With the temperature reaching a toasty 35 degrees today I headed for my local river. No bugs were hatching but fish were rising steadily and uniformly throughout the glassy pool. A sure sign that spring is finally upon us.
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| Perfect wild trout habitat |
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| Trout rose uniformly, this spring day |
Recognizing the subtle rises of wild brown trout fresh off the tide, I rigged with American Nymphs and dry caddis, but the fish would have none of it! I sensed that something more traditional was in order. Looking to my trusty Weatley fly box, the answer came to me as it had on so many March days on this particular chalk stream.
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| A hackled wet fly. Perfect for wild brown trout, today |
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| Chalk aquifers feed the wild trout of southern Connecticut |
I was rewarded with 37 of the most wonderful mix of domestic wild browns and fresh-run sea-trout.
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| Another fin perfect wild trout falls for the traditional soft-hackle wet fly. Just last week there were no trout in the river. Where do the wild beauties go in winter? |
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| Anything's possible in March. A wild sea-trout, fresh from the sea |
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| March Wild trout will rise through a concrete bridge |
As sure as winter turns to spring, it's reassuring - some would say magical - to know that wild trout will be caught with predictable regularity when March comes around, as if they had always been there.
Tight Lines,
Jonny
