We are also offering limited 1/2 hour shopping appointments in the store from 3pm to 4:30 pm daily, In order to do this under the new regulations, we are limiting to one employee and one customer in the store. These appointments are for those intending to make $200+ purchases, and this will also be the procedure for trades. Call in advance at 860-379-1952, and please make sure to wear some sort of face covering.
Website and Phone Orders get free shipping at $50. Please take advantage and we will ship same day
We will not be issuing fishing licenses during the closure to comply with the new rules, so make sure to purchase one in advance online by clicking on this link. If you don't have a printer, it's perfectly acceptable to keep your license on your mobile/smart phone nowadays.
Thanks!
-Grady & Torrey
**********************************************************************************
Farmington River Report
Top pic is customer Randy Coons with a beauty from the weekend on a dry fly. Next down is Derrick with a flawless big fat brown. Pics 3 & 4 are Drew Sommo and Mike Querfeld with just two pics from an epic day: three 20" fish, four at 18", and a bunch of 15-17" wilds in the mix. Don't expect to have a day that good, but when the stars line up on occasion amazing things can happen. Final fish pic is a Tiger Trout by customer Garrett Naimie, not a common catch in the Farmington River, pretty cool. We get a lot of people sending us pics of stocked browns with wavy spotting patterns that resemble Tiger Trout but are not, this one appears to be the real deal (Brook Trout x Brown Trout hybrid).
 |
| BMAR Hendrickon Nymph |
The Hendrickson hatch is at least as far upriver as the Campground now (likely even further upstream now), look for the upper boundary to move upstream a bit on a near daily basis. It typically starts at 2-3pm and goes until late afternoon, but none of that is set in stone. Soon we should be seeing spinner falls on milder days that aren't windy or rainy. Starting as early as 2pm and also mixed in with Hendricksons have been hatches of Blue Wing Olives (sz 18), and Winter/Summer Caddis (sz 20-22, more of a morning hatch), Midges #22-28, and a few Blue Quills/Paraleps (sz 16-18) have also been making appearances.
Recently stocked trout often prefer gaudy flies that don't match the hatch, and "Junk Flies" (Mops, Eggs, Worms, and Green Weenies) often reign supreme and outfish normal drabber, more imitative nymphs that we fish most of the time. And sometimes recent intros will prefer a fly that moves or drags in the current, not a dead-dirft presentation, so let your nymphs, streamers & wets swing out at the end of each drift & try twitching them. But, once the trout have been in the river for 3-4 weeks they become attuned to natural food and will start to prefer drabber flies fished on a dead-drift (mostly, with plenty of exceptions). Fishing pressure will also teach them to be suspicious of commonly fished flies. Buggers can be deadly on recently stocked trout- start with olive or black and go from there if you don't get a positive reaction. Also experiment with your retrieve, and try a plain swing with no added action if stripping it in doesn't get a response.
***********************************************************************************
In addition to the Hendrickson hatch, we are seeing #16-18 Blue Wing Olives (BWOs)/Baetis & Midges in the afternoons in the permanent TMA/Catch & Release. Think about fishing a smaller nymph that looks like BWOs (#16-18, slim, olive to olive-brown to brown). They have been rising to bugs in some spots in the afternoons, so have the matching dries/emergers. There are still some Early Stones around (black, brown), as well as the Winter/Summer Caddis & Midges. If you see splashy rises, that is probably either Caddis or Stoneflies. Gentle sips are more typical of trout feeding on BWOs & Midges.
Streamer fishing has really picked up, and lately black or olive have been top colors, but I'm also a fan of brown this time of year, and white can be very good also- experiment! Two tone streamers such a brown/yellow, olive/yellow, etc. can sometimes be the ticket. Try the following hybrid rig: a weighted streamer such as a conehead Bugger, Complex Twist Bugger, Zuddler, Slumpbuster, etc. with a #14-16 soft-hackle, wet fly or nymph trailed 14-18" of the hook bend- the streamer often functions as the attractor, and then the trout eat the trailing smaller fly. This helps turn some of those chases, rolls & flashes into a solid hook-up.
We got in a pile of flies from Fulling Mill & Umpqua recently, including some cool streamers we haven't carried before, check out Tommy Lynch's deadly D&D that swims like a Flatfish lure- fish it on a sink-tip/sinking leader/sinking line to get this unweighted pattern to the proper depth, the action/movement on this fly is INSANE. Weighted streamers like Woolly Buggers, Zuddlers, Slumpbusters, and Complex Twist Buggers all continue to produce fish if fished down deep. Try also streamers with Sculpin Helmets, bounced & twitched along the bottom on a floating line- deadly on bigger trout. Play with colors, fly size, pattern style, retrieve, depth, and cover lots of water and you should be able to find success.
If you are fishing wets/soft-hackles, try a 2-3 fly rig, on tag end droppers about 24-30" apart, and use a lightly to moderately weighted soft-hackle or nymph on the point position to get your rig down deeper where the trout are. During hatching activity where you see bugs and occasional rising trout, keep all your flies unweighted and fish near the surface. Throw across & slightly upstream and make an upstream mend to sink your flies, let them dead-drift (watch your fly line tip for subtle strikes), and then let them do the traditional wet fly swing- expect strikes especially at the 3/4 downstream point when your flies rise toward the surface. At the end of the drift let them dangle for several seconds, then twitch them up & down a couple of times. Add some slight rod tip twitches during some drifts, and on others just let them drift. Keep your rod tip up around 10 o'clock during the entire drift for tippet protection, and better hook-ups- this creates very slight controlled slack you need so trout can inhale your fly and not short strike it. This technique is great for covering riffle & pool water where the trout are spread out and can be anywhere, the kind of water that can be difficult/challenging to nymph.
Current Store Hours:
8am-5pm Monday through Friday, and 8am-5pm on weekends, "curbside pick up" only. Call 860-379-1952 to place orders or have us put together your order for pick-up.
The Farmington is currently high but absolutely fishable at 721cfs through the Catch & Release (C&R) area and running in the mid/upper 40s for temperature in the afternoon- USGS historical normal flow for today is 428cfs. Riverton is 460cfs, and the Still River is adding in an additional 261cfs. 8am Riverton water temp was 44 degrees this morning- downstream water temps in the C&R will be higher than this on milder/sunny days due to the Still River running warmer than the water from the dam.
Cortland's brand spankin' new Nymph Series Rods for Euro Nymphing are in stock. This series is all in a 10.5' length and three line weights: #2, #3, and #4, and retails at $299.99. These replace the extremely popular Competition Nymph Series. We have fished the new version in the 10.5' #3 model, and they are a noticeable improvement with a crisper action, faster recovery, more sensitivity, a downlocking reel seat for better rod/reel balance, and improved guide spacing to minimize line sag between the reel and the stripping (first) guide. The new construction also significantly improves the durability, and they maintained the stealthy matte finish to minimize rod flash on sunny days. You won't need a heavy reel to balance these either. I'm sure the #3 will be the best seller and it is the most versatile for all around Euro Nymphing, but the 2 weight is sweet with a soft tip that will protect 6x-7x tippet on big fish, and the #4 has the power to handle heavier tippets with bigger flies on bigger fish and can cross over as an Indicator nymphing rod too. This series looks like a real winner to us, and the best under $300 Euro rod on the market hands-down.
Thomas & Thomas's new 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 its 10' 8" & 11' 3" cousins, it has a crisper action that make it a very good choice for someone who likes to Euro nymph, but also likes to cross over and throw fly line with dries, wets, and small/medium streamers. Also good on smaller waters where the casting is restricted.
Hatches/Dries: