Friday, November 8, 2019

Friday 11/8/19 Report: Cooler Weather and Fall Tactics

Cooler weather is here today, but will moderate quite a bit over the weekend. Saturday will see a high of 40 degrees with sun & clouds, Sunday will be 48 degrees with morning clouds & afternoon sunshine. With the low overnight temperatures (below freezing), wise anglers are starting later and focusing on the afternoon period when water temps are highest and both the trout & bug activity are at their peak. Assorted nymphs & streamers continue to produce, along with mid-afternoon hatches of small Blue Wing Olives (BWOs) and Tan Caddis (getting light). BWOs will be the dominant hatch in November and into December.

It's been another week of big browns, as you can see in the photos. Top pic is a very large and perfect colored up male brown by guide Zach St. Amand, and below that is a big 21"+ female brown by guide Steve Hogan- looking at the belly, I'd guess she already spawned.  3rd down, Derrick of CT Fish Guides got his client Mark Maloney into a hefty 2 Year Old Survivor Strain brown (notice clipped adipose). Bottom pic is Steve Hogan's client Susan Doll with a very nice brown she caught here recently.

Fall/Winter Store Hours:
8am-5pm 7 days a week

Thomas & Thomas is debuting their Paradigm series of moderate action, dry fly type rods, along with a new Contact 10' #3, and a Zone 10' #4. We just received samples/demos of the new Contact & Zone 10 footers, and should be getting in Paradigms in 9' #4 & #5 any day now. Zach St. Amand has been beating up the new 10' #3 Contact and loves it so far. Grady & I were impressed with the Paradigms, they are on the moderate action/somewhat softer side, but they cast beautifully from up close to far out and will protect lighter tippet. The Contact 10' #3 feels awesome in the hand, and it's a more portable length than it's longer brothers. Due to it being shorter than the 10' 8" & 11' 3" models, it has a crisper action that would make it a very good choice for someone who likes to tight-line/Euro nymph, but also likes to throw fly line with dries, wets, and small/medium streamers.

We've received a veritable pile of used rods & reels as trade-ins recently. Some are listed on our website, but many of the least expensive used rods & reels are for in store purchase only and are not listed up and can only be found by looking on our racks. Stop in the store and check it out for yourself, there are some really good deals!

No need to get here at the crack of dawn, wait until late morning/early afternoon when the water temps rise and the trout get more active and you get some insects hatchng. Plus it's a much more comfortable time of day to be out. Junk Flies (eggs, Mops, Squirmies, Green Weenies) remain solid choices, along with streamers. Expect to see some tan Caddis & small Blue Wing Olives in mid/late afternoon- match them with dries if you find risers, or go underneath with the corresponding pupa & nymphs if they aren't rising. The entire river from Riverton to Unionville continues to fish well, so don't limit yourself to just one section or pool, it's literally all good.

Total 8am flow today (Friday) in the permanent Catch & Release was 318cfs (178cfs from the dam, and 140cfs from the Still River). 8am water temp in Riverton was 48 degrees and still dropping due to colder weather here now. Lowest water temps will be at first light, highest will be mid/late afternoon. Currently trout are most active when water temps are at their highest and/or moving upward, morning have been very slow.

Successful flies & tactics lately have included quite a variety of patterns: streamers, nymphs, "Junk Flies" (eggs/Mops/worms), dries, and wets/soft hackles. Junk Flies have been working well during non-hatch times & moments when flows bumps up due to rain. Streamers can work anytime of day in the Fall, especially early & late in the day during low light. Trout, especially browns, get extra aggressive toward streamers this time of year. Go with bigger streamers for less but bigger trout, or small to medium for better numbers but smaller trout- 3" long (give or take) would be the in-between size choice for the best of both worlds. Main hatches are Tan Caddis (mostly #16-18) & Blue Wing Olives (averaging #22-24 of late). Overall the best insect activity is in the afternoon to dusk period when air temps are more pleasant. Cold nights mean that early morning can be slow due to big water temp drops overnight, so if you start early try bugs & techniques that are not hatch dependent during that time slot: streamers, or Junk Flies (Mops, Squirmy Worms, and especially Egg Flies). As water temps rise in the afternoons, both bugs & trout get more active. Soft Hackles sometimes work quite well when Caddis are hatching.

Trout are still spawning (FYI it can go as late as early/mid January), so watch out for redds (light colored patches of gravel in riffly areas where the female browns dig a depression in the gravel to lay their eggs). Several points: 1) please leave the spawning trout alone so they can make more wild trout, 2) spawning is very stressful, so don't add to their stress by catching them, and 3) don't walk on the redds or you will crush the eggs and kill them- some eggs end up in the light colored redd, but many end up slightly below them, maybe 3-10 feet or so. Fish in the darker/deeper water downstream of the redds and there will likely be hungry, egg-eating non-spawning trout there . An egg fly can be absolutely lethal as they are a calorie-dense high-value food item for trout, they cannot escape/swim away, and bigger trout love them.

We now have Fasna F-415 Jig hooks in stock in sizes #14-20. They are high quality, stronger than average, come 30 to a pack, and similar in shape/design to the ever popular Hanak 450 (which is wide gap/short shank/curled in point). They run about a size smaller than marked compared to the Hanak 450 (i.e. the #16 is more like a #18, and so on)- compared to a standard jig hook they are a full two sizes smaller. Check 'em out if you are looking for a smaller jig hook with a wide gap, shorter shank with a turned in barbless point. These hooks won't bend out when you are playing a bigger trout- many comp style hooks are medium wire, and when you combine that with a wide hook gap (especially on the smaller hook sizes) and a big trout, the result can be a lost fish when the hook bends.

Dropping water temps & shorter days has the Fall streamer bite going. Trout get more aggressive due to spawning, plus it seems like Mother Nature programs them to eat more in preparation for leaner times in the Winter. Some keys to successful streamer fishing: change pattern styles & fly color until you figure what turns the trout on. Historically good fall colors include yellow, brown, white, and olive. An all yellow streamer, or yellow as a secondary color paired with a predominately different color fly (such as brown) can be lethal in the Fall. Try different casting angles, it's not always down & across- frequently across & up is a better angle. Experiment with your retrieves, although more often than not a faster retrieve is better in the Fall until the water temps get really cold, then you typically slow it down. Cover lots of water, you are looking for the aggressive fish- at any given moment, only a percentage of the fish are willing to eat a streamer, and you need to present your fly to those fish. The more trout you show your flies, the more you will catch. DON'T be a stick-in-the-mud or your catch will be severely limited.

The low light periods of dawn & dusk are typically the best streamer bites, but overcast days are good and as we get further into Fall the bite can often be good all day as trout aggression ramps up. Try different size flies. Yes, on average, bigger flies will catch bigger fish, but some days the trout (even the bigger ones) don't want big flies. Or try a two-fly rig, with either a smaller, unweighted streamer or a nymph behind a weighted streamer- this will get you some of those trout that move for your bigger streamer but won't eat it. In lower flows a floating line with a weighted streamer will get you deep enough, but if flows are medium to high you may want to use some sort of sinking line or leader to get your fly deeper. Use heavy enough tippets so that you don't break off fish on the strike- I typically go 0x on my bigger streamers (you can go even heavier with really big flies), and even on average sized ones (#6-8) I wouldn't go below about 2-3x as trout hit streamers HARD. You can fish normal ize streamers on your #4-5 rods for sure, but.... if you want dedicated streamer stick a #6-7 rod with a medium-fast to fast action will do a better job casting, setting the hook, playing bigger fish, and throwing bigger flies.

As of September 1st, the entire Farmington River from the dam in Riverton for 21 miles downstream to the Rt 179 bridge in Unionville is now Catch & Release until Opening Day in April 2020. If you see anybody keeping fish in this section, please call the CT DEEP at 1-800-824-HELP and report the violation. Even if they are not able to respond to it on time, the info goes into their database and helps to create better/more policing of the area in the future.
 
Zach St. Amand, one of the top local guides and frequent flyer in our big fish pictures, is leading a trip with Andes Drifters to Patagonia for big wild trout, February 8-15th 2019. He still has some availability, call him at 646-641-5618 to find out more or to get onboard.
 
Hours:
8am-5pm, 7 days a week through March.

Hatches/Dries: 
-Blue Wing Olives #22-26 (mid afternoons)
-Tan Caddis #16-18: (getting light, near the end) 
-Summer/Winter Caddis #18-24: pupa & adults (early/mid AM)
-Attractor Dries #10-16: Mini & Chubby Chernobyls, Hippy Stompers, etc.
-Midges #20-32: anytime

Nymphs
-"Junk Flies" #8-14 (Mops, Squirmy/San Juan Worms, Eggs, Green Weenies)
-Pheasant Tail/Quasimodos/Frenchies #14-20
-Blue Wing Olive Nymphs #18-20 (various patterns)
-Tan Caddis Pupa #14-18 
-Large Stoneflies/Pat's Rubber Legs #8-12 (gold/yellow, brown, black)
-Caddis Larva (olive to green) #14-16        
-Antoine's Perdigons (various colors) #16-20
-Zebra Midge #18-22 (assorted colors)

Soft-Hackles/Wet Flies:
-Assorted Patterns #10-16: Hare's Ear/March Brown, Partridge & Orange/Yellow, Sulfur, Partridge & Flash, Isonychia, Pheasant Tail, Starling & Herl, Leadwing Coachman, etc. 
   -most effective fished 2-3 at a time on tag-end droppers

Streamers
-Complex Twist Bugger #2- assorted colors
-Sculp Snack #8 (George Daniel pattern)
-Home Invader #2-6- tan, black, white, yellow 
-Foxeee Red Clouser Minnow #6 
-Tequeely #4-6
-Dude Friendly #8 (white, yellow, natural)
-Woolly Buggers #2-14 (olive, black, white, brown, tan)
-Rio's Precious Metal #4 (Kreelex copper, olive)
-JJ Special/Autumn Splendor #4-8
-Matuka #4-8 (olive, brown, yellow)

Click this Thomas & Thomas blog link for a review I wrote about their awesome Contact 10' 8" #6 rod for Steelhead & Lake Run Trout/Landlocks:
https://thomasandthomas.com/blogs/news/torrey-collins-contact-1086

Cortland's "Top Secret" Ultra Premium Fluorocarbon tippet has a glass-smooth Plasma finish and is by far the best and strongest stuff out there: it has 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/