Some nice fish porn, the "Trout Triad", courtesy of Andy Lyons. Trout of all 3 species are being caught, and we are looking good for this holiday weekend. The river is fishing well from the dam in Riverton, all the way down through Unionville. The upper river was stocked recently, and there are plenty of holdover & wild trout scattered throughout the entire river. We are at the front edge of foliage season, I was gone for 3 days and I cannot believe how much the color popped while I was gone. I was in the Pulaski area fishing the Salmon River in NY on the Douglaston Salmon Run (DSR), courtesy of Douglas Outdoors (they make the excellent Douglas fly rods & reels). If anyone wants info on that fishery, tackle advice, fly pattern suggestions/tying materials, rigging, fishing reports, etc., lemme know as I've been fishing there 30 years and still go there regularly in the fall & winter. The river is 133cfs total flow through the permanent Catch & Release, with 125cfs coming from the dam. Plenty of positive fishing reports lately, with trout coming to dries, streamers, nymphs & wets/soft-hackles. Blind-fished dries are working well, so don't limit yourself to the technical math-the-hatch flat water/small fly scene. Bigger dries such as Stimulators #10-12 and Isonichia #12-14, working well as searching flies. The upper Farmington in Riverton has fished very well, from above the permanent C&R section (Whittemore) right up to the dam, with quite a few trout being taken on dries, especially Tan Caddis in #14-18. The cloudier days have seen afternoon/evening hatches of Blue Winged Olives in the #20-26 range. When nymphing use a mix of larger and small flies including Black, Brown & Golden Stonefly #6-12, smaller Yellow Sally Stonefly nymphs #14-16, Hot Spot Nymphs #16-20, Wade's Clinger Nymph #16, Blue Wing Olive nymphs #16-20, Yellow Sparkle Prince #16-18, Rainbow Warrior #16-18, Caddis Pupa & Larva in both tan & olive/green #10-18, Pheasant Tails #16-20, Prince Nymph #12-16. Wets & Soft-Hackles are producing trout too, especially in Riverton with the fresh stockers.
We literally have a ton of sale and clearance items at the moment- rods, reels, lines, etc. We've been getting trade-in rods & reels faster than we can list them on our website, so make sure to stop in the store and take a peek, the best stuff goes fast. We just received a pile of closeout demo Scott rods from our rep, so if you are a fan, check 'em out ASAP. We also have lots of closeout rods & reels from Sage, Hardy, Winston, Redington, Echo and others. We are receiving next years products on a weekly basis, as most of the companies debut their new stuff in the early fall. This includes the new Hardy Zepherus rods, Scott Meridian rods, Redington Hydrogen and just about all of the new rods from Sage. Grady has let me slowly but surely let me beef up our book selection. There are some fantastic books available that can shortcut your learning curve big time. Take a peek, and don't be afraid to ask me (Torrey) for suggestions, I'm a book fanatic. FYI George Daniel's fantastic new streamer fishing book "Strip-Set" just came out, and it's phenomenal. Local fly tyer/guide/author/streamer fanatic Rich Strolis is prominently featured.
As we move into October, trout (especially bigger ones) turn to larger food items like minnows & crayfish, or in the case of this river also Salmon Parr. Look for snags, big rocks, fallen trees, undercut banks, drop-offs, current seams, shady banks, etc.- anywhere you think a bigger than average trout might hide. Cover lots of water and change streamer color & presentations until the trout tell you what they want at that moment (it can change from day to day, and even during the same day as light conditions change). Streamer colors of tan, olive, and white are a great starting point. Play around with the angle you cast & your retrieve. Experiment with streamer size- small/medium patterns often catch more trout (especially if the water is lower), and larger flies typically catch less but bigger trout. Low light is prime-time (early mornings & evenings). With floating lines, use weighted flies, split-shot, and/or sinking leaders to sink your streamers. If you are fishing unweighted flies, use sinking lines, sink-tips, sinking leader or split-shot to get your flies down. Streamer fishing normally picks up in October as we get closer to brown trout spawning time, they get more aggressive. Dropping water temps and shorter days also gets them to put the feedbag on. - Torrey