Monday 5/21/18 Report- Olives, Caddis & big Bows

Customer John Holt with a giant rainbow sporting a fire engine red stripe & gill plate, pretty cool. Customers have been showing me pix of some very large bows every week this spring, most are getting caught on nymphs. Quite a few big to very big rainbows get stocked by the state, plus private ones put in for the Opening Day derby, and many of them still remain in the river. Back in the day almost everyone killed and kept these big fish, now many people snap a quick picture on their phone and then release the fish. Catch & Release works boys and girls. FYI, a 15# 6 oz. rainbow was stocked right before Opening Day, it will be a new state record if caught and to the best of our knowledge nobody caught it yet...

Hatches:
The glamour hatch of late has been #18 Blue Wing Olives, they have been all up and down the river. and bringing fish to the surface, especially on cloudy days. Hendrickson hatch is confined to Riverton now, I wouldn't go any lower than Whittemore, but Lyman's Rock up to the dam is the safer bet. Spinners are still falling in the permanent Catch & Release (C&R/TMA) at least as far down as Church Pool, and that too will mover upriver just like the afternoon hatch. #16-18 Caddis (olive, tan) are hatching in the permanent C&R area and downriver through Collinsville/Unionville and below.

Conditions:
Water level is nice at 420cfs and dropping at 8am (171cfs in Riverton plus 249cfs and dropping from the Still River). Water temps are going into the mid/upper 50s in the afternoons, especially on sunny/warm days (upper 40s in Riverton above the Still River). 

When trout aren't rising, the nymphing has been good to very good for many of our customers. If you don't know how to nymph effectively, learn!! Water temps well into the 50s has pushed many trout into the calf to waist deep riffled water and good catches are being made- ideal scenario for tight-line/Euro/short-line/contact nymphing with a pair of weighted nymphs and/or some split shot to get your flies down. There are so many stocked trout literally all over the entire river, that sometimes it's hard to get past the recently stocked fish and get your flies to the better holdovers & wild fish. A good problem to have I guess. Venturing as far as possible away from the easy stocking points can help.

The permanent catch & release (C&R/TMA) has been heavily stocked recently with the two year Survivor Strain brown trout and many thousands of smaller yearling/one year old browns. The rest of the river outside of the permanent TMA/C&R has also been stocked MULTIPLE times. Suffice it to say the river is loaded with trout from Riverton down to Unionville and below- stocked, holdover & wild. If you aren't catching them, it's not because you aren't over trout. Streamer fishing has really picked up lately.

Dries:
Caddis (olive, tan) #16-18: X-Caddis, Elk Hair, CDC Caddis, etc.;  Hendrickson (Riverton only): #12-14 emergers, Sprouts, parachutes, Catskill-style, rusty spinner, Comparaduns, etc.;  Baetis/Blue Winged Olives: #18 emergers, parachutes, CDC, Sprouts, rusty spinners;  Winter Caddis: #18-24 pupa & adults.

Nymphs: 
Olive & Tan Caddis Pupa #14-18, Olive Nymphs #16-18, Hendrickson Nymphs #12-14 (Riverton only), Pheasant Tail/Quasimodo Pheasant Tails #14-20, Midges / Zebra Midges #16-22, Caddis Larva (olive to green) #14-16, Cased Caddis #8-16, Mop Flies (various colors, especially cream/tan) #8-12, bigger Stoneflies #6-12, Pat's Rubber Legs #6-10, Antoine's Perdigons (various colors, especially olive, black) #12-18, and Attractor / Hot-Spot nymphs #12-20 (Pineapple Express, Frenchy, Triple Threat, Pink Soft Spot Jigs, Carotene Jigs, Egan's Red Dart, Rainbow Warrior, etc.).

Cortland's "Top Secret" Ultra Premium Fluorocarbon tippet is by far the strongest out there with the most abrasion resistance, stretch, flexibility & clarity. Total game-changer, and an extra-good choice if you like to nymph with lighter tippets - here's a link to purchase it off our site: http://www.farmingtonriver.com/cortland-top-secret-ultra-premium-fluorocarbon/

Streamers: 
The streamer bite remains good. Try #6-14 patterns, especially in colors like white, black or olive- other colors are good too, and it pays to experiment. If you're specifically targetting larger trout, go bigger, but expect to catch less fish. Water temps are into the mid/upper 50s now, which means you can speed up your retrieve. Play around with your presentation & retrieve and see what works. If you listen, the trout will tell you what they want. Think Zonkers, Woolly Buggers, Bruce's Yellow Matuka, Dude Friendly, Ice Picks, Mini Picks, Mop Heads, Slump Busters, Sculpin Helmet patterns (for a weighted sculpin imitation), etc.

If you have some equipment gathering dust in your closet, our shop is "hungry" for trade-ins. We give fair market value toward new equipment in the store..... no waiting for your item to sell, just bring your used fly rods, reels, and fly tying equipment  to us and we will turn it into something shiny and new for the upcoming season. Please call ahead for an appointment.