The Farmington is currently 288cfs from the Goodwin Dam, and 414cfs
through the catch & release area (126cfs coming in from the Still River). The MDC will be cutting flow
further down to 175cfs release from the dam (in Riverton) at some point today (Friday), whch will put the total flow through the catch
& release area in the upper 200cfs range for later today and this weekend. River is already in nice shape, this will make wading even easier and greatly increase dry fly opportunities. The Farmington River Catch
& Release area was stocked on this past Tuesday & Wednesday with thousands of trout trout, including 1,000 Two Year Old Survivor Strain brown
trout which average over 16 inches and some of which are bigger and top out at 3 1/2 to 4 pounds- they put in some hefty trout this year. The Hendrickson hatch has started, and though it has been only a modest hatch so far, it it increasing daily and I expect that the hatch will only get heavier by this
weekend- highs will near 70 for Saturday, and mid/upper 70's for Sunday, wow. Trout are being caught on the surface using a combination of
Hendricksons (sz 12-14), 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 drops and warms & more trout start looking up. 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 normally the most reliable
fish catchers in the cooler waters of the early season, unless you see fish rising.
Subsurface, try fishing Hendrickson nymphs, Bruce Marino ties us a DEADLY
nymph 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 active.
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.