conny

[Ejteasers]

took a trip to Conny, to get some last licks in before being laid up for few moths due to surgery. I know they are "Dumb" fish , but it seemed like a sure fire way to bend the rod during the winter. ended up with about fifteen trout for the session, small green and black nymphs did the trick hers a couple from the day

 

[longcast]

How awesome is that!!! Nice fish and a great way to bend the rod. I went searching for perch today and could not find a one. Unless they moved north of me for spawning. Much different weather as of late compared to the last two years.

 

[Ejteasers]

Perch and trout make up the majority of my winter fishing. I had been getting good perch on some of the north shore tidal creeks up until about a week ago. Had to travel pretty west for to get there though. I typically do a lot of my perch fishing out in the ridge area, some of the biggest yellows I've ever encountered on long island live out here. but all the ponds have been frozen, and I,ve never been an ice guy... so trout it was..

Weather has def been wacky

 

[captmike28]

took a trip to Conny, to get some last licks in before being laid up for few moths due to surgery. I know they are "Dumb" fish , but it seemed like a sure fire way to bend the rod during the winter. ended up with about fifteen trout for the session, small green and black nymphs did the trick hers a couple from the day

Maybe to an experienced Fly Fisherman like yourself Trout might seem "Dumb" but I'm the one who feels "Dumb" trying to catch them on the Conny. Actually there is a little story behind this.

Although I have been overwhelmingly a salt water guy my whole life, I have dabbled in the sweet water many times as well, mostly with spinning rigs. Then in the early 90's I was on a trip to Colorado, took some lessons, and learned to fly cast. The local rivers there were literally loaded with trout and once I got the "drag free" presentation down I did catch many fish. Of course the areas we fished were wide open and there was no problem really loading up the rod for some nice double haul casts.

So, I came home very confident in my abilities and a friend who was very experienced on the local streams invited me to join him on the Conny. I had not learned how to roll cast and that day wound up finding me swallowing a big piece of "humble pie" as my buddy nailed about 10-15 nice trout while I struggled to catch only 2!

So, the painful lesson I learned that day is that the term "Dumb" has a lot to do with one's experience and skill!!!

 

[Ejteasers]

your right about drag free casts, learning to mend my line was a lesson I experienced very early on ,but did not actually learn right away. I learned to fly fish around 8 yrs old with my father on a still water lake in Vermont= no current, stripping flies. My first trip to conny was a different story. I think between my father and myself we had maybe 4 fish on streamers I had tied. A local sharpie walked past us and pointed out a bunch of trout sitting just outside an undercut bank, as he past going to beat. I tried to catch those fish for 2 1/2 hours with no luck. At the end of the session that same sharpie passed by again asking how how made out. After venting my frustration's, he said "You have to mend your line, let me show you". He then proceeded to pull 5 trout on back to back casts. Lesson observed!!!! It took some time to master though, It was easier to learn on some slower moving streams like the Carmens river, before I was able to get it down on faster moving water. I think what I meant by saying "dumb" trout is there is no need to worry about matching the hatch at conny, they will even try to eat your strike indicator there as long as it is drifting drag free. On places like the upper reaches of the Carmen's, matching the hatch and drag free drifts are both equally important to be successful

 

[Matts]

I have fond childhood memories of Conny.
I got pretty good at casting in my wide open back yard, but there, I probably roll cast 90% of the time. Oakdale (?) tackle shop recommended muddler minnows. Those worked ok. Then I got the bug and started tying my own, plus various other streamers, based more on what appealed to me than anything from a book. I never learned to fish nymphs and could never get the fish there to hit a dry fly.
My dad and I would do "Ok" with mostly small fish. It depended on which beat we got, as some were definitely more productive and fun to fish than others.
The last time I was there, maybe 35 years ago, they must have released a few breeders. I caught 3 browns that each topped 21". They would hit the overhanging branches when they jumped.
I keep meaning to go back. Maybe this summer.

 

[Ejteasers]

roll casting and short haul cast are a necessity there, the park is surely not back to its glory day status, and the upper beats are even farther from that. But with that said the lower half of the river is chocked full of chunky brookies and a good amount of bows, they are no longer stocking browns( Im sure there are still a handful of really old wise ones lurking around though). If you go back in the summer ( its worth revisiting) and want to give dry flies a shot go with terrestrials such as ants, beetles and hoppers, trout have a hard time resisting plump land based bugs floundering about.. For me %85 of my trouting is done with nymphs, for every trout you see rising to flies there are at least 5 more that are not. but terrestrials produce some heart pumping strikes from tout. trout topwater equivalant to bass on frog hits

Aside from all the fish talk.... catching or not it is by far the most pristine, visually pleasing and peaceful place to freshwater fish on long Island IMO

 

[captmike28]

It has been over 20 years since I last fished the Conny but I must agree it is still one of the most serene places left on LI to enjoy this activity. I really should make time to do this again soon.

I also concur that while there are times when the nymphs catch a lot of fish, it is hard to beat the excitement of seeing any fish crash a top water lure. When my folks were alive, and living in south Florida on a lake, I would take my fly rod down every winter. It didn't matter if it was a LM Bass or a small Sunfish, when they would jump on those small poppers it was always thrilling and well worth the effort!

 

[flounderjoe]

Spend alot of time on the conny my club actually meets in the old southside sportsmans club there and the surest way to catch and keep catching is to keep changing your fly yup they will hit it most times in the first drift will look at it on the second and usually totally ignore it on the third.The park has become popular again and those fish have seen it all over and over again especially woolly buggers if you tie your own make them small like size 12 or 14. as far as the upper river yes they are stocking it up there again and we spent a few weekends cutting open clearings to fish from.Still no wading up there we are still waiting for the DEC to ok that again when and if that will happen anytime soon is any bodies guess.