Pictued is my buddy Big Fred Stengel with a measured 21" brown caught outside the TMA (C&R section) this past weekend on a nymph in some pocket water, tight to the bank. Take a close look at this fish, it's perfect- intact adipose, big tail, nice fins & great color. Just for scale, Fred is close to 6' 4" and 240-250 pounds with big hands. Damn nice trout buddy!Grady & Ron Bucari did well last night in the Catch & Release area, catching some sizeable fish, including a big 14" colored-up male Brook Trout. They were nymphing at first, and then it was dry flies after 8pm, with the fastest surface action close to dark. They saw a smattering of different bugs with no one dominant/heavy hatch, including small Olives, a few Iso's, Tan Caddis, Summer Steno's, a few Sulfurs, and assorted spinners. Grady said he was able to bring trout up blind fishing a big #8 stonefly type dry, and then even after they started rising he left it on and they continued to eat it, haha. It's not always #24's on 7x tippet. Light colored Usuals in a mix of sizes (#12-18) are a great fly to carry for the end of the evening in August, imitates most of the lighter colored bugs you might see.
FYI last week the brand new Scott Meridian saltwater rods arrived at UpCountry (we have #7-10 in the rack), and to say they are impressive is an understatement. They won Best of Show in their category at the recent annual Fly Tackle Dealer/ICAST show. They are in the same vein as the popular Scott Radian series, in that they have tremendous power and are very castable, without being pool cues. They are exceptionally light in the hand, with blanks so thin in the butt section they look more like trout rods. Scott uses cutting edge technology to create a rod that has an incredibly fast recovery rate to generate line speed, as opposed to just making a stiffer rod that takes more effort to cast and has no feel. I was super impressed when I picked them up. Come by and cast one and tell us what you think.
We are finally into summer mode now, meaning the best fishing will typically be early & late in the day, especially if you want to fish to rising trout in the pools. FYI if you are nymphing with a 2 fly rig, make sure one of your nymphs is small, as in #18-20. This time of year when flows are at normal summer levels (say 300cfs or less), the trout really key into smaller nymphs, as that is what is mainly available. The execeptions would be Isonychia & big Stoneflies. Also, nymphing the broken, faster water will greatly outproduce nymphing the softer, slower runs. Same is true if you are prospecting/blind-fishing with dry flies during non-hatch periods, target the broken riffly water. Don't skip the shallow bank water, especially if it is in the shade. 6" of water can easily hold a 15-20" trout in the summertime.
River remains in optimal shape , with 290cfs (medium to medium-low, just about perfect & very wadeable) through the Catch & Release area and water temps are mid 50s to mid 60's, making it fishable at least downstream as far as Collinsville currently. Temps are lowest near the dam up in Riverton, and morning water temps are lowest of all. Needhami's averaging a #22-26 are on the water (a small brown mayfly) from 7am to 1pm (approximately). Needhami Spinners dropping from previous day's hatches come first, then the duns in the later morning. There are still Winter/Summer Caddis #22-24 in early/mid mornings with Tan Caddis in #16-20 hatching sporadically from mid/late morning through the day, and they are back on the water egg-laying in the evening (they hatch best in riffled to faster water). Isonychia are lighter than they were but still hatching late afternoon thru mid evening, they are running about #10-14 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- they are very sparse in the Catch & Release section and are hatching best upriver (I've seen them hatching well into August close to the dam) above the Still River up to the dam. Blue Wing Olives #20-24 are hatching in the late afternoon through evening (as well with spinners at dusk). Ants & beetles in various sizes are fooling fish in the daytime, including Mini Chernobyls in #12-14.
Currently effective nymphs include: Hot Spot Nymphs #14-20, #10 Tungsten Caroten Jig, Wade's Clinger Nymph #14-16, Olive nymphs #16-20, Yellow Sparkle Prince #14-18, Sulfur Nymph #16, Rainbow Warrior #16, Caddis Pupa & Larva in both tan & olive/green #10-18, 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 at moments. Streamers are effective in the early AM 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 at night.
-Torrey