another 10" on a wacky senko and an 11" on a 4" tube. I had a few more hits at the tube but the fish were too small to fit it in their mouth and tried to swim off with the skirt. We had some trouble locating the big boys today.
Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT
Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 9:46 pm Post subject: Because I can never fish enough. . .
I went back to the river with my kids from about 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM. My daughter had been disappointed that I did not take her along with me on my early morning outing with DirtyDawg10, so I put her on the stern of The Other Woman in her lawn chair and we fished downstream from Tariffville Memorial Park to the old bridge pilings that mark the start of the rougher water in the Tariffville Gorge. My son also came along, but didn't fish. He just paddled around in my little kayak.
I caught a 12 inch largemouth bass, an 11 inch smallmouth bass and an 8 inch largemouth bass. My daughter, thankfully, caught a 9-1/2 inch largemouth bass shortly before we left the water. Phew! Even after catching the bass, she was still so frustrated with the many unproductive nibbles and bites she had without good hooksets that we went out to eat sushi for dinner in Simsbury. It was delicious retribution.
While we were on the water, we ran into DV (aka Derek), who was heading downstream to the more challenging water in the gorge to look for river smallies. We left before he came back upstream. We also met a newer CTFishTalk lurker, who showed me iPhone photos of many very impressive largemouth bass (i.e., 5 and 6+ pounders) that he's caught this year in the Farmington River and nearby waters. It sure would be nice if you would post some reports, Kevin! In any case, I'm glad that we met. _________________ Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!
Joined: 05 May 2010 Posts: 229 Location: East Windsor
Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 9:58 pm Post subject:
Ha, so right after I saw Phil I headed down river past the bridge pilings under the 189 bridge and stopped around the end of tunxis rd, (not ave). I caught a good number of smallies, with a few around 2lbs. No pictures though, water was too fast to try and pull out the camera. On the way back up through some of the rapids my right paddle blade buckled, I use a custom made paddle by pacific paddles and the aluminum support bent. So I had to navigate back up using my kayak paddle as a canoe paddle, which by the way was very frustrating. Hopefully I'll get my replacement blade quick so I can get back out on the water. I also talked to a guy at the launch that was telling me about a rainbow trout he caught on a powerworm.
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For some reason, YouTube double-timed the video I took with my son's inexpensive Olympus point-and-shoot camera. 
In any case, I'm glad that we met.
