Fishing Reports Central > River Reports | Menu
Next

Author:
PECo
Date:
Aug 21, 2011
Subject:
Farmington River - Farmington 08/21
Message:
I was supposed to meet [i:49e182ba54][b:49e182ba54]someone[/b:49e182ba54][/i:49e182ba54] at River Mead (aka the Wannowmassa Lane canoe launch) to fish the Tunxis Mead section of the Farmington River this morning, but [i:49e182ba54][b:49e182ba54]someone[/b:49e182ba54][/i:49e182ba54] didn't show up. I launched at 7:30 am in El Habaņero and paddled upriver. I brought my trout/white perch setup with me (i.e., a seven foot spinning rod and reel spooled with six pound Tilene monofilament) and threw a small rainbow perch patterned inline bucktail spinner. It wasn't long before I boated a small yellow perch: [img:49e182ba54]http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/1083/img1023tz.jpg[/img:49e182ba54] I got a few hits from what I think were small trout, but all of the fish were able to pull free of the tiny little wire treble hook on the spinner. I hate treble hooks! :evil: At 8:15 am, I spotted a kayaker below the pedestrian bridge, so I headed downriver and shot the rapids. It wasn't [i:49e182ba54][b:49e182ba54]someone[/b:49e182ba54][/i:49e182ba54], but there were two kayakers, Bob and his son Matt. Hi, guys! Bob paddled a Hobie Kona and Matt paddled a Heritage Redfish 10, I think. I couldn't believe that Bob's Kona is a tandem! He had only one seat in it and it's only 11-1/2 feet long, the same length as El Habaņero, but it can seat two! And a dog, too, according to Bob. Bob told me that he had hit a bunch of nice fish, including some sizable smallies, just below the pedestrian bridge in the evening the other day. Unfortunately, he ended up getting only five short largemouth bass there today. I waited around below the pedestrian bridge for [i:49e182ba54][b:49e182ba54]someone[/b:49e182ba54][/i:49e182ba54] to show up until 9:00 am, and then I paddled downriver to the far east end of the Tunxis Mead section of the river. On the way down, I boated only a short largemouth with a wacky rigged five inch Senko on my bass setup (i.e., a seven foot spinning rod and reel spooled with 40 pound PowerPro braid), although I got a couple of more to the kayak before they thrashed off: [img:49e182ba54]http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/4692/img1024jr.jpg[/img:49e182ba54] I intended to catch a mess of white perch in the cove for lunch. I even cut off a section of my anchor rope to use as a stringer. Before I started fishing in earnest for white perch (i.e., trolling a silver Rapala Original Floater F07), I explored the cove a bit. I hadn't fished the bottom yet, so I tied a weighted, Texas-rigged Yum craw onto my bass setup and dragged it over the bottom. The only thing that I caught with it was a 12 inch black crappie, which went onto the stringer. I swapped out the craw and began trolling the Floater, and boated and released a couple of short seven inch white perch, before deciding to also rig up my trout/white perch setup for trolling. Fishface (aka Tim) had suggested trolling a white grub, so I tied on a 1/8 ounce round jighead with a white three inch Powerbait Power Grub. I finally got a decent nine inch white perch on the Floater and put it on the stringer, when I noticed that the line on my trout setup was fairly taut. When I began reeling it in, it began pulling back pretty strongly. I thought that it was either a huge white perch or a decent largemouth bass, but it kept pulling. . . and pulling. . . and pulling. When I finally got it to the surface, Surprise!, it was a 14 inch smallmouth bass. With the grub! ***** [b:49e182ba54][color=red:49e182ba54]WARNING[/color:49e182ba54][/b:49e182ba54] - Any militant catch and release guys should stop reading this report right here. ***** Yes, the smallie went onto my stringer. The white perch bite was slow and I was determined to get enough fish to eat for lunch, so on it went. At 12:15 pm, I decided to head out of the cove and back upriver. I was curious to see whether [i:49e182ba54][b:49e182ba54]someone[/b:49e182ba54][/i:49e182ba54] had shown up at all. As I paddled out of the cove, I got another nine inch white perch with the grub. And another nine inch white perch with the Floater. And then I got a big hit with the Floater and boated a 16 inch, one pound, 15 ounce largemouth: [img:49e182ba54]http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/3838/img1025nj.jpg[/img:49e182ba54] It went on the stringer, too. Now I had a crappie, three white perch, a smallie and a largemouth to eat for lunch! As I paddled back upriver, I boated three small yellow perch with the Floater. I paddled as far up the rapids as I could and pulled out just below the pedestrian bridge at 1:00 pm. [i:49e182ba54][b:49e182ba54]Someone[/b:49e182ba54][/i:49e182ba54] never showed up. :roll: But I'm glad that I went. :D After I got home, I filleted all of the fish and pan fried them. It was all good, although I think that the texture of the crappie was still too mushy. The white perch fillets were tiny! My kids preferred the smallie. My wife and I preferred the largemouth. Anyone who says that largemouth taste muddy must fish in a mud puddle. The largemouth that come out of the Farmington are absolutely delicious! :D
Author:
TurtleKiss
Date:
Aug 22, 2011
Message:
Those Mead bass taste good because they eat mostly leeches. [b:4f8920a47e][i:4f8920a47e]Someone[/i:4f8920a47e][/b:4f8920a47e] sounds unreliable.
Author:
slim2043
Date:
Aug 22, 2011
Message:
[b:316c098707]Someone[/b:316c098707] wishes his day didn't go to $41+ and is [b:316c098707]VERY SORRY[/b:316c098707]... [b:316c098707]VERY SORRY[/b:316c098707] that he didn't show up and [b:316c098707] VERY VERY VERY SORRY[/b:316c098707] he didn't get to catch that [b:316c098707]Smallmouth BASS!!!![/b:316c098707]
Next
Home | Topics | Menu