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Eric L
06-06-2006, 12:24 PM
Hi all,

I'm new to this forum and thought I'd give a brief personal introduction.

I grew up in CT and caught my 1st trout on a fly in the reservation pool circa 1979. Bought my Thompson model A vise (still in use) and learned to tie flies at S+M flytying over in Bristol. Back then the river was beautiful, but the fishing was really pretty poor. By Memorial day most of the stocked fish had been extracted form the river leaving just a few holdovers, salmon parr and 7-9 inch yearling browns stocked through the summer in the West Branch. I used to fish the FAll BWO hatch below Collinsville by driving from pool to pool because there were rarely more than 2 or 3 fish rising in any one place.

When I was back from College I volunteered to coordinate running an angler survey for FRAA and DNR (summer 1987?) on what is now the C/R stretch of the Farmington. I've forgotten most of the names, but Dick, Carl and Gene (who owned a flyshop up the hill from the Church pool) were officers in the FRAA back then. Bill Hyatt had just joined CT DNR at the time and the fossils in power there were on public record stating that the Farmington was too nutrient-poor to support trout over 14 inches....

Anyway, my career as a research biologist/biochemist has taken me away from CT, but I still get back to fish from time to time. I'll be up there next week and am looking forward to a great week of fishing -- even if the catching is'nt so good.

Regards,

Eric

The Patriot
06-07-2006, 07:02 AM
Welcome back! As you probably know, your Farmington has flourished, and supports MANY trout WELL over 14 inches! :wink: :D

Thanks for the work you did back then which undoubtedly layed the ground work for the fishery we enjoy today. If you put some last names to those FRAA officers you mentioned, I'd bet I'm acquainted with some of them.

Best wishes on your fishing, hope to see you out there...

Jim

Eric L
06-07-2006, 09:44 AM
I fish the Farmington now about a week a year. I guess I was'nt clear on emphasising how much better the fishing is now versus when I was growing up -- it's hard to believe its the same stream. CT has done a great job overall to imporve the quality of all of the FW fisheries in the state. For such a small state the fishing opporunities are many and varied --literally something for every type of angler.

Eric

The Fisherman
06-07-2006, 09:53 AM
Definitely. I remember fishing the river a few weeks after opening day and not catching anything...year after year. Fished out. (This would have been the mid to late 1970s). I just bailed on the river for the longest time.

Imagine my shock when I returned 20 years later and was hooking healthy, fat trout in the middle of a July heat wave. :lol: