Winter Weekends on the Quinapoxet

If you've kept up with the Blog lately, you'll know I've made it a habit to get out to the Quinnie each of the past 3 weekends, two of which I live blogged the fishing (or attempted to). Things started out well on the 13th as I coaxed a Winter Brown to the net on a swinging black midge pupa on the tenth cast or so, but then that was it. I started just above the pump station on River Rd (where I caught the brown) and worked my way up to the "stone wall." A few bumps here and there but nothing landed. I hit the same spots on the 20th and ran into a reader of the blog, Dan, on the way upstream. Neither of us had any luck. It was cold and snowy, but I did see midges flying around at about 2pm that day (that sighting was confirmed once again this weekend).

So this weekend I did what all fly fisherman do and went back for third times the charm; but switched up my location. On Saturday I started at the stretch just above the cable pool - the nice long pool that runs along the bank of  the rail-trail side of the river, nicely shaded by evergreens. This pools starts with some riffles at what i call the "mid-rock" (there's a large boulder in the middle of the stream that literally separates a deep riffly, run from less than 2 feet of basically standing water, a perfect spot for Czech nymphing) and ends once the river starts to narrow. I started with a chartreuse headed, black wooly bugger with a caddis pupa trailer. I almost always trail my buggers with something, because even if they aren't hitting on the buggers, they can still act as an attractor. I dont know how many times I've seen a fish follow my bugger for 3 feet or so, turn away, then hit my trailer on its way back - it's a ferocious strike! Anyway, I managed to hook into what looked like a good size brown along the bank but he fell off after a short fight. I worked downstream into the cable pool and after a few more hits, left empty handed. But I was happy to have found some fish that were interested in my fly, so I went back again on Sunday, and it was a great day!

The first fish was a beautifully colored brown. A nice bronzish colored belly, with mulit-shaded brown spots at the head and body, and bright red spots near the tail. My first thought when I landed this fish was that it was stream born. There is no way to tell other than a DNA test, so I'll never know, but it just looked like it was born here. The farm raised browns always have either a deep yellow belly, or are nearly silver in color, never have I seen a brown on the quinnie like the one I caught. I landed 6 fish in total, all browns, and at least half of them resembled this "native looking" fish, ranging from 8" to 12". I am leading to believe that browns have joined the brookies in successful spawning on the Q.

This first fish, and the next 3, were all landed in a pool/run downstream of the cable pool. It's located a little less than halfway between the cable pool and the rail trail bridge - fished from the south (or inner) bank. It's a pretty deep pool, looks great for big holdover rainbows, and runs for a good 100 feet or so. All the fish I landed were all caught on the chartreuse headed, black body wooly bugger (if anyone has a shorter, hipper name for this fly, please share!). This fly is a killer on this stream in the winter. It also does very well on the Millers. I will fish this fly three ways. #1. Cast straight across the river to the opposite bank and strip away from the bank back towards you. Once you get to the 45 degree mark or so downstream, let it swing, then strip in. If you get a hit on this way, it will almost always be on the second or third strip away from the bank, and it will be hard. #2. Cast 45 degrees downstream, toward the bank, and alternate between letting it swing, and stripping it once or twice. Let it get all the way below you downstream and let it sit there for 30 seconds or so. Sometimes they will wait until the swing stops to hit it. 3. Cast upstream 45 degrees or so, toward the opposite bank. Let it sink at least halfway, then strip hard and fast back toward you or downstream. If you are lucky, a big brown will see it and gobble it up. This approach needs a bit of depth to work, at least 3 feet or so, but attracts the big ones.

After a successful hour at the pool below the big turn, I headed back upstream for one last go at where Trout book enters the river. I fished the riffles that lead into the mouth of trout Brook, and caught two quick browns on the 1st approach outlined above. They weren't that big, but fought hard.

It was a great weekend, and I'm looking forward to more this winter. If I had to guess at what accounted for the difference in luck over the past few weekends, I'd say it was the change in water temperature. Here's what I've noticed about water temperature - the actual temperature is less important than the relative change in temperature. Here's what I mean: trout are most active when water temperature is in the 50's (F), less active in the 40's and below, and nearly deathly conditions when water rises into the 70's (which is why so many trout don't make it through the summer in the quinnie, but that's another blog). For the past few weeks, water temp has hovered in the mid thirties, and on Sunday (when I had my best day), water temp spiked nearly into the 40's. Now, 40 degree temperature water isn't technically an "active feeding" range, but the substantial relative change in temperature  causes fish to increase their feeding habits. The same can happen at higher temps - if its been 65 degrees for weeks, its probably not great fishing, but if its been 70 for weeks, and its dropped to 65, it might be better than average. Take this into consideration the next time you plan to head out. Don't be afraid to fish in the 30 degree water, especially if it's been colder in the recent past.

Thanks to all for reading, and looking forward for another great year on the Quinnie.

-NC