Hefty holdover Farmington River Survivor Strain brown trout (notice clipped adipose fin) by talented nympher Andy Lyons yesterday, he got a pile of trout, including 3 over 18", and lost one well over 20". Not bad at all. CT Opening Day is this Saturday April 9th at 6am, predicted weather will be mostly cloudy with a high of 46 degrees. We are
stocked to the gills, both the river in trout, and the store in product. The Farmington is currently 194cfs from the dam in Riverton, 395fs from the Still River, giving us a total of 589cfs and dropping through the
permanent Catch & Release area. Clarity isn't bad at all, a slight stain to the river, and the height is definitely fishable (normal historical flow for today would be 700+ cfs, we are in the upper 500cfs range & dropping). Hendricksons #12-14 are hatching in the
Collinsville/Unionville area and are beginning to move upriver, with a
few being sighted in New Hartford. The cold spell seemed to have stalled the development of the hatch near the shop, we will be in the 40's through the weekend, and then 50's and even 60's after that, so look for a
fishable hatch of Hendricksons in the permanent
C&R section soon. The mild winter
& mostly warm spring has the early spring hatches about 2 weeks
ahead of schedule. Some days this week there were good hatches of both #18 Mahogany Duns (aka Paraleps/Blue Quills) & #16-18 Blue Wing Olives (Baetis) in the permanent C&R section, and there were rising fish at moments. For freshly stocked trout, small egg flies & Woolly Buggers are usually deadly, along with other standard nymphs & streamers.Fishing has been good all up & down the river, from the dam in Riverton all the way down to the Route 177 bridge in Unionville . Don't limit yourself to only the more popular sections of the Farmington, as there is literally excellent fishing all over the river. In addition to the Hendricksons in the lower river, we are seeing the following in the permanent C&R section: Winter Caddis # 20-24 (mornings), and Black Stoneflies #14-16, Mahogany Duns/Paraleps/Blue Quills #18, Blue Wing Olives/Baetis #18 & Midges #22-32 have been hatching in the afternoons and bringing good reports of trout rising to dry flies on milder, less windy days.
Nymphing has still been the most consistent way to catch trout early in the season on the Farmington, and some VERY nice trout have been landed on them this winter & early spring. Underneath the water use Hendrickson-type Nymphs (brown mayfly) # 12-14, Olive/green Caddis larva #14-16, Prince Nymphs #12-16, Quasimodo Pheasant Tails #12-18, Strolis Dark Brown Quill Jigs #10-14, Strolis Rock Candy (olive, green) 10-12, Black Stoneflies #12-16, Golden Stoneflies #8-12, Zebra Midges #18-20, and Hot Spot Nymphs #12-16.