The Farmington is currently 288cfs from the Goodwin Dam, 400cfs through the catch & release area. The MDC will be cutting flow further in the morning whch will put the total flow through the catch & release area at 275cfs for the weekend. The Farmington River Catch & Release area was stocked on Tuesday and Wednesday this week with several thousand trout, including 1000 two year Survivor Strain brown trout which average over 16 inches and top out at 3 1/2 to 4 pounds. The Hendrickson hatch has started though it has been only light numbers of bugs so far, I expect that the hatch will be in full swing by this weekend. Trout are being caught on the surface using a combination of Winter Caddis (sz 18-22), Tan Caddis (sz 16-18), Blue Wing Olives (sz 16-24), and Mahogany Duns (sz 16-18). Streamers and nymphs remain the best way to catch large numbers of trout but that should change over the next couple of days as the river warms.
Those
who have found the pods of freshly stocked trout recently
have racked up the biggest catches, but some bigger holdovers are
mixing in here & there. Fish a spot, but if it's not producing,
move on, don't linger. Lately the more water I cover lately, the better
I do. I might come up empty in 2-3 spots, and then bang fish in the
4th. Nymphs & deeply/slowly fished streamers are the most reliable
fish catchers in the cooler waters of the early season
Subsurface, try fishing Hendrickson nymphs, Bruce Marino & Rich Strolis both tie us DEADLY
nymphs for this- ask and we will point you toward them. Hendrickson
nymphs catch me a lot of BIG trout in April/May. A bigger #12-14
Pheasant Tail can also work well. Hendrickson Nymph patterns can also
pull double-duty as early season stoneflies. #16 Olive nymphs imitating
Baetis Vagans are also a good choice now, they are just starting up.
Early Black & Early Brown Stoneflies (sz 12-16), Pheasant Tails (sz
12-18), olive/green caddis larva (sz 8-16), cased caddis larva (sz
8-16), midge larva/pupa (sz 16-20, especially in red), attractor nymphs
(sz 12-18 in Red Headed Stepchild, Copper Johns, blue Lightning Bugs,
Yellow Prince, Rainbow Warrior, and egg flies (sz 10-18) are still a
good choice. Don't be afraid
to fish some some gaudier/flashy/attractor-type nymphs, the trout
sometimes show a preference for them, doubly true for recently stocked
trout.
-Torrey