A colored-up Rainbow my girlfriend Mandy caught on Thursday. We fished in the afternoon and picked up about 2 dozen trout between the two of us on nymphs- once again the olive Caddis Larva was the hot fly for me, catching all but two of my trout, while Mandy was catching hers on #10 Stones and #16 hot-spot nymphs. The
Farmington is currently 166cfs from the Goodwin Dam in Riverton,
downstream to the confluence of the Still River, 334cfs through the
permanent Catch & Release area. This is a great fishing & wading
level for the weekend. The return to
cold nights has the morning
Winter Caddis #20-24 hatch improved and providing some decent dry fly
fishing for a few hours in the morning. Typically the hatch is an early
to mid morning deal,
but that can vary depending upon the day, with winged adults often on
the water after the hatch in late morning/early afternoon. On warmer
afternoons
we are seeing Midges #22-32 with some trout feeding on the surface in
the larger pools. Our hardcore nymphing crew has been doing well with
Zebra Midges #16-20. Green/Olive Caddis Larva #14-16, Quasimodo
Pheasant
Tails #16-18, Tiny Egg Patterns, Squirmy Worms. Hot Spot Nymphs #14-16
and Black Stoneflies #8-14.Trout are starting to pod up in winter lies (slow to medium speed water with some depth). Skip the faster water and focus on pools, deeper pockets, moderate riffles, and deeper runs. Look for trout around current edges, drop-offs & structure; anywhere there is a break from the faster current combined with some depth. Trout are cold blooded so in the winter they don't have to eat as much and conserve energy by laying in slower water. They will often pod up this time of year, so where you find one, there may be a bunch more. Nymph slow & deep and expect strikes to be subtle. Get your streamers well down into the water column using weight or sinking lines and don't fast strip them, but rather swing, twitch, and slow retrieve them. Winter trout like their streamers slow, deep & easy to catch.
Rich Strolis' new book "Catching Shadows- Tying Flies for the Toughest Fish and Strategies for Fishing Them" has just arrived. It covers 20 of his best original fly patterns, the rationale for developing the fly and how/when to fish it. He will be doing a book signing at UpCountry on February 7th, noon to 3pm. Steve Culton will be doing a tying class for us on January 30th "Wet Flies and Fuzzy Nymphs for the Farmington River", call the store to register at 860-379-1952.
Our apartment is now closed for the season, and will be available again starting April 1st.