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 bigger $200+ purchases, and this will also be the procedure for trades (but we can also do approximate estimates for trades over the phone, and then you can drop the rods off to to us for final evaluation). Call in advance at 860-379-1952, and please make sure to wear some sort of face covering.
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
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Farmington River Report
After a lot of windy days, rainy days, colder days, high water, we are now sitting pretty. Flow is perfect, in the low 300cfs range, and I don't see any super windy days in the forecast. Highs will be almost 80 degrees today, and Saturday will be 72 and mostly sunny, Sunday will be high 60s and mostly cloudy. Water temps in the permanent TMA/Catch & Release are pushing well into the 50s. We are getting many good fishing reports from customers, with trout coming to nymphs, dries, streamers & wets/soft-hackles. Each method has it's moment, with nymphs having the most of all. Caddis are popping now on most of the river (at least as far upstream as Pipeline/Lyman Rock/Still River confluence. Be aware that during the emergence/hatch, trout often feed subsurface on the pupa and you don't see many rises. Try a pupa in your nymph rig. When they come back and egg-lay (often in the low light of evening), you will often find rising trout then. You also may need to twitch your fly as they are an active bug. Rises to Caddis are splashy more often than not.
Hendricksons are still hatching, but they have mostly moved upriver- think Campground to the dam in Riverton, with Hitchcock/Rt 20 bridge to the dam the safest bet- you may still see a very light hatch downstream of that. Spinner typically go for a week after the hatch ends in a particular section, but with all the windy days we've had we have not seen many good spinner falls (spinners don't like wind, cold or rain). Try Don Butler's deadly Hendrickson Parachute Egg Sack Spinner pictured in this report if trout are refusing standard rusty spinners. The yellow foam egg sack also aids to the pattern's floatability. Olive/green Caddis in about a #16 or so are well up into the C&R/TMA. Rises to the adults & near surface pupa will be splashy. Often trout feed on the pupa down deep, they can be a deadly addition to your nymph rig when the trout key on them subsurface. Always let your caddis pupa imitations swing at the end of your dead-drift, you will get many strikes at that point.
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| Don's deadly Hendrickson Parachute Egg Sack Spinner |
We got in a pile of flies from Fulling Mill (and their full line of excellent jig hooks too) & 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 (and you should be!), 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 a beautiful 341cfs through the Catch & Release (C&R) area and averaging in the low 50s for water temperature in the afternoon- USGS historical normal combined flow for today is 339cfs. Riverton is 234cfs, and the Still River is adding in an additional 107cfs below it's junction with the West Branch. 8am Riverton water temp was 47degrees this morning- downstream water temps in the C&R will be higher than this due to the Still River running warmer than the colder 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: