Fly Fishing from a Kayak for Panfish - Lake Wintergreen, West Rock State Park, Connecticut July 2024

Finally got a chance to get out and do one of my favorite things - fly fishing for panfish from my kayak! This was filmed on Lake Wintergreen in West Rock State Park, located near where I now live in New Haven, Connecticut. I used four rods in this video, two 5wts and two 8wts, each weight outfitted with a floating line and a sink tip line to cover various depths. The kayak I use is the Lifetime Teton 100 Angler kayak, fitted with inflatable outriggers for standing stability, an Anchor Wizard, and horizontal rod holders from YakGadget which are compatible with fly rods, and also hold my paddle.
The panfish were a big fan of the purple sparkling wooly bugger (size 6) fished on the 5wt sink tip line, and also a foam spider pattern which I fished on the floating 5wt line. I also fished a hard popper on the floating 8wt, and a 3.5" white Game Changer on the 8wt intermediate sink tip. Neither of those triggered any takes the entire day.
I was hoping to hook into a bigger bass or trout which inhabit this lake, but my thinking is they were out in deeper water due to the hot weather which came through in the week leading up to this. I don't know what the water temperature was, but I could tell it was warm. When all else fails, bluegill have a habit of saving the day!
Filmed on the GoPro Hero 12 using 1080p 60FPS Superview settings, and the GoPro headstrap mount.

[@OldGoatintheWoods]

60 something degrees? Oh, Jiminy Cricket! That would make for a great day for a paddle & a line toss!! Catching all those bluegill certainly helped spice up the day.

[@EscapingTheCity]

@@OldGoatintheWoods it was gorgeous kayak fishing weather. But by the end of that it did warm up into the 80's!

[@calloftheoutdoors8941]

I dont blame you for wanting to escape the city. I do that once a week myself. haha

[@EscapingTheCity]

@@calloftheoutdoors8941 haha it's a never ending battle!!