We just came back from our annual Atlantic Salmon trip in New Brunswick,Canada. Lots of fun on the Miramachi River. We all caught salmon, grisle and brook trout. The wind came up on the second day to a steady 40 with gusts over 50. We decided to spend the afternoon in camp. This was my last salmon of the trip being held by Rudy. The docks at my marina went in this past weekend and the boats can go in after the 1st. Another couple of weeks we should have some fish to catch.
The days are finally getting longer and the temps are creeping up. All my rods and reels are cleaned and checked. Saltwater flies are tied and my spring salmon flies are ready to go. I have enough trout flies that are ready for this week’s opener. It’s still another month till the boat gets uncovered. The water temps in the sound are in the mid 40’s so that’s about right. This year’s bass should be mostly pretty good sized so that will be fun. For some reason the month of October is starting to fill up early this year. If you want to get out in prime time you might just want to pick a day or so and get it in the book now.
We called it a season on Tuesday morning. With some help from the guys we pulled the boat out and now it’s parked safely in our driveways. Gail had her surgery the week before and came down to supervise. She had three vertebrae fused in her neck and is well on the road to recovery. Now we just need to keep her slowed down for the next couple months. Thanks to our old friends and to our new ones it was a fun year. The bass came in at the right time and were good sized. Bluefish made a surprise appearance and were also good sized. A few baby Bonito showed but didn’t stick around. The Albies arrived in September but even though we had a few good days they were not consistent as they should have been. We hope that you all have a safe winter and we are looking to do it again next year.
Gary made the long drive out east for our final trip of this season. We left early and found bass along the beach along with a couple dozen of our closest friends. Gary picked up a few fish pretty quickly before the sun got too high. When they quit we went exploring. We found some scattered albies that were super picky. Had one eat and after a run the hook pulled out. Most of our friends followed us with predictable results. We got tired of that and snuck off to find some fish that had the bait corralled. I set up for a drift and realized that all of a sudden we were surrounded by our fore mentioned friends. We moved off a bit and when the fish popped up behind us Gary put the fly right on them. This time the hook stayed stuck and we put one in the boat. Lots and lots of casts today but fun anyway.
Today ol’ Bob left the deep woods for a little fall fishing. We left the dock with the sun just peeking out and found the bass piled up eating bay anchovies. Bob dropped a fly in front of them and it was inhaled by his personal best striper that was in the neighborhood of 20 lbs. We picked away at smaller ones until the albies showed up. They were more finicky than usual but Bob managed his first and best on a fly. Lots of fun on the water today.
I took a solo trip at the end of last week. It took two casts for the first bass. After a bit I moved and caught seven more up to 15 lbs. All in all I went about 10 miles total. Today Gary came back and it took him three casts for his first and only bass. He managed his and our only bonito of the season about an hour later. We found a few fish that came up but never came back. Put about 30 miles on the boat today. A couple more short trips and it’s going to be over for the year.
Long time friend Gary was back again after the elusive Albie. The fish that were here last week left on Sundays blow for parts unknown. The past two days proved fishless for all involved. I hemmed and hawed about todays trip and finally decided to take a look around. Right off the bat Gary picked an handful of bass right off the beach. With a fish in the boat we decided to take a ride and hunt albies. A fortunate call got us headed in the right direction. We found several pods with no one bothering them. A few good shots later we had a couple Albies in the boat. When that slowed we continued the quest and came upon more fish in small pods. Three albies later we called it a day. H
Long time friend and angler Gary made the long dangerous trip up art. 95 in the fog to throw some flies today. We left the dock with 100 feet of visibility which is always a fun ride. We found our desired piece of land and started a slow crawl in search of some hungry bass. After a half mile poke we found a bunch of fis in a small pocket that had only room for one boat. Luckily we were that boat. We stayed and played until they finally moved off. The tide was about dead so we moved on. Picked a few more fish and then the fog lifted and the fleet showed up. The albies arrived we got a few to bite before the traffic drove us out.
For the past two days I’ve had the pleasure of fishing with old friends from upstate NY. Charlie and Sarah came back for an annual October fest. Finally we had some decent weather for these guys. We started out early Tuesday morning and found some bass in an eating mode. Charlie caught his personal best at 20 lbs. on a fly that was about an inch long. Shortly the albies showed and Sarah caught her first. The rest of the trip had us in the middle of fish that were pretty picky. Finally later on we found some in a more reasonable state of mind. Wednesday morning was pretty much a repeat. A couple bass early then the fleet moved in and the fish were only eating the real thing. We moved around to different areas with the same results. Lots of fish and very few takers. All in all a fun two days with great friends.
Capt. Sandy Noyes has lived and fished in the Southeastern part of Connecticut for his entire life. … [More...]
