Mild weather in the 45-50 degrees range with sunshine will make for a pleasant February weekend. Flow is currently 179cfs in Riverton, with Still River coming in at 318cfs & dropping, giving us a total flow in the permanent Catch & Release section of 497cfs and going down. Clarity is good, this is an upper-end medium flow and totally fishable.Fishing has been good to excellent many days this winter, especially for the skilled nymphers, but trout have also been eating dries & streamers at moments. The Winter Caddis #20-24 hatch has been providing some decent dry fly fishing for a few hours in the morning some days. 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 milder afternoons we have seen Midges #22-32 with some trout feeding on the surface in the larger pools some days. Our hardcore nymphing crew has been doing very well at moments with Zebra Midges #16-20 (black, red, olive), Green/Olive Caddis Larva #14-16, Cased Caddis #12-14, Quasimodo Pheasant Tails #14-18, small Egg Flies, Squirmy Worms, Rainbow Warriors #16-18, Hot Spot Nymphs #14-16 & Stoneflies #8-14 (brown, black, golden/yellow).
Most of our Farmington trout are 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 fish 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 moving out of the faster water and holding in slow to moderate water. Having said that, when nymphing we are still hitting a lot of fish in medium speed water, especially where moderate riffles start to drop into deeper water. While you may still hit fish in knee-deep water, spots with 3-5 feet of depth seem to be holding the lion's share. Trout 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.
Aaron Jasper is doing a tying class on Saturday March 5th on "Tying Weighted Euro Anchor Flies", see "Events/Classes" page for more info.
