Casting About: Caddis Pupae
June 1, 2025Avid trout anglers learn not only about the fish but the working of the watershed. Yes, we want to be completely in touch with our rivers. And one aspect of that desire is to study aquatic macro invertebrates. Tucked under rocks, buried in the mud, encased in gravel and sand, they abide on the riverbed, an essential part of the trout’s food chain....
Central Watershed Outings: Summit Houses of the Pioneer Valley
June 1, 2025Inspired by artists and writers such as Thomas Cole and Timothy Dwight, many tourists during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries came to the Connecticut River valley to visit the region’s mountain houses atop peaks such as Mount Tom, Mount Holyoke, and Mount Sugarloaf. Visitors enjoyed the panoramic views and amenities such as restaurants, observatories, theaters, concerts, and inclined railroads....
My Mountain Laurel Pilgrimage
June 1, 2025Some folks go on an annual religious pilgrimage. My annual journey is to see mountain laurel which blooms from late May to early June....
Central Watershed Outings: Tracking Dinosaurs in the Connecticut River Valley
March 1, 2025In March 1835 Amherst College professor Edward Hitchcock received a letter about a mysterious discovery in Greenfield, Massachusetts. The writer, a doctor named James Deane, described bird-like tracks embedded in a slab of sandstone rock....
Casting About: A Day on the Deerfield River
March 1, 2025On an Autumn evening last year, I got a text message from guide Chris Jackson offering me a half-day float on the Deerfield River. His offer, however, came with a warning. Drought conditions, coupled with unseasonably warm weather plaguing the entire Northeast at that time, had caused river conditions that were low and warm, resulting in difficult fishing....
Casting About: The “Eighty-Eight”
December 1, 2024I’m going to introduce you to an effective fly that I doubt you have ever heard of, nor are you apt to find it in any fly-tying book, fly-fishing catalog, or in any fly shop. It’s called the Eighty-Eight....
Central Watershed Outings: An Apple a Day
September 1, 2024Visiting scenic orchards of western Massachusetts while enjoying fall foliage, a quintessential New England combination, is a favorite autumn tradition of mine. It’s a great opportunity to support local family-owned farms, which are becoming increasingly rare....
Casting About: Farmington River, Part Two
September 1, 2024In the previous issue (Summer 2024) we looked at the fabulous dry fly fishing found in the “year-round” Trout Management Area (TMA) on the upper West Branch of the Farmington River in Connecticut. In this issue, we broaden our view, taking in the two other TMAs on the upper Farmington....
Casting About: The Farmington River
June 1, 2024Fly anglers are dyed-in-the-wool optimists, forever believing the next cast or the next bend in the river holds the fish of a lifetime. It is a creed we live by, and in no place does it spring more eternal than on a blue-ribbon trout stream such as Connecticut’s Farmington River....
Central Watershed Outings: Boating the French King Gorge to Barton Cove
June 1, 2024ç Last summer—after water levels finally subsided after prolonged rain—I embarked on an interpretive cruise aboard the Heritage, a tour boat operated by FirstLight’s Northfield Mountain Environmental Education and Recreation Center....
Vermont’s Spectacular Waterfalls
March 1, 2024Few things in nature exemplify spring more than a roaring waterfall or stream in a freshly leafed out forest....
Casting About: The Eightmile River
March 1, 2024Frequently hidden from view, the Eightmile River and its East Branch ramble through the pristine woodlands of Lyme, East Haddam, and Salem, Connecticut....
The Connecticut River Raft Race
December 1, 2023With all the decorum of a college fraternity on house party weekend, the annual Connecticut River Raft Race will celebrate its 50th anniversary on July 20, 2024....
Central Watershed Outings: Hidden Gems of the Wild and Scenic Westfield River
December 1, 2023Set on a historic railroad line in the scenic Berkshire foothill towns of Middlefield and Chester, Massachusetts, the Keystone Arches Trail offers a fine sampling of the Westfield River watershed’s rich natural resources and history....
Casting About: The Salmon River
November 30, 2023South of Marlborough, Connecticut, south and west, a river runs. It is not a large river, yet it holds a large place in many an angler’s heart. They know these bright waters, and wade its riffles and runs, dreaming of trout dancing on a fly line....
Fly-Fishing the Headwaters
September 1, 2023Some of the finest fly-fishing in all of New England takes place in the headwaters of the Connecticut River, in Pittsburg, New Hampshire....
Mount Sugarloaf
September 1, 2023Last fall I set out once again to witness the magnificent foliage of Mount Sugarloaf in the late afternoon light....
Casting About- New Column Starts with Fall Issue
June 1, 2023In the Fall issue of Estuary, Ed Mitchel will begin a regular column on the fine art of fly-fishing throughout the Connecticut River watershed. The column, entitled “Casting About,” will feature stories from Ed’s long association with the fly-fishing world, including the best environs for fish, equipment, attire, and skills required, as well as the best places to go for the best results....
Farmington River Fun: Recreation for Everyone in the Valley
June 1, 2023From the observation room at the top of Heublein Tower on Talcott Mountain, you stand almost 1,000 feet above the Farmington River. The magnificent castle was a summer retreat promised by Gilbert Heublein to his wife, Louise, and opened to the public in 1974. Today, it stands just off the New England National Scenic Trail and has one of the best views in southern New England....
Tour de Lyme
March 10, 2023Octogenarians to tykes unite and pedal the pavement and trails for a good cause....
Tour de Lyme
March 1, 2023Octogenarians to tykes unite and pedal the pavement and trails for a good cause....
Ride the Connecticut River on Two Wheels
August 31, 2022My husband, Paul, and I love to explore by bicycle, and we love a water view. When you can combine the two, it’s a recipe for a great day out. The Connecticut River affords many attractive options. In this article, I describe one on the lower Connecticut and one in New Hampshire and Vermont....
Brattleboro Hinsdale Bridge
May 31, 2022A greenway with historic bridges and an island park, community connections to businesses, social services, recreational trails, and revitalization of downtown Brattleboro, Vermont: these are among the many benefits associated with a long-anticipated new bridge at the Connecticut River Route 119 crossing between Brattleboro and Hinsdale, New Hampshire....
Hiking the New England Trail over Mt. Tom
May 31, 2022Formed by ancient volcanoes some 200 million years ago, Mount Tom’s summit ridge is one of the most unique and spectacular natural areas of western Massachusetts....
Duck Hunters
December 1, 2021The Hartford portion of the Audubon Christmas bird count is unlike any other in the Connecticut River Watershed....
Deerfield River
September 1, 2021With a largely undeveloped watershed stretching from the Green Mountains of Vermont to the Berkshire Hills and Pioneer Valley in western Massachusetts, the Deerfield River is one of New England’s most picturesque and historically significant waterways....
Fort River
May 31, 2021The Fort River Birding and Nature Trail is a well-engineered, universally accessible trail that opened in 2014. It allows visitors of all abilities and ages to experience the diverse habitats and wildlife....
Rail Trails
March 1, 2021Diverse rail trails help preserve the central Connecticut River watershed’s rich railroad heritage. After many of the region’s railways, including the extensive Boston and Maine Railroad network, discontinued during the twentieth century, conservation and community organizations created trails on the abandoned corridors....
Sailing into the Wind
March 1, 2021Among my favorite memories is when my sailing camp got the whole day to race against each other in different sailboats....
Cold Weather Safety
November 29, 2020“Maybe better that we die because then we won’t be embarrassed.” So muttered I to my duck hunting partner as the outgoing tide took our eight-foot pram and us, shivering and soaked to the skin, out from the mouth of the Connecticut River towards the grim waves of Long Island Sound on a freezing winter day many years ago....
Turners Falls Area Winter Birding
November 29, 2020In March 2019, a flock of 20 tundra swans made an unexpected overnight visit to a historic canal at Turners Falls, Massachusetts, one of the Connecticut River watershed’s finest winter birding destinations. The swans, which breed in the Arctic and overwinter on the mid-Atlantic coast and other regions, delighted fortunate observers before departing the next morning....
Early Morning Row
September 1, 2020The best time to row is early in the morning when the water is quiet and the only people on the river are morning fishermen and crabbers....
My Secret Ledge
September 1, 2020When I go there now, two or three times every week, I walk to the end of one road and trudge up a broken old woods road into the state forest....
Nature’s Heart
September 1, 2020Everyone has a favorite place in nature. Ours is a rocky outcrop rising 300 feet above our village on the Connecticut River. Native Americans called these ledges above the stream valley Tomheganompakut, meaning “at the Tomahawk Rocks.” The hard, granitic schist was the source of their stone axes, or “Tomhegan.”...
Headwaters
September 1, 2020The first thing that hit me was the smell—a damp, woodsy, uplifting aroma that can only be described as the scent of Christmas. After several hours in the stale air of my car, the pungent aroma of balsam fir was invigorating...
Cycling the Valley
June 1, 2020There’s good reason that magazines such as Outside and National Geographic have repeatedly recognized Northampton, Massachusetts, and the small communities surrounding it, as one of the best places in America for outdoor activities. The three counties hugging the banks of the Connecticut River in Western Massachusetts boast easy access to dozens of state forests and parks, a national scenic trail, dramatic views and, of course, the ever-present river, threading through the center of the Valley....
Take Me Fishing!
June 1, 2020Can you take me fishing?” If you are a parent who fishes, that request from your child may prompt the proverbial happy dance. Most anglers pray that their kids will follow in their waders. However, if you can’t tell an improved clinch knot from a Windsor, or a yellow perch from a bullhead, you probably would rather be asked where babies originate....
My Love Affair With Kayaking
June 1, 2020When I was nineteen, I moved from Texas to Massachusetts to attend Hampshire College. I had lived my whole life up to that point in a hot, flat landscape, so when I moved North, I wanted to get to know the landscape as intimately as I could....
Watery Wilderness
June 1, 2020The Connecticut River meanders for almost 200 miles from north to south along the entire border between Vermont and New Hampshire. It’s a gentle river, beloved by paddlers of all abilities for its unspoiled shoreline, abundant wildlife, and ample public access points....
Whitewater Paddling
June 1, 2020There is perhaps no better way to enjoy the outdoors—particularly the parts of it inaccessible by roads—than by canoeing or kayaking our rivers and creeks....
Home Waters
June 1, 2020The first time I fished the Scantic River with my father, a great blue heron soared directly toward us through a gauntlet of sycamores, only yards away, his wingtips stretched seemingly from bank to bank. I can’t even remember how many fish I caught that day, but since then this small tributary of the Connecticut River has become my seventy-year-old father’s favorite stream....
Paddling Home from School
March 1, 2020A dreamed of trip becomes a reality— paddling down our Connecticut River...