The Lake House - An Angler's Dream

I first became aware of the Lake House via Facebook. Occasional catch shots began appearing on my news feed. Long commons, while impressive, are not rare in the USA. However, some of the scaley mirrors on the Lake House page stopped my scrolling dead; now, these creatures are a different breed! Numerous fully scaled mirrors appeared on the Lake Houses' various social pages, several 30lb+ and all of them wild, uncaught fish. As someone who has visited half of the U.S. states, and fished in a fair number of them two, most U.S. and international anglers understandably assume that for fully scaled wild carp – all roads lead to Dale Hollow on the Kentucky/Tennessee border. Indeed, it's true, Dale Hollow is a special water. It's also true Dale Hollow is in the middle of nowhere, not near any major airport, and, for me living in the North East, an 18-hour drive. Connecticut, on the other hand, is a different kettle of fish. Two hours from New York City and two and half hours from Boston, Southbury, Connecticut, has excellent transport links and is near some exciting cities should an international traveller wish to visit the region. For me, living on Boston's south shore, I HAD to check it out.

Quietly nestled in the rolling hills of Northwest Connecticut along the North arm of lake Lillinonah, the Lake House provides fishing on what is primarily an un-accessible water. At a little under 2,000 acres, it's large but not daunting. The facilities are second to none. A large house with sweeping views over the valley offers three living areas, a large T.V. with international channels, an outside bar area, a clean bathroom, a well-equipped kitchen and comfortable beds. Walking down the hill to the water, a firepit, chairs and BBQ grill offer a great social space. In the evening, the tasteful lighting really makes this a great space. And then the water. Another shelter, this time over a deck, leads down onto the dock with stunning views over the water. An instant response of wow, and yet where do I fish; there are so many good-looking areas sprung to mind. Fortunately for me, Rafal Cisowski, the owner, was on hand and offered to take me out on his boat to show me the depths on the echo sounder and get an overview of the area. While the boat helped speed up the process of exploring the water with a Deeper or a marker rod, immediately, I could see I would not need to fish at range. Depths of 15-20ft within 30 yards of the dock, weed beds and alluring overhanging marginal trees all captured my attention. 

Excitingly I set up three rods. Simple yet strong was my approach as the water is rich with zebra mussels, weed beds and large rocks – all very common when fishing large, wild waters. Reels loaded with 23lb Exocet mainline and 50lb braided leaders ensured nothing was braking easily. End tackle was my usual approach of fishing good versions of simple rigs. Snowman presentations with beaked point hooks presented Mainline Essential Ib hook baits over a scattering of boilies and glugged maize. For anyone who has watched me fish, my approach is anything but complicated. I rarely use the latest, in-trend rigs, I carry one or two baits that I am confident in, and I never question what I have cast out. However, I do pay considerable attention to fishing my simple tactics with intentionality and focus. For example, I clipped up every cast. I baited using a small boat, adopting a match angler approach of little and often. Every rig was changed between fish – including catfish. In conclusion, I put a lot of effort into fishing simple tactics well. 

As the sun set on the first of three nights, my right-hand margin rod was the first to receive a bite. As is often the case with un-caught fish, the fish extreme, the reel spinning as the rod plunged nearly out of my hands. After some time, a perfectly scaled common was at the bottom of my net. A fresh bait and new rig meant I was back in the game. Before turning in the for night, I topped up all three rods with a fresh scattering of maize and boilies. I can't remember much about the first night other than sleeping incredibly well in the wonderfully silent countryside and the frequent wake-up call from the rods. Bites were consistent during the hours of darkness, from fish ranging in the upper doubles to upper twenties. Unfortunately, the days were quiet. However, if sitting in a comfortable chair watching eagles fly from their nest and swoop over the water is unfortunate, I'll take that any time!

As the trip went on, the standard of fish improved. Clearly, a better shoal of fish had moved into the area, with two thirty+ commons falling to my rods during the second night. As the alarms continued to call for my attention, I hoped that I would catch one of the lakes' incredible fully scaled mirrors. I didn't have to wait long. After putting two thirty-pound commons in the sling, I netted a beautifully scaled mirror carp weighing just under 26lb. While it wasn't the biggest fish of my trip, it certainly was the best looking. The last day was slow, which wasn't bad, as I enjoyed the opportunity to shower and cook a feast on the nearby grill. As the sunset on the final night, I went to bed confident of action. I felt that I knew the patterns, feeding spells and rods that were most reliable. Everything was in place and fishing well. I sat up way too late, drinking in the place's stunning atmosphere. When I finally turned in, sleep was scarce, with the rods often bouncing in the rests. When the sun rose, my swim was a mess with five retention slings resting off the side of the dock. The action had been constant in the last two hours before daybreak. More good fish were waiting to have their photo taken, with a nice upper twenty common leading the pack. 

Eventually, it was time to leave. I looked around one last time, immediately thinking about when I could get back. 

A final word of advice, book a trip before you can't get a booking!