Housatonic in Lee

[ctroy36]

Fished the Housatonic in Lee this afternoon. Weather was sunny and warm but windy. Water temp about 50. Water was low -- at mid-summer levels.

Caught and released two very nice rainbows both about 12-14 inches. Unusually scrappy fish that did not want to quit even when in the net.

Took both fish on a Prince nymph dead drifted with single split-shot sinker about 18 inches above the fly.

There was a small but continuing hatch of caddis while I was there -- couple of hours -- and some smaller bugs that I could not identify.

the fish were apparently taking emergers. I could see fish flashing indicating they were doing so and there was an occasional splashy rise. Floated a dry elk hair caddis for a bit but the wind made that not a good idea. Matter of fact, with my 4-weight the wind made casting anything but pretty. It was blowing down and across. Should have had the 6-weight.

[ctroy36]

Fished the Housatonic in Lee this afternoon. Water was up and cold. Stream thermometer said 55 but my legs thought it was much lower.

Caught and released two fish -- rainbows again --- and lost another when the tippet broke at the fly. Happens too often with a clinch knot.

One fish was standard hatchery 12-14- incher like the others I've taken there this year. Other was smaller, like about 8 or so. Makes me think the state has stocked again with rainbows only smaller ones. So much for them making it a brown trout C&R section. Haven't so much as seen a brown this year.

Caught both fish on a home-made fly that's half GRHE and half wooly bugger. Fish that broke off was on a prince.

Hardly any bugs around, probably too cold.

Saw the hatchery truck dumping fish in Laurel lake on my way down. On the way home parking lot was full to capacity with hatchery truck followers.

[ctroy36]

Fished the Housatonic in Lee this afternoon. One standard hatchery rainbow on a Grannon Caddis nymph. Had a couple of hits on the way back down stream on a wet light Cahill but no hookups. A few bugs coming off -- a greyish caddis landed on my hand -- but no fish rising. More people fishing there than I've seen all year. Two guys up the river from me all afternoon and a bunch of people showing up at the Pleasant St. bridge as I was leaving about 5:00. River still low. Didn't check temp.

[cgill]

I fished the Housatonic on Sunday evening and there were alot of rises starting about an hour before sunset. There were alot of spinners on the water and the trout were feeding on them. The rises were hard to see if you didn't look carefully. Almost all of the rises I observed were below riffles where the rainbows were sipping the spinners as they floated downstream. These were not the agressive rises of trout taking hatching bugs but rather the very subtle rises of trout feeding on helpless spinners.

I unfortunatly only had one or two flys that fish would go after regularly. After I lost one and the other got beat up I had a hard time getting anything to rise to other flies.

[gonefishing]

I had nothing but Rainbows hitting throughout April. Before the rain hit this week the Browns started to get going. Lot of action in the hour or so before sundown for the past two weeks or so. Hitting mostly on elk hair caddis and blue wing olive drys. Mostly new hatchery fish with a few hold overs here and there. I have pulled a few nice browns in the 18" range out though!!
I am kind of disappointed seeing so many Rainbows in there this year and not as many new Browns.

[ctroy36]

oneilgonefishing:

That's the problem with the river this year. Full of stocked rainbows instead of the browns that were supposed to be put in. MassWildlife denies that they dumped bows in there, but uness it's been raining them, that's what has happened. Some folks claim to have seen them stocking rainbows in Lee. TU at their last meeting authorized a letter to MassWildlife asking why the switch, haven't heard if they responded.

It doesn't bode well for fishing later in the year once the rainbows have departed.

[ctroy36]

Fished the Housatonic in Lee this morning. River is still high (744 cfm -- about 100 cfm over normal -- per USGS gauge in Gt. Barrington, cold, 58 degrees, and clear.

Caught a huge brown -- 18+ inches on a flashback hare's ear fished as a dropper off a tung-head prince with single split shot on the tippet. Needed the weight to get the flies down deep in the fast water. Casting was difficult as I had my 4-weight rather than the 6-weight but it did work.

Fish was the biggest I've ever taken from that stretch and was a bear to land. Every time I got him into shallow water he would tear off line and head back into the current. A fat healthy, fish.

There were a few sulfurs around and a bunch of midge-sized bugs that I could not identify, but it was early in the day so not much hatching going on.

Best news is that it was a brown and not one of the hatchery rainbows that I've been taking all year long. Maybe there is hope yet.

[ctroy36]

Fished the Housy in Lee this afternoon. River down but still a little high, water temp 60 degrees.

Landed two rainbows. One about 8 inches the other about 11-12 inches. Bigger one was real pretty, bright red stripe and gill covers. A nice looking fish. Lost another when leader to tippet knot failed. Both ate a brown woolly bugger, which I went to after getting nothing on a variety of nymphs.

[gonefishing]

Fished the Housy in Glendale and Lee yesterday afternoon/evening with two buddies. Pulled a few stocky browns out. Had a lot of smallmouth hitting
The water temp went from 58 last week to 72 yesterday!! Not good.
Had a fellow BFF member pull out a sweet 21" brown day before yesterday.

Caught all on top w/ elk hair caddis.

[ctroy36]

Where did you find the 72 degree water? I fished Lee Tuesday and it was only 60. Fished it Monday and it was 58.

[gonefishing]

I can't believe it heated up so fast. I checked it twice. Once behind Diesel Dans and again between the Pleasant Street and Rt 102 bridges.

I was out in Glendale last night and again 71 degrees. I did check the brook that runs in near the catch and release pull off and that was 57 degrees.

I work in a paper mill in South Lee. We have a temp sensor where we pull water out of the river so I trended it on the computer and it has just skyrocketed over the past few days.

Fishing was slow last night. My buddy caught a few small browns and one nicely colored 14" rainbow. I did not get out until about an hour before dark. No trout for me, only a few smallmouths and a good soaking from the rain that started coming down.

[ctroy36]

How the river can get that warm now is a puzzle. I know for sure it was 60 Tuesday as I checked my stream thermometer against an accurate film processing one that I have at home.

Something has to be releasing warm water, I wonder if the heavy rains may have overtaxed Pittsfield's sewer plant causing a discharge. Or maybe a heavy outflow from Woods Pond in Lenox Dale. Still, that's a big increase over a short time. I sure hope it goes back down as those temps stress trout to their limits.

Interesting to hear about the bright rainbow. Caught one just like that in Lee last week. Bright red stripe and gill covers. Wonder where they came from.

[gonefishing]

Out yesterday with a friend, yes even with the high water, and both had nothing to show for it. Treacherous wading.

The river temp dropped 10 degrees. We both checked it and had 61 degrees.

[ctroy36]

Had an hour or so to kill today so I decided to go to the Housatonic in Lee and try out a new line I just picked up. With the river as high as it is 757 cfm -- about twice normal for this time of year -- I figured a few casts and then back home.

Surprise. Caught two nice browns and lost a third. Was tossing a weighted olive/brown woolly bugger with a couple of pieces of split shot about 3 feet up the tippet. Quite happy with new line which handled the extra weight really good. Ran into another guy who was fishing a ways above me and he said that he had landed three nice rainbows, which means that the bows are still sticking around.

The river is higher than I've ever seen it and flowing hard enough to keep me close to shore. Temp was 62 degrees.

[ctroy36]

Went down to the Housatonic this morning and found it a little high but coming down nicely. Water temp was 68*.

Caught three fish, two 12-inch rainbows and one 16-inch brown. The brown was the prettiest fish I've seen in a long while. A real dark fish with big ruby colored spots. Obviously a fish that has been in the river for while. Also picked up a couple of smallies.

All were taken on a soft hackle beadhead fished down and across. Tried a lot of other stuff first -- nymphs under an indicator, nymphs dead drifted -- with no results. No bugs around at all.

Sure is nice to find good fish in July.

[ctroy36]

Went down to the Housatonic in Lee this afternoon to check on the smallmouth fishing. Water is low, gin-clear and warm (80 degrees).

Started fishing upstream with nymphs until I noticed fish making real splashy rises below where I was. Replaced the nymph I had on with an emerger and went back down stream to cast for the risers. Took a nice 10-inch smallie that smashed the fly on about the third cast. Went back to fishing upstream and then worked back down with a soft hackle and took a couple of real small fish.

Should get better as the water gets warmer.

[ctroy36]

Went down to the Housatonic in Lee this morning to check out the smallmouths. Water was at 78 degrees. Tried some streamers but no takers, switched to soft hackle and picked up a couple of little ones. Fished all of the stretch where I usually find them but had little action.

Decided to drive down the road a bit and try another spot where I'd taken some good ones last year. Missed a couple there and then had a solid hit from what I thought was a good smallie. Surprise, it turned out to be a 12-13 inch rainbow. I horsed it in and quickly released it so as not to stress it.

One the one hand I was dissapointed that there was not more smallie action considering the temps. One the other I find it encouraging that some of the rainbows that got stocked this spring are managing to thrive in the heat. Conventional wisdom says that they should all be done in by now.

I probably will stay away from that place now that I know trout are hanging there so as not to stress them, even if it means passing up a couple of good smallies. There's probably a spring somewhere in that spot as the water where I was standing near the bank also checked out at 78 degrees.

[ctroy36]

Got down to the river in Lee around noon today. Water is real low and temperature is at 78 degrees, which means it must be cooler in the morning and evening.

Caught a couple of real small smallies. Fished a soft hackle as a dropper off an ant pattern. fish were taking the soft hackle. A couple of fish were making splashy rises in one pool but I could not entice them.

Ran into a guy with a flyrod fishing with two kids using spinning gear. He said that they had caught 15-20 smallies, a few pike and two large trout. Said they were fishing a pool behind the Mobil station but I think he meant the Texaco station since the Mobil station in Lee is not near the river. He was from Connecticut and said he has been taking lots of smallies and big pike down in Great Barrington by Division Street. Have to check that out some day.

[gonefishing]

He may have meant the big pool under up from the bridges. Maybe he was from Lee. We still call the empty gas station across from McDonalds the Mobil station even though it's been closed up for several years now.

[gonefishing]

Charlie, Have you tried the Glendale stretch for smallies. I've been down a handful of times and had good luck each time. I fish up from the stream that goes in next to the pull offs. Don't want to chance any trout near the thermal refuge area. I like to fish topwater and they aren't very selective. Most of the fish I've caught have been pretty small-no lunkers for me!

I have also fished the Housy outside the paper mill I work at in south lee several times this summer. Again, mostly small fish but I've caught a few smallies in the 2 - 2.5 pound range. Also caught a couple largemouth down there in the 4 -5 pound range. Lots of panfish too.

[ctroy36]

I'd forgotten about the closed station, so you and the guy I met are probably right.

I've fished the Glendale stretch for smallies a few years back but haven't been down there lately. With $3 a gallon gas, I tend to stay near home.

I drove down by your workplace the other day looking for an access spot but did not see any place that was obvious. I imagine that there must be one near the bridge that goes over to Oak & Spruce but I did not stop and look. I've heard that the river above the bridge holds some large pike also.

Speaking of panfish, when I was a kid I use to hike into Morewood Lake in back of the Pittsfield Country Club to fish for spawning bluegills. They would hit any fly and were a real battle on my old bamboo rod. Life was simpler then.

[gonefishing]

After reading/posting about the Lee stretch of the Housy I dropped in and fished between Lee Bank and the Athletic Field. Caught 4 brown trout (all 12"+/-), 2 rainbows (14" each), and just guessing, about 25 smallies (most about 6", but couple close to two pounds). That was from 4:00pm - 8:30pm. Water temp was 72 degrees. I didn't mess around at all with the trout. Muscled them a bit to get them in and they were fine when I let them go.

My take on other Housy spots:

Tough to get in near the mill as it's all posted. I've got it made because I work there. There is good fishing for smallmouths from the dam past the bridge to oak n spruce all the way basically to diesel dan's. I've fished it my whole life. Spinfishing up until around 8 years ago when I picked up a flyrod. You would never guess it from looking at it but trout in there as well when the waters cool. A friend of mine's parents used to live at the first house on the left when you go over the bridge. Hauled in many large browns fishing with worms when we were younger.

Another nice Housy spot you may not have tried for both trout in the spring, and smallies in the summer is the stretch from the dam after wood's pond through lenoxdale and past the paper mill next to the lenoxdale bridge.

I've fished upstream from wood's pond up to the new lenox road canoe launch many times. Lots of nice pike, pickerel, largemouths, smallmouths, and perch. Carp the size of tree trunks also.

Never fished the stretch of the Housy that runs through the center of Pittsfield. I live in West Pittsfield and the stocking truck dumps quite a few browns in the branch of the Housy on Melbourne Ave just down from my place. Tight casting even in the spring so I usually let the neighborhood kid's get their fill there.

As for south county, good trout fishing from the glendale catch and release all the way downstream through housatonic.
I've never fished great barrington.

Sheffield I've fished and canoed a few times and caught some NICE bass and pike.

Amazingly, I've never fished Connecticut.

That's my take on the Housatonic for tonight.....................

[ctroy36]

Sounds like you know the main stem real well. At one time or another I've tried -- with varying success -- most those stretches that can be reached by wading. I've often kayaked from the New Lenox Rd launch area to Woods Pond but not fished it.

However, the Southwest Branch in West Pittsfield is where I spent my younger days. Caught my first trout there when I was six and the first on a fly when I was 12. I've fished just about every part of it from where you are to Clapp Park and have seen it go from bad to worse.

When they took out the dam at the upper tannery pond and paved over the lower pond things really went downhill. The lower pond used to hold big browns, bass and pickerel and in my teens my buddies and I used to fish it all summer long.

The rest of the river was a lot less grown in then and was quite fishable and well stocked by the state. Even after the dam went out, I can remember taking some nice browns in the fall in the stretch right across from the car wash. I think I remember that TU or somebody did some habitat work above there at one time.

I haven't fished it since the late 70s since, as you noted, it's really grown over and some of the pools have silted in due to home building and construction in the area. I'll drive by and look it over now and then, just for old times sake, but the good fishing -- and my youth -- are history now.

[ctroy36]

Went down to the river after lunch today. Was raining when I got there and a couple of fish were rising -- one hard against the far bank and another downstream under an overhanging tree. Some midges coming off the water and a few larger bugs that the birds nailed before they went ten feet.

Got the downstream fish, a brown of about 10 inches, on an emerger but could not interest the one against the bank. Finally decided to try him on top and waded below him and tied on an elk hair caddis. Took it on about the fourth cast. Another brown of the same size. Rain stopped and so did the rising fish.

Picked up a couple more up river from there on the emerger. Went downstream to a pool by the bridge and lost another when the knot gave way. Went up and stood on the bridge for a while and watched fish rising all over the place when the rain started again. All that was coming off the water were the same tiny midges which the fish must have been eating.

[dmart]

ctroy- just moved here from MD to teach. Caught some nice browns in the Glendale C&R last couple days. Also a ridiculous amount of smallies to 14" lower down near village of Housatonic. I noticed from your reports that you seem to have tippet breakage a lot, what do you use? I've had no need to go below 3x Froghair with nymphs... Anyway,
what gets the pike around here - I'm assuming BIG white or yellow streamers. But where are some good spots i might try? Thanks.

[JoeOverlock]

dmart said:

ctroy- just moved here from MD to teach. Caught some nice browns in the Glendale C&R last couple days. Also a ridiculous amount of smallies to 14" lower down near village of Housatonic. I noticed from your reports that you seem to have tippet breakage a lot, what do you use? I've had no need to go below 3x Froghair with nymphs... Anyway,
what gets the pike around here - I'm assuming BIG white or yellow streamers. But where are some good spots i might try? Thanks.

Welcome to the board!

[ctroy36]

dmart;

Sorry I did not respond to your query in a more timely manner. Been a little busy lately.

As to tippets, I'm mainly using 5x Froghair which works fine. Some of the problems I've had probably stem from using older material which I'm reluctant to toss out. Others can be blamed on knots, which I have a hard time getting right thanks to bad eysight and fumble fingers.

As to pike, I try to avoid them but I imagine anything big and flashy would work. Try the slower parts of the river. Woods Pond is full of big ones.

[ctroy36]

Fished the housy in Lee this afternoon. River was really high, cold and off color. A few BWOs coming off but no fish rising. Caught a couple of small browns and lost a good one. Tried a bunch of nymphs and soft hackles with no takers. Switched to a black wooly bugger and a four-foot sink tip, which worked for a while. It clouded up, sprinkled a bit and got chilly. After that the fish stopped showing any interest.

Will probably be better in a few days if the rain holds off and the river goes down and clears.

[Mark Patenaude]

Charlie,

Go big. dark and ugly this time of year. The bigger the better in off colored water. If the fish can't see it, a larger streamer with preferably a spun hair head like a Zoo Cougar or large Muddler will push alot of water and they will feel it before they see it.

Mark

[ctroy36]

Mark:

Thanks for the tip. Maybe I'll try one of the Saltwater streamers I picked up in Florida last winter.

Unfortunately, I'm not very good at fishing streamers. I don't like casting and then stripping the fly back in again over and over. Seems if I'm doing that I ought to be using a spinning outfit. I end up fishing them more like wets by casting across and letting them drift and then swing. It works, but it's probably not the best way to do it.


Fishing was really good before the rains raised the river, hopefully with a few clear days predicted it will clear and drop soon.


Charley