Fished the past 2 days, seeing a variety of hatches depending upon time of day and section of the river. River is in great shape, with a medium (low 300cfs in C&R section), cool to cold flow. Needhami's have been hatching for about a week now, think of them as a small Blue Winged Olive, but instead of olive they are chocolate brown, averaging a #22-26 on this river. They normally hatch from about 7am to 1pm'ish, give or take. First you typically see the spinners, then the duns as the morning progresses. There are still good Winter/Summer Caddis #22-24 in early/mid mornings, with some small Tan Caddis in #18-20 hatching sporadically from mid/late morning through the day, and they are back on the water egg-laying in the evening. Isonychia are a major hatch in late afternoon thru early/mid evening, they are running about #10-12 and hatch in the faster, choppy water (pool heads, riffles, faster runs, pocket water). Sulfurs averaging a #18 are on the water in the evening with spinners at dusk. Blue Wing Olives #20 & #24 are hatching in the late afternoon as well with matching #20 rusty spinners at dusk.Big Stonefly shucks are on the rocks, customer Dan Phelan reported crushing trout on our pearl/black Gummy Stonefly nymphs this week, said there were shucks all over the rocks where he was- he sent us this nice pic of one of the big shucks. Couple of pictures of trout I caught this week, nothing monstrous but some decent fish. The biggest one I hooked was foul hooked, it was at least 22", maybe bigger, and it ran into a tree root and busted me off. My girlfriend Mandy had a very large brown attempt to eat a Salmon Parr she hooked, and then it spit it out, haha. Oh well. Good to know the monsters are there, even when you don't catch them. She landed a small 100% wild Rainbow last night, pretty cool and not a common occurrence. The most exciting (for me!) fish I landed this week so far was not the biggest- it was a 15.5" wild brown, caught outside of the Catch & Release area just before full darkness. It came out of a heavily fished pool where the bait guys harvest a lot of trout. It was spectacular with big red dots, perfect tail, huge fins, a red adipose, fantastic color, and it fought like a 20" fish. Pretty darn cool. Too bad there was not enough light to get a picture that would have done it justice.
Isonichia are my all-time favorite
hatch, it is a big bug (#10-12) that fishes great with dries, nymphs
& wets, and it gets big
fish feeding on top in the daylight, often in fast, shallow water. Just
like with other hatches, warmer days will push things later, and
mild/cloudy ones will make things happen earlier. Beacause it's on the water for months, because it's big, and because it hatches in faster, broken water, big trout love this bug, and it's one hatch where you can actually blind fish the dry and bring fish up to the surface. - TorreyThe river is 335cfs through the Catch & Release area, with 304cfs from the dam up in Riverton- this is an excellent, medium level. Water temps have been cool (it reached low 60's in Catch & Release area later yesterday, and in the late evening it was 51 degrees in Riverton), enabling you to fish from the dam all the way down to Unionville. Streamers are effective during low-light conditions (early & late or cloudy/rainy days), play with color, size & presentation for best results. You can also try pounding shady banks with them in the daytime- look for structure where big trout hideout in the daytime, features such as cut banks, downed trees, overhanging limbs, big rocks, etc. - Torrey
Effective nymphs include: Hot Spot Nymphs #14-18, Wade's Clinger Nymph #14-16, Olive nymphs #16-20, Yellow Sparkle Prince #14-18, Sulfur Nymph #16, Caddis Pupa & Larva in both tan & olive/green #12-18, Jig nymphs #10-16, Pheasant Tails #16-20, Isonychia Nymphs #10-12, Fox Squirrel Nymph #10-14, Prince Nymph #10-18, and Golden/Brown/Black Stoneflies #6-12 are all working well. Streamers are working well in the early morning and again toward dark- look for either low light or murky water for best results during this time of the year on the Farmington. Mice, Rats and giant Streamers are working after dusk. -Torrey