For Saturday 7/4, the Fourth of July, we wil be open from 8am-3pm.
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 is customer Alexis with a banger brown trout, nice work!
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:
For Saturday 7/4, the
Fourth of July, we will be open from 8am-3pm.
We’ve taken in 4 different book collections over the past week, 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.
We
are fortunate to be a true bottom release tailwater, which means that
water is released at the dam from the bottom of a deep reservoir.
Cold water is denser than warm water, so the coldest water is on the
bottom and that is what comes out of the dam. It is still coming out
of the dam in the mid 40’s, and then the water temperature
gradually rises as it goes downstream. Because of this, we remain
very fishable in July It does not mean we are immune
to the effects of hot weather though eventually as you go downstream
far enough, water temps will exceed 68 degrees and you should move
upstream until you find suitable temps (ideally
65 or less).
The demarcation line varies during the day, and
also depends upon the weather.
Coolest
water temps are at first light, and the highest is typically in late
afternoon. 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
Some
good news for the weekend. DEEP is releasing more water for the weekend (200cfs) starting
this morning. and we saw the stocking truck drive by, I imagine
they will stock the upper river (Riverton,
Whittemore to the dam) above
the Permanent TMA/Catch & Release.
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, you still have to play your fish in the middle and upper layers of the water column.
CT DEEP is being conservative with water released from the dam due to drought concerns- we are about 5” short of 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.
Main bugs are still Sulfurs & assorted Caddis, but Isonychia are a legit hatch that’s working it’s way upriver, at least as far up as the Campground, and likely above that by now. July is the peak month for Isonichia hatches. Don’t forget about Terrestrials, especially Ants & Beetles, they are very active now, and will be even more active during the heat wave. 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 while nymphing the current low water conditions, 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.
Hatches remain similar to what they have been. Sulfurs are a mix of #16 Invaria and #18 Dorothea- make sure you have BOTH sizes, trout can be picky on that. More of 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. Typically most hatching occurs from about mid morning to early afternoon, and then the adult Caddis come out in the evening to egg-lay in riffly water. Isonychia are picking up steam, with some good reports in New Hartford, and working their way upriver at least as far as the Campground and likely above that. 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. July is the big month for this bug, one of my absolute favorite hatches. Iso’s will continue to hatch right into the mid fall time period, but they get smaller as the season progresses. #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 #20-22 and smaller Blue Winged Olives (evenings, cloudy afternoons). #12-14 Vitreus are probably almost done, but there should still be a few up in Riverton near the dam.
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:
-Sulfur #16 (Invaria) and #18 (Dorothea)
-Assorted Caddis (tan, olive/green #16-18, black, gray #18-22)
-Isonychia #8-12: at least as far up as the Campground, and likely further upstream than that now. Fast water bug, usually about 4pm to dark.
-Beetles & Ants #12-20: great option when bugs are not hatching
-Blue Winged Olives/BWO’s #20-22: afternoon hatch on cloudy days, also on the water in the last hour of daylight in flat pool water. Don’t sleep on small #20-22 rusty spinners at dusk.
-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!