Store Hours:
8am-6pm
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Wednesday 10am-3pm, Saturday &
Sunday 8am-5pm
We are still looking for one more part-time employee, someone who knows the river well, is experienced and knowledgeable about flyfishing, and has a flexible schedule.
Pictured up top is customer Thomas G. with a recent beauty on a dry fly in the evening. If you can read riseforms, you can pick out bigger trout and target them with dries.
We will match most advertised deals and sales from other stores local or on the internet. We want your business, and as your friends and local fly shop please come to us first if we can help. Our business only survives because of your support.
The new 2026 Thomas & Thomas Contact III+ Euro rods are now available. We are happy to accept various trade ins toward the III+ to make them more affordable, and you can also trade in your Contact II. They have two different tips, including a solid one that if more flexible and enables you to more easily cast lighter flies, cushion lighter tippet, fish thin Micro Leaders, and it also makes it harder for smaller fish to throw the hook. The Contact III+ is made of a new material that’s twice as strong and recovers noticeably faster/crisper. This will translate into greater accuracy. With the included second tip, it's like getting two rods in one. Lengths remain the same at 10' & 10'9" with the exception of the new 11’ 5“ 3wt (3" longer, a great rod for fishing at distance). If you break a rod tip on these, T&T has an expedited repair program for the Contact III+ series that should have you back on the water with a new tip in a week, instead of the usual 6-8 weeks. Between the improved damping/recovery, new low profile single foot guides, and the added snake guide below the tip-top, you also get dramatically less tip wrapping with micro leaders.
We are now a Guideline dealer, They are a Scandanavian company that makes some great rods & reels and more. Zach & Derrrick are both BIG fans of their products. We have Euro, dry fly, and streamers rods from them. We also have Guideline Euro leader butt material in 3x to 5x for making micro leaders, plus a cool mini chest pack that you can attach 5 different ways.
Hours:
Wednesday
10am-3pm. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday 8am-6pm. Weekends
remain at 8am-5pm. We will stay on this schedule through the end of
the summer.
River Report:
We’ve
taken in 4 different book collections over the past 2 weeks, we
literally have so many used books there is not room on our
bookshelves! We have many of those books on the red tables in the
book room. There are many excellent titles in the recent batches. FYI
we also have quite a few autographed books.
We
finally received legit rainfall between Saturday 7/4
and Tuesday about 2.5” total locally. Not the 3.5-4” originally
forecasted, but still a very welcome and much needed rain (we are in
a drought). Ironically, summertime rain temporarily boosts water
temps on the Farmington. It doesn’t affect the temp of the water
released from the bottom of the reservoir, but it does pump water
into the tributaries that all all run warmer than the dam water this
time of year, especially the Still River. Usually the Still runs
about 10-50cfs in the summer, it is 135cfs as I write this.
Ironically,
the river will get cooler as
the flow drops. Riverton is 119cfs at the USGS gauge by the Rt 20
bridge (Hitchcock/Riverton Self Storage), so the Still is
contributing more than 50% of the flow. The total flow below the Still River and in the Permanent TMA/C&R is 254cfs (a medium flow) and dropping daily as the Still recedes from the rain. The water is coming out of
the dam in the mid 40’s, which is great for the
second week of July. I don’t see any rain in the 10 Day Forecast,
so the Still will drop and the river will get cooler. But, because
DEEP is being conservative with the dam release (due to drought
concerns), we will have low water after the Still River drops. And
when the water is lower, it warms up faster as you move away from the
dam, so pay attention to water temps, especially in the afternoons & evenings on sunny days. Ideally you want be 65 degrees
or
less,
with 50-65 being optimal. I’d
use 68 degrees as an upper limit, and definitely do not fish in 70
degree plus water, it’s highly stressful for trout to catch &
play them in warm water, it can kill them. Use your thermometer, and if the water is
over 68, go upriver until you find cooler water. The
demarcation line varies during the day, and also depends upon the
daily
weather.
Coolest water temps are at first light, and the highest is typically
in late afternoon/early evening. Sunny days will see much bigger temp
increases than cloudy days. This is the time of year to own a
thermometer, and use it frequently to take water temps. This will
keep the trout safer and put you in the best water that will give you
better fishing. If
you want to fish in New Hartford & Canton, start early in the
morning and take water temps so you can move upstream if necessary by late morning. I
would not fish below that until things cool off in late summer/early
fall.
A
word about taking water temps. I see people doing it wrong all the
time, and this can give you an artificially high reading. You need to
do two things: 1) take the temperature in moving water, and 2) make
sure your thermometer is in the shade when you take a reading. If you
don’t do this and you take the temp in the slack water along the
shoreline that is exposed to the sun all day, you can easily get a
reading 5+ degrees above what the water temp is in the current. Some
people will tell you taking the surface temp of the water in the
river is no good, but that is not true. The max difference you may
see in the slowest, deepest pools is maybe 1 degree between the
surface and the bottom. And to the folks who dispute this and say the
bottom layer of pool water is significantly cooler than the surface,
I would point out that even if this was true (it’s not), you still
have to play your fish in the middle and upper layers of the water
column.
I fished Wednesday from late morning until dark,
as far down as New Hartford, and as far up as Riverton near the dam.
I was surprised to see a fairly good Isonychia (“Iso”) hatch
until about 12:30. Had good results in the first spot, and lost a big
brown, close to 20” I’d guess. After a late lunch, I decided to
take the water temp near the 219 bridge in New Hartford, and at
3:30pm it was 69 degrees! So I went upstream about 4 miles and hit a
shady spot and had good luck there, water temp was surprisingly only
1 degree cooler at 68. So I decided to hit Riverton where the water
is the coldest, I got 49.5 degrees for a water temp, the water
literally hurt my hands when I would release a fish. Ended up being a
good day and a fairly obscene number of fish landed, including some
nice ones, but no truly big ones (other than the one I lost). Water
was still off-color below the Still River, but not muddy. Mops were
good, but overall I did best on smaller nymphs in the #18-22 range.
That is typical in July & August. Bugs I saw included Isonychia,
Sulfurs, and Attenuatta. There have been a lot of Blue Winged Olives
(BWO’s) around lately, from about #18-24, with the smaller sizes
being overall more prevalent.
CT DEEP is being conservative with water released from the dam due to drought concerns- we are below normal precipitation so far for 2026, and we finished 2025 6-8” shy of normal. They are attempting to maintain a bank of cold water in the reservoir system so that they don’t run out of cold water when we really need it in August & September. If they were to steadily release 200cfs+ and this drought continues, we could end up at 50cfs by the end of the summer, so this reduced release is necessary.
Don’t
forget about Terrestrials, especially Ants & Beetles, they are
very active in the summer. If they are not rising (often the case),
go subsurface with nymph & wet flies/soft hackles, blind fish an
Attractor dry fly, or do a Dry/Dropper rig with a nymph 18-24”
under a buoyant/visible dry. Don’t go too heavy if you are nymphing
during low water conditions (often the case this time of year), or
you will hang bottom constantly and not catch fish. Plus you don’t
need to dredge bottom this time of year. Streamers are at their best
during first and last light, and at their worst in the middle of a
bright, sunny day. Mousing at night is a good option for big brown
trout, keep your leader very short and heavy.
Sulfurs
are a mix of #16 Invaria and #18 Dorothea- make sure you have BOTH
sizes, trout can be picky on that. Sulfur hatches are trending more
toward #18’s now. Typically an evening hatch, but the further
upriver you are the more the chances you may see an early to mid
afternoon hatch of them. Assorted Caddis going from #16-24 (tan,
olive/green, black, gray) are major players. Most Caddis hatching
occurs from about mid morning to early afternoon, and then the adults
come out in the evening to egg-lay in riffly water. July is the peak
Isonychia (“Iso”) month. Isonychia are a big #8-12 fast water bug
that typically emerge between late afternoon and dark. You can even
blind fish them over likely looking fast water. This is one of my
absolute favorite hatches. Iso’s will continue right into the mid
fall time period, but they get smaller as the season progresses, and
the color changes from brownish to more of an olive color. #10 is
about average for them currently, but some are bigger, some are
smaller. Other bugs in the mix include #14 Light Cahills in the
evenings, and #18-24 and smaller Blue Winged Olives (evenings, cloudy
afternoons). Look also for #18-20 Attenuata in the eves, and Needhami
#22-26 spinners & duns in the mornings, along with the
Winter/Summer Caddis #18-24.
Dry/Dropper
with a Caddis dry and a trailing weighted pupa 1-2’ below can be an
effective combo during a Caddis emergence- they usually take the
pupa, and the dry acts as a suspender/indicator, but sometimes they
eat the dry. Frequently the better dry fly action for Caddis is when
they come back later in the day to egg-lay, usually in the low light
of evenings. And sometimes swinging wet flies/soft hackles is the way
to go when Caddis are hatching and/or egg-laying. On average, they
are much better/faster swimmers than Mayflies, which is why the takes
to them are often violent and trout will sometimes jump out of the
water. They also tend to be most active in faster, broken water like
riffles, pool heads, pocket water, etc. When fishing Caddis dries,
sometimes the fish want them dead-drift, but frequently they won’t
eat it unless you twitch/move it, the naturals are very active, not
passive like a Mayflies.
****************************************************************************
Dries:
-Isonychia
#8-12: Fast water bug, usually about 4pm to dark. Can also be on the
water in the late mornigs/early afternoons
-Sulfur
#16 (Invaria) and #18 (Dorothea): we are seeing more 18’s than 16’s
now, hatch is moving upriver, not sure of the downstream boundary.
Still plenty haching in Mathie’s Grove, Campground, and all the way
up to the dam in Riverton.
-Attenuatta #18-20: evenings
-Assorted Caddis (tan, olive/green #16-18, black, gray #18-22)
-Beetles & Ants #12-20: great option when bugs are not hatching
-Blue
Winged Olives/BWO’s #18-24: afternoon hatch on cloudy days, also on
the water in the last hour of daylight in flat pool water. Don’t
sleep on #18-22 rusty spinners at dusk.
-Needhami #22-26:
mornings, spinners & duns
-Light Cahill #14: evenings
-Summer/Winter Caddis #18-24: hatch is typically early to mid morning. Trout focus on the pupa first, and then as the morning progresses they normally switch to the winged adults when they return to egg-lay. Try both twitching & dead-drifting your fly, trout often key on movement with this bug.
-Midges
#20-28
Nymphs:
-Caddis
Pupa #14-18 (tan, olive/green)
-Sulfur Nymphs #16-18: you can use specific imitations, or go generic with Pheasant Tails/Frenchies
-Pheasant Tails/Frenchies #12-22: imitates a wide range of Mayflies including Sulfurs, Vitreus, Baetis/Blue Winged Olives, Isonychia, small Stoneflies, Hendricksons, and more
-Small Nymphs #18-22: try Pheasant Tail’s, Hare’s Ears, Walt’s Worms, etc. Size is often more important than the exact pattern, and the bugs get smaller (mostly) in the Summer
-Isonychia
Nymph #10-12: dead-drift, swing, twitch, and even strip them in. They
are great swimmers, and some days trout prefer different
presentations- you won't know until you experiment.
-Baetis/BWO Nymphs #16-22
-Caddis Larva (olive to green) #14-16: tons of these in the river, good all year
-”Junk Flies” (Eggs, Mops, Squirmy/San Juan Worms, Green Weenies): Often work when standard nymphs fail, especially when there aren’t many hatches.
-Stonefly Nymphs #8-10: golden/yellow, brown, black, Stoneflies are a mouthful that can be hard for trout to pass up, and there are a surprising amount of them in the river. Good choice when flows are up. Some days when trout won’t move for a small nymph, it takes a bigger bite of food to get an eat. Often catches larger than average fish. Best in early morning during summer
-Midges
#18-22 (black, olive, red): Zebra Midge, Flash Midge, Red Iris Midge,
etc.
-Attractor
Nymphs #14-20: such as Sexy Waltz, Rainbow Warriors.
-Winter/Summer
Caddis Larva #18 (yellow)
Streamers:
Streamers are a great “clean-up” fly to fish after you have thoroughly nymphed a run, and often will produce a bigger fish than the nymphs did. Also, anytime flows are higher or off-color is a great time to use a streamer.
Top colors currently are olive, tan. A little yellow paired with another color (olive, tan, etc.) in a streamer can trigger brown trout. Black can be good on recently stocked trout (especially rainbows), during low light (dawn/dusk), and high and/or dirty water.
-Jig Streamers #8-12: various patterns/colors, deadly fished on a tight-line/Euro rig, often sorts out bigger fish. Can also be fished under an indicator, or stripped/swung like a regular streamer. Great to use as a clean-up fly after you nymph a run.
-Woolly
Bugger #4-12: assorted colors, try also Don's Peach Bugger
-Zonker
#4-6: a classic fish catcher! In white, natural
-BMAR
Yellow Matuka #6: deadly fly! Also standard Matuka in olive,
brown
-Zuddler #4-8: one of our favorites, in olive,
white, brown, black, yellow
-Complex & Mini Twist
Bugger #2-6: assorted colors, very good fly
-Muddler
Minnow #6-10: a classic, underfished & still deadly!