My first fish on a dry of the season _and_ my first fish on a fly that I tied EVER _AND_ it's my largest trout to date (at just shy of 20")! I am disgustingly proud of myself.
Last night was a beautiful night for fishing with temps in the 60s and no breeze to speak of when I arrived near Hamden at 5:15PM. There was a lot of insect activity with Hendricksons mating in the air, blue quills drifting past, and clouds of small, dark dun caddis flies everywhere. I also noticed nymph shucks floating past in the water. The surface activity wasn't phenomenal, despite the bugs, but there were fish rising. Based on the slow rises and what I was seeing in the water, fish seemed to be slurping up spent caddis flies (dark dun, size 18 or so). The Hendricksons weren't yet depositing eggs and there wasn't a spinner fall so perhaps tonight will show some more action on that front.
The above fish was caught on a dark dun CDC emerger pattern, size 16 with a stripped peacock herl body. I'll tie a few more up and post a pattern soon. It's an easy fly to tie, though the CDC requires a lot of maintenance to keep it floating (many thanks to Hareline's Amadou fly dryer!) and it was pretty much toast after the tussle with the fish pictured above. I tried a few other flies including a more traditional Hendrickson pattern, a blue quill, and even a pheasant tail nymph over a few risers but they weren't interested. A dark Madison Guide Cripple (brown with grizzly hackle, size #14 or 16) drew a savage take from a nice looking fish who managed to get away. It popped my tippet during a brief lapse in concentration as I tried to get into a better position to land it. Unfortunately, I didn't have a spare in dark coloring and the remaining rising fish had no interest in the cream colored variation I showed them next.
All in all, an excellent evening spent on the water and with the warm temperatures continuing, I expect things will only pick up from here.
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