That's Andy Lyon's hand holding a bigger than normal Farmington salmon- they typically stock them small (as Parr), and they migrate down to saltwater not too long thereafter. This one decided to hang around and get bigger. The Fall foliage is just about at peak I'd say, it's a great time to be out and about in New England. Water temps have been running mid 50's to low 60's lately, look for them to drop a bit with the upcoming cooler temps. With the low/clear fall flows here and everywhere else, use longer leaders (12' or even
longer), wear drab clothing, be stealthy in your approach, and use lighter tippets. Main
hatches in the afternoons are Isonychia, Tan/brown Caddis, and small
Blue Wing Olives. Mornings will keep seeing Summer/Winter Caddis.
October trout get aggressive (it's spawning time, plus they put on the feedbag before winter), so streamers are catching fish- play with
colors & retrieves, some of my clear water fall favorites are white, yellow, tan,
black and olive. Sometimes in the normally low/clear waters of fall,
especially on sunny days, slimmer old-school traditional patterns will
outfish the typical modern bulkier flies- try Baby Brown Trout, Grey
Ghost, Black Ghost, Muddler Minnow, Mickey Finn, etc. Riverton (from
just below the dam down through Whittemore) was recently stocked with
well over 2,000 brown, brook & rainbow trout 12" and bigger, and
not surprisingly has been fishing good up there. The river is 81cfs total flow through the permanent Catch & Release, with 66cfs coming from the dam. Fishing has been excellent on a combination of dries, streamers and nymphs. Look for deeper & faster water for the best action, spots like that will concentrate the fish at this lower level. Blind-fished dries are working well, especially in the quick water. Bigger dries such as Stimulators #12-14 Tan Caddis #14-16, and Isonychia #12-14, working well as searching flies and can be combined with a nymph dropper for even more action. When nymphing, try smaller patterns such as Zebra Midges #18-20, 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 #14-18, Rainbow Warrior #16-18, Caddis Pupa & Larva in both tan & olive/green #14-18, Pheasant Tails #16-20, Prince Nymph #14-16 are all working well. Soneflies #8-14 (in black, brown, and golden/yellow) have been working as well.
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.