Pictured is a fat & colorful 19" Farmington rainbow caught on an Iso dry this past weekend by customer Adam Boruchov outside of the Catch & Release area, he said it gave him a fantastic battle. Total Farmington flow through the Catch &
Release area (TMA) is 423cfs & clear, with 325cfs from the dam in
Riverton. This is a medium,
very fishable level. Depending upon location and time of day, I've been getting water temps from the mid 40's (AM in Riverton) to the low 60's (TMA/C&R section in afternoon/eve on sunny day). Quite a few reports of good dry fly action over the weekend, with some quality fish in the mix. Nymphing, of course, is never a bad choice. In general, peak hatching activity now is late afternoon until dark, but there are plenty of exceptions to this. Terrestrials such as ants can be great during non-hatch periods, especially in the late morning to early evening slot. The further upriver you go, the cooler the water and the earlier in the day you will see particular hatches, with "evening hatches" sometimes occuring in the afternoon. #16-18 Sulfurs and #18-20 Blue Wing Olives are the main hatches now, make sure to have spinners for both (rusty for the Olives). We are also seeing good Isonychia ("Iso") hatches in the later afternoon to evening slot, they are big, an easy #10-12, sometimes bigger!Friend and Michigan guide/author/photographer Matt Supinksi migrated here from the flooded Neversink River to fish Thursday through Saturday morning on the Farmington. He was literally blown away by the quality of the fishery here. Friday he experienced fantastic dry fly fishing to picky trout, his absolute favorite thing. Saturday morning he cleaned house fishing a Mini Chernobyl Ant to fish sporadically rising in the flats of the pools. He was able to get a potential magazine cover shot of my girlfriend Mandy with a big Farmington brown trout on Thursday, and I think we opened his eyes to how deadly Euro nymphing is for big trout, even in July on a heavily presssured fishery such as this. He even had me build a Euro leader for him & bummed some special flies. -Torrey
Fished 6pm to dark in the TMA Thursday to a nice hatch of Blue Wing Olives #18, mixed with Isonychia #10-12, Sulphurs #16 & #18, Cream Cahill #14, and adult Tan Caddis #18. The trout were rising steadily throughout the evening and despite the mix of bugs continued to feed on the Blue Wing Olives (BWOs) until sundown with only one trout coming to net on a Sulphur and the rest on the BWOs. The DEEP stocked for the Fourth of July on Wednesday. Winter/Summer Caddis #18-22 have been hatching early morning to 11am, with adults on the water in the late afternoon and evening. Ants are working great at moments, especially when hatching activity is sporadic. -Grady
UpCountry has just received a huge closeout of Hardy Zenith and Hardy Proaxis X fly rods- these are literally flying out the door, so don't wait or they will all be gone. As anyone who has been in earshot of me over the last few years knows, these are my absolutely favorite fly rods. These rods use Sintrix, a technology licensed from 3M which makes them stronger and nearly unbreakable under normal fishing conditions. You can find them in our flyshop or in our online store at a great discount. - Grady