Farmington River guide Antoine Bissieux with a hefty fall brown trout from yesterday. Can't beat catching big trout with a beautiful backdrop of colorful foliage like that. I would guess this upcoming weekend will be about peak color. A customer also measured & released a 26.5" rainbow trout yesterday. Many big 'Bows were caught in 2016. Sounds like big trout are putting on the feed bag before it gets cold and food supplies diminish. Main hatches are #16-18 Tan Caddis, #22-26 Blue Winged Olives, and #12-14 Isonychia. We are seeing a few of the October Caddis #10-12 at dusk. Make sure to have some small #20-24 Rusty Spinners for late in the day. Streamers, especially in yellows and olives, are catching a lot of trout and some nice ones too. Small nymphs #16-22 continue to be steady producers- patterns imitating Caddis Pupa are deadly, also Quasimodo Pheasant Tails, Zebra Midges, Olive nymphs, and attractors like Rainbow Warriors. Egg flies are deadly at moments. Bigger #8-14 Stones & #12-14 Isonichia nymphs are exceptions to the small nymphs. And if you like to fish wets/soft-hackles, they are working well, especially up in Riverton- Leadwing Coachmen do an excellent job imitating a swimming Isonychia nymph. Terestrials (ants, beetles, small hoppers) continue to fish well, and Mini Chernobyls & attractor dries like Stimulators are still tagging plenty of trout. Water temps have varied lately, ranging from mid 50's to low 60's. The warmer weather today & Wednesday will probably boost bug activity, albeit it may push it more toward the morning and later in the day. It does seem like the afternoon fall Blue Wing Olives are going, we've been seeing small ones hatching daily, even on sunny days. Overcast days are best of all for Blue Wing Olive hatches though, and for streamer fishing too.
The FRAA stocked the upper river on 10/6 with 1,200 Brook Trout & Rainbows. Brookies averaged a foot, with the Rainbow Trout running 12-14". The trout were stocked in the section from a little below the dam in Riverton, down to about Whittemore Pool. They've been responding well to a variety of dry flies, wet flies/soft-hackles, and assorted nymphs. The upper river was also stocked by the state with 2,000 trout (mostly browns) for Labor Day from the Goodwin Dam/Hogback in Riverton, downstream to Whittemore Pool at the northernmost point of Peoples State Forest. On Monday 9/26 the state stocked downriver in Collinsville/Unionville.
Trout are getting more aggressive on streamers now that we are seeing fall conditions, albeit you may want to downsize them due to the lower than usual water conditions- we have Woolly Buggers in stock down to #12-14. Or swing for the fences and use a bigger streamer, but expect to catch larger but less fish.. Prime-time for streamers is low-light conditions: mornings, eves, and overcast days. Except for the biggest dries, keeep your tippets light, in the 6x-7x range, and nymph with 5x or lighter tippet.
UpCountry has recently acquired a ton of Simms closeouts that are now on sale. There is a huge selection of Mens & Womens: Gore-tex jackets, packs, slings, shirts, pants, tee shirts, and a few shoes/wading boots/waders. Sizes are limited (the Men's is mostly in Large, and the Women's is all in Medium) and there are only a couple of each item so when they are gone they are gone. There is also a large selection of used and clearance rods and reels from Sage, Orvis, TFO, Redington, Scott, Winston and Waterworks-Lamson. The fly tying bargain bin is currently overflowing with saltwater bucktails, necks, saltwater hooks, Mustad freshwater hooks and more.
UpCountry is always looking for good trade-in fly rods and reels to sell on our website. If you are looking for some new equipment we will gladly put the value of your used gear toward new items in our store. Give us a call to make an appointment.... our prices on trade ins are typically higher than found anywhere else.
If you like our fishing report, please consider buying your gear from us. We generally ship the same day, for free anywhere in the country on all but the smallest orders. Our shop can only exist with your patronage.