Stunning Farmington River Rainbow Trout by Andy Lyons this week, lotta NICE trout are showing up in people's catches. River is fishing well but remains low at 89cfs total flow in permanent TMA/Catch & Release (59cfs at USGS Riverton gauge, plus 30cfs from the Still River). Standard low water advice still applies: longer leaders, smaller flies, be stealthy, and dress in drab colors. Water temps have averaged in the 50's the past few days. Hatches are very small Olives, Tan Caddis, and Isonychia. Weekend looks pretty good, with highs low/mid 50's, sun & clouds, no rain. Nymphs, streamers, dries, egg flies, and wets/soft-hackles are all producing at the right time. As usual, nymphs are the most consistent. Some great new books just arrived: a totally new, color & large format version of "Flyfishers's Guide to PA" by author Tom Gilmore, and a great new book "Fly Fishing Soft-Hackles", both how to tie & fish them, by Allen McGee. We've gone to Winter hours now, we will be open 8am-5pm 7 days a week, including weekends. Our rental apartment is also closed for the season and will open back up in April 2017.
Fishing remains good overall for many, albeit it can be "technical" at moments (especially flat water/small dry fly moments), with fish coming to a mix of nymphs, dries, streamers and wets/soft-hackles. Blue Winged Olives (BWOs) are becoming the main glamour hatch, typically popping around 2pm or so, averaging a #24, with some down to a #28. Still some Isonychia #12-14, Tan Caddis #16-18, and still a few giant October Caddis #10-12. Make sure to have Rusty Spinners #20-24 for late in the day Small nymphs #16-22 remain the most consistent producer (Caddis pupa, Quasimodo Pheasant Tails, Zebra Midges, Olive nymphs, attractors (Rainbow Warrior, Yellow Prince, etc.), and Egg flies. Also Stonefly nymphs in #8-14 (brown, golden/yellow, black). Streamers are a great fall choice, try especially olive, yellow, black, and white. With the low water, consider going smaller on your streamers if you want to catch numbers, or go bigger and shoot for a trophy, but expect to catch less fish. To really up your odds, try trailing a nymph, wet fly or soft-hackle about 18" behind your streamer (tie tippet to the hook bend on the streamer). Various wets & soft-hackles are producing, particularly upstream in Riverton. Except for the biggest dries, keeep your tippets light, in the 6x-7x range, and nymph with 5x-6x tippet. Smaller streamers can be fished on 3x (4x at the lightest for the tiniest ones), bigger ones should be matched with 0x-1x.
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.
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.