Tuesday 5/30/17 River Report- anglers are doing well, and MDC made a flow reduction

Pictured is a very respectable Farmington River brown caught recently by Andy Lyons, the clipped adipose shows it to be a holdover stocked Survivor Strain trout. We've been getting a lot of good to excellent fishing reports lately, especially from the nymphers, with many 16-20" holdover & wild fish reported caught, with a few well beyond that mark. Fish are rising at moments and both streamers & wet flies/soft-hackles are catching too. Caddis are the dominant bug all up & down the river, but we will be seeing Vitreus #14-16 (Pink Lady/Pink Cahill) & March Brown/Gray Fox #10-14 very soon. FYI the Vitreus are an Epeorus species, just like the Quill Gordon- they have only 2 tails, and the duns hatch out of the nymph near the stream bottom and swim to the surface, making flies like a Partridge & Orange a good choice to swing during the hatch. They aren't a legit hatch yet, but should be sometime over the next week.

The Farmington is nice at about 435cfs & dropping through the Catch & Release area in BarkhamstedNew Hartford/Pleasant Valley/ (about 300cfs in Riverton above the Still River). The MDC reduced the Goodwin/Hogback dam release by 40cfs at 8:30am today, they had been running a little extra water to get Colebrook Reservoir level down. With no substantial rain in the forecast, we are in good shape- expect the flow to continue to recede as the week progresses and the Still River drops. Tan Wing Olive Bodied Caddis #16-18 have been good this week on the surface and the corresponding Caddis Larva and Pupa are working well on the bottom, and tan-bodied Caddis are now mixing in. Trout have been rising to the them mostly in the faster water above the pools and have been reacting well to anglers who skitter their high floating dries.

Cloudy weather for today and Wednesday should mean hatches of Blue Wing Olives #18-22, with some Rusty Spinners #18-22 falling in the evenings. You may still see a FEW Hendricksons up in Riverton, but that hatch is about done. Don't be surprised to continue to see some Hendrickson spinners (rusty) #12-14 up there through this week, they often go a good week beyond the hatch. Caddis, however, are the dominant bug right now up & down the river, catching trout both underneath and on the surface. I catch some of my biggest trout every year nymphing the fast water with Caddis pupa.

The long awaited book "Nymph Masters" has finally arrived, and it's really good! Author Jason Randall fished with a bunch of the top nymphers in the USA (guys like George Daniels, Pat Dorsey, Joe Humphreys, etc.), and then wrote this book about his experiences. He codified what he learned into a systematic approach covering all styles of nymphing.

We recently received a huge closeout of  Hardy Jet and Shadow fly rods which can be found in store and on our website on our Used Gear and Specials page. If you are looking for a great fly rod at at a great price, the Hardy rods are hard to beat and are available in most sizes. We still have some closeout Sage ONE's left.

Current flies to have:
Caddis pupa (olive/green, tan) #14-18, Caddis dries #14-18 (olive/green, tan- X2 Caddis, Elk Hair, CDC Caddis, Emergent/Crippled Caddis, etc.), Hendricksons & Hendrickson Spinners (Riverton only, hatch is about done) #12-14, Baetis/Blue Wing Olive dries & emergers #18-22 (especially on cloudy days), Midges #20-26. Subsurface try Caddis pupa #14-18 (olive/green, tan), Frenchies #14-18, Quasimodo Pheasant Tails #14-20, Caddis Larva #10-16 (olive, green), Baetis/Blue Wing Olive nymphs #16-20, and bigger #8-12 Stonefly nymphs. Make sure to also try Hot Spot Nymphs #14-18, and Mops #10. Streamers have been very effective on both the fresh stocked trout and also the big holdover and wild fish. Experiment with colors & retrieves to find what will attract the trout- olive, black, and white are good starting points, but also try brown, tan, and yellow or combinations thereof.