We are open 7 days a week, current hours are:
8am-6pm
Monday & Tuesday, Wednesday
10am-3pm,
8am-6pm Thursday & Friday, and 8am-5pm on Saturday &
Sunday.
*****We
are looking for one more
part-time
employee, someone who knows the river well and and is knowledgeable
about flyfishing*****
Pictured
up top is a big
dry fly brown by local guide Zach St. Amand.
Current
Sale Items:
-Scott
G Series fly rods $660 (30% off, were $945)
-Thomas & Thomas
Lotic fiberglass rods $450 (were $695)
-Sage Sonic fly rods 25%
off
-Scott G Series fly rods 25% off
-Simms G3 Waders 20%
off
-Simms Confluence Waders 35% off (only small & XXL
left)
-Scientific Angler Amplitude Smooth Trout fly lines 20%
off
-All
Airflo fly lines are 40% off while they last, we are almost out of
them.
***Sales
apply only to
in-stock merchandise and can be bought in-store, or on the website &
shipped to your door - call with any questions***
Gift
Certificates are available and can be sent by mail or bought on our
website.
We
will match most
advertised deals
from other stores local or on the internet if we have the item in
stock. 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 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 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). 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
one snake guide (right next to the tip top), you also get
dramatically less tip wrapping with micro leaders.
Monday
Morning
5/18/26
River
Report:
*****We
are looking for one more
part-time
employee, someone who knows the river and is knowledgeable about
flyfishing*****
Don’t
forget to get a 2026 CT fishing license, you will need a new one as
of January 1st.
You
can get a license here at UpCountry, on the CT DEEP website, or you
can get one in person at most town halls. Don’t forget to
also purchase the $5 Trout/Salmon Stamp, you need it to fish the
Farmington River and any other river that is a TMA (Trout Management
Area).
We
currently have almost all models of the Thomas & Thomas Contact
III+ rods in stock,
with
the exception of the 4 weight. They are sweet! I (Torrey) now have
spent a good amount of time
fishing
the 11’ 5” #3 and the 10’ 9” #2, loved them both, happy to
describe how they fish if you stop by the store.
Weekday
store
hours now extend one hour later to 6pm, except for Wednesday
(10am-3pm).
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday will be 8am-6pm.
Weekends remain at 8am-5pm.
We will stay on this schedule through the end of the summer.
Gonna
be a hot one through Wednesday with highs mid 80’s to mid 90’s
(!), then temps go back to normal on Thursday. Hot weather makes
things fish more like summertime, meaning early & late are the
best times at
the moment. Find shady areas if you can.
I’d
avoid the lower
river until the heat breaks on Thursday- by lower river I mean
Collinsville/Unionville and downstream. Canton, New Hartford and up
will be fine.
#16-18 Tan Caddis remain the dominant bug, but there are several
varieties of smaller Caddis including the “Hatch from Hell” #24
micro Caddis- we don’t have an imitation for that one because it’s
a hard bug to match and the hatch (it’s actually an evening/dusk
egg-laying event) doesn’t last very long. We are on the cusp of
both #10-12
March
Brown & #12-14
Vitreus
hatches- we are seeing a few of both, but not enough to call either
a legitimate
hatch
as yet. However with the hot weather from yesterday
though Wednesday this should get both hatches
going by this
upcoming Memorial
day weekend, if not sooner.
Prior
to this heat wave, the
Caddis have been hatching between mid morning and mid afternoon.
This
heat will likely push bug activity more to early & late.
Subsurface with pupa & wet flies/soft hackles is a good choice
for the Caddis when they are hatching, and if you find them feeding
on the surface you can pick out the bigger trout and target them.
General rule of thumb: Caddis usually hatch earlier in the day, and
come back and egg-lay in the evenings in riffles.
#18-20
Olives
are hatching on cloudy afternoons, usually in gentle riffles &
pools. With total
flows
just
over 200cfs,
trout are definitely looking up now when bugs are on the water. And
nymphing the fast water can be very effective when they aren’t
rising (which is most of the time!).
If the river is
crowded, and it often is, remember that there are miles of
trout-filled water both above and below the 6.2 mile Permanent
TMA/Catch & Release (C&R). Don’t limit yourself to only
fishing that section, that’s a mistake.
There
are 4
miles of TMA above that up to the dam, and another 10 miles of TMA
below that down to the Rt 177 Unionville bridge, and it’s all
great water with lots of trout: stocked, holdover & wild. There
is a decent amount of trout for below that into the town of
Farmington, and even trout all the way down to Tariffville Gorge.
The lower river is good until the water gets too warm, usually
around mid to late June, and then it picks up again in September
when things cool down.
The Permanent TMA/C&R this
morning is medium-low
at
209cfs,
with
modest but regular shots of rain starting Friday night and going
through Monday/Tuesday.
Riverton from the dam to the Rt 20 bridge (Hitchcock/Riverton Self
Storage) is 137cfs, and a little below that the Still River is
adding in 72cfs.
Normal/median
total flow for today’s date would be 380cfs.
Riverton water temp was
44.5 degrees
this morning, it peaked yesterday at 52.
Behind UpCountry it was
55.5
degrees
this morning, it peaked Sunday
at 63.3
degrees.
Unionville USGS gauge is reading 310cs,
the
historical normal/median flow would be 566cfs.
Regardless of hatching activity and rising fish or lack
thereof, good nymphers have been successful.
Don’t sleep on Junk Flies (Mops, Squirmies, Eggs), at moments it’s
been lights out on them when the trout aren’t responding to
traditional or more imitative nymphs. Also, remember
there
are always
lots
of smaller bugs in the river, so things like #18-22
Pheasant
Tails, smaller Hare’s Ears, and Walt’s Worms can be very
productive. If you are nymphing and not catching fish, you are doing
something wrong! Move and cover water, change your weight, change
your depth, experiment with different flies, change sizes, etc.
Going smaller often helps.
The Permanent TMA/Catch &
Release (C&R) was stocked on 4/13 with a large number of trout,
predominately browns, including 1,000 larger Two Year Olds that
average 14-18” and are quite fat. Above & below the Permanent
TMA/C&R has been stocked 3 times now, with lots more fish to
come. Fishing is getting very good. Be prepared to fish subsurface.
Trout are always feeding subsurface this time of year, even when you
don’t see risers or bugs. Hope to fish dries, but be prepared to
go underwater- just because there’s a hatch does not always mean
the trout will feed on the surface. Especially if the water is cold
or high.
There is a new state record rainbow that
was caught in April
on the Farmington River,
it weighed 16.47#, 31” with a 21 ¼” girth. This was stocked by
the state for the Riverton Derby.
Colebrook Reservoir is
full after being low all
winter
due to the drought in the second half of 2026. The reservoir
height/elevation has come up about 40+ feet since early March, from
about 670 feet up to 710
feet
of elevation, “full” would be considered to be 716’ this time
of year, and once it goes over that the Army Corps will dump extra
water to get it below that. Starting
July 1st,
“full” changes
to
708cfs, that’s the begining of Hurricane
Season.
Subsurface
flies that are working include #14-20 Caddis patterns (pupa, larva),
Pheasant
Tails/Frenchies #14-20, #8-10 Stonefly nymphs, #16-18 Walt’s
Worms, Blue Winged Olive nymphs #16-20, flashy Perdigons #16-20,
Rainbow Warrior #16-18, Junk Flies (Mops, Eggs,
Worms,
Green Weenies), various streamers (Woolly Bugger, Zuddlers, etc.).
In the mornings (roughly 7am to 10am’ish) you may find some trout
rising to Winter Caddis, and during cloudy afternoons, there may be
trout rising to small BWO’s. Some days there can be a good
streamer bite. Top colors this time of year are white, olive, tan,
and black. If you are streamer fishing, the more water you cover the
more trout you will catch. Play also with fly color & retrieves,
it can make a big
difference.
*******************************************************************************
Dries:
-Tan
Caddis #16-18: hatching about mid morning through
mid afternoon, egg-laying in the evenings. Olive/green #18 Caddis
will be mixing in soon.
-Blue
Winged Olives/BWO’s #18-20: afternoon hatch on cloudy
days
-Assorted small Caddis #18-22 (black,
gray/brown)
-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: Sometimes brings trout to the surface. If not, go subsurface
with Midge pupa & larva.
Nymphs:
-Tan
Caddis Pupa #14-18
-Pheasant Tails/Frenchies #12-20: imitates a
wide range of Mayflies including Hendricksons, Baetis/Blue Winged
Olives, Sulfurs, Isonychia, Vitreus, small Stoneflies, and
more
-Baetis/BWO Nymphs #16-22
-Caddis Larva (olive to
green) #14-16: tons of these in the river, good all year
-Cased
Caddis #10-14: above average pattern in the early season, especially
when flows are up (high water knocks them into the drift, they mostly
live in slower water near the stream edges).
-”Junk Flies”
(Eggs, Mops, Squirmy/San Juan Worms, Green Weenies): Often work when
standard nymphs fail, especially when there are not many
hatches. Also great in higher and/or off-color water, and on
recently stocked fish.
-Big Stonefly Nymphs #8-10:
golden/yellow, brown, black, Pat’s. Big Stones 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.
Experiment!
-Small Nymphs #18-22: various patterns, many bugs
are small to tiny, with size of the fly often superseding the exact
fly pattern.
-Midges #18-22 (black, olive, red): Zebra Midge,
Flash Midge, Red Iris Midge, etc.
-Attractor Nymphs #10-20: such
as Sexy Waltz, Rainbow Warriors, Frenchies, Prince, Triple Threat,
flashy Perdigons, etc. Some days trout ignore natural/drab nymphs but
will eat gaudy attractors.
-Winter/Summer Caddis Larva #18
(yellow)- also imitates Black Caddis larva & some Midge larva,
works all year long, one of the only bugs that is active &
hatching in the Winter.
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 is a great time to use a
streamer.
Top colors currently are olive, black, tan. A
little yellow paired with another color (olive, tan, etc.) in a
streamer can trigger brown trout. Black can be very 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. White has been a top color, and olive and
tan are both very good.
-Ice Picks (tan, gray, white, yellow):
tied by Rich Strolis, a very nice single hook baitfish
pattern
-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: an oldie but a goodie, still VERY effective