 |
| Kassandra outfished her man Jake the other day haha |
We get lots of feedback from both successful & unsuccessful customers, so I'll summarize what those doing the best are doing. The theme with dry flies during the mornings through early evenings is either tiny flies on light tippets (think #22-28 on 7x with a long piece of tippet to promote a drag-free float), or various terrestrials (especially ants & beetles, sometimes smaller hoppers). You can also blind fish riffles, pocket water, etc. with attractor dries like Mini Chernoblyls, Stimulators, etc. Other than evenings, mornings & afternoons mostly you will find sipping trout feeding on minutae in the flat water- it could be Needhami, smaller Winter Caddis, Midges, tiny Mayflies, Micro Caddis, ants, etc. If you can find holding water in the shade, that's also a big plus. Evenings see the bulk of the heavy insect hatching, with all sorts of bugs, especially Sulfurs, assorted cream-colored Mayflies, Isonychia, Attenuata, various Caddis, and many more. Dry/Dropper can be a fun way to fish now: use a bigger buoyant dry (like a Mini Chernobyl or big Isonychia) and drop a #16-18 tungsten bead nymph 1-3' below the dry. Most fish will take the nymph, but you will get some bonus fish on the dry also. Tie the nymph off the hook bend. Run it closer (12-18") to the dry during insect activity or in shallow water, run it further apart (2-3') in deep water and during non-hatch periods. It's like the fun of dry fly fishing, combined with the consistent effectiveness of nymphing. Plus it allows you target fish at distance and not spook them. If you wanna target big trout on the surface after dark, try a short/heavy leader with a deer hair mouse pattern- make sure to bring a BIG landing net with you...:)
 |
| Guide Frank DeGrazio with a SLAB of brown trout |
If you are nymphing (and you proably should be!), successful anglers are finding that first light to mid morning sees big trout looking for big Stonefly nymphs (#8-10) as they emerge in low light. Pair them up with a smaller nymph in the #18-20 range. In the summer, the average nymph/larva is much smaller and often the key to a good day of nymphing is just plain & simple going smaller on your flies. When the Stonefly bite slows up in the mid/late AM trade it out for a #16 Caddis pupa or some sort of attractor nymph, but make sure to keep the other nymph small. Late afternoon to evening you can make your bigger fly a #16 Sulfur nymph, Pheasant tail, attractor nymph or a #10-12 Isonychia pattern. For the Isos think either a specific imitation, or a #12 Prince or Pheasant Tail. Remember that Iso nymphs only live & hatch in faster water, don't waste your time with them in flat pool water. Isos are typically the first mayfly to get active later in the day, lately starting up around 7pm'ish (you can fish the nymphs and hour or two before that though). When what you expect to work isn't producing, dont' forget about Junk Flies like Mops, Squirmy Worms, and Green Weenies, they aren't just for high/dirty water. As I've said before many times in this report, wet flies & soft-hackles are another great option, and if you scroll down a ways you will see some tips on how to rig/fish them. When fishing subsurface, whether it's nymphs or wets/,soft-hackles, make sure to cover plenty of water, and during the daytime look for the shady bank.
Hot weather means that generally the best hatches (and fishing) are early and late in the day, when it's most comfortable to be out. You can catch fish at anytime during the day, but by far the best hatching & dry fly fishing is dusk to dark and beyond. Don't leave early or you will miss out on the peak dry fly fishing. On hot days the evening fishing may not really kick off until 8pm and peak at darkness, earlier on cloudy/cooler eves. From late morning to early evening, look for shade and you will find fish.
 |
| Dave Moranino with a big one from "Area 51" ;) |
Isonychia
are one of the bugs that will hatch in the earlier part of the evening,
remember that they are BIG bugs that live and hatch in fast water, so
don't look for them in the slower pool water (think pool heads, riffles,
pocket water, faster runs). Sulfurs continue to be the heaviest hatch
(think dusk, but sometimes we get a secondary hatch of them in late
morning), make sure to have several different imitations, and in more
than one size (#16-18, maybe even #20). Also seeing plenty of cream
mayflies (Light Cahills/Summer Stenos) at dusk in the #12-16 range,
standard Cahills & Usuals work well. We are also seeing Attenuata #18-20, they are a
small evening Mayfly that are often confused with Sulfurs. Attenuata
are a bright greenish-yellow, almost light chartreuse color. A Rusty Spinner is a good "problem solver"
in the summer, and I also like to have spinners to imitate Sulfurs & Cahills. Another good problem solver is a terrestrial imitation such as
a beetle or ant, especially when there aren't many bugs hatching but
you have some rising trout. Sometimes
wet flies/soft-hackles are the answer when the trout
are feeding just under the surface (that happens a lot, especially
during peak hatch activity in the eves)- present them both on the dead-drift and the swing/twitch. You can also run them as a trailer
behind a dry fly during a hatch when trout are refusing your dries.
In July/August/September flows are normally medium to low, and many of the bigger nymphs/larva have hatched, leaving the majority of nymphs/larva at #18 and smaller (exception: Isonychia & big Stonefly nymphs). Often I find the difference between a slow day of nymphing and a double-digit outing in July is using nymphs #18 or even smaller. It can be a game changer. In general the small size is much more important than the exact fly pattern, but I'd still have several options from drab to gaudy, and in different styles/shapes/colors. You can pair them up with a bigger fly. Stoneflies #4-12 emerge in the early to mid mornings, you will see them on the rocks in the fastwater, I tend to have
While the focus for the majority of our customers seems to have shifted to dry flies, the subsurface
 |
| 20" of brown trout is a handful for Sean Monaghan |
FYI we have a KILLER assortment of custom tied soft-hackles in our bins by Dick Sablitz, they are
FYI we are now in our extended hours: 8am-6pm weekdays, and 6am-5pm on weekends.
 |
| Lotta Brookies in 2019, 16" by guide Dave Machowski |
We have
Devin Olsen's hot new book "Tactical Fly Fishing", and it's really good. It cover Euro style nymphing, plus a whole lot more. Based
upon what he's learned from years of the highest level fly fishing
competitions against the best trout fly fishermen in the world. It
covers things in an extremely detailed way, and has some great "Case
Studies" where he shows you different water type pictures with photo
sequences of how they were able to successfully catch fish in them, and
what adjustments they had to make in their rigging, approach,
presentation & flies to find success. It's a good
new option that does NOT duplicate George Daniel's two books on
nymphing, but rather it compliments and adds to them.
Flow as of Monday morning 7/12/19:Click this Thomas & Thomas blog link for a very recent review I wrote about their awesome Contact 10' 8" #6 rod for Steelhead & Lake Run Trout/Landlocks: https://thomasandthomas.com
http://www.farmingtonriver.com/classes-news-reviews/10-of-torreys-favorite-books-december-2018/ I'll be doing more blog posts on recommended books in the future, there are many great books out there.
 |
| Night time was the right time for John Holt! |
From April through October we are open 7 days a week, 8am to 6pm Monday through Friday, and 6am-5pm on weekends.
Water Temps:
Look for water temps to average in the upper 50s/mid 60s in the permanent TMA/Catch & Release (mid 50s in Riverton above the Still River), but will vary depending upon the weather, time of day, and specific location. Downriver in Collinsville/Unionville will be slightly warmer, probably low to high 60s and into the low 70s if you venture far enough downstream on hotter/sunny days. Long range highs are hot with highs mid 80s to mid 90s, and nights 65-70- this will push the downstream water temps up on the hotter days, so check water temps with a thermometer if you are down in Canton/Collinsville/Unionville. The best time to fish downriver during hot summer weather is in the morning when water temps are lowest, especially after a cooler night. Hot, sunny days will see the biggest water temp increases. The exception to this will be during periods of high water releases from the dam, as the colder water from deep in the reservoir chills down the river for quite a ways downstream. Highest water temps will occur in late afternoon, and water temps won't significantly drop until after dark. Typically the best bug activity (and fishing) correlates to the most pleasant time of the day for us humans, which in the summer is normally early/mid morns & mid/late eves.
Hatches/Dries:
-Sulfurs #16-20: eves, sometimes late morn/noonish too