Tuesday 5/12/20 Farmington River Report: big flow reduction!

We are remain open 8-5pm daily for curbside pick-up. Call us on the phone at 860-379-1952 before arrival or from the parking lot, tell us what you want and we will take a credit card payment over the phone.

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.

Website and Phone Orders get free shipping at $50. Please take advantage, we typically ship the same day if you call by 3pm.

This is uncharted territory for all of us, so please be patient as we figure this out and evolve. We are bound by a whole new set of rules & restrictions that is making it much tougher to do business. We will do our absolute best to accommodate all our loyal customers, we appreciate every one of you. Your continued support keeps our store open so we can keep supplying you with the best fly fishing stuff, fly tying materials & flies.

    Thanks!

     -Grady & Torrey

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Farmington River Report

The Farmington has been stocked 5-6 times now since February outside the Permanent TMA/Catch & Release, and in mid April the CT DEEP heavily stocked the Permanent TMA/C&R. They stock this 6.2 mile section once per year in April with approximately 10,000 brown trout (mostly, but sometimes a smaller amount of rainbows too) of various sizes including 1,000 large two year olds which average a fat 14-18" and 2+ pounds. Lots of them hold over from year to year and get bigger, and there is also an increasing wild brown trout population. Electrofishing in September 2019 put the estimated trout population at just under 2,000 trout per mile in this section, with many of those being wild & holdover trout, mostly browns, and a smaller number of rainbows. The recent stocking should temporarily put the population of this section at 3,500+ trout per mile!! And that doesn't even include other stocked trout that have wandered in from above and below the C&R section.

Top fish pic is a gorgeous brown by guide Steve Hogan that he caught on Friday. 2nd pic is a beautiful brown nymphed up by Zach St. Amand. 3rd trout pic is customer Ben Cannino with a stout Survivor Strain brown he got on Monday. 4th pic is Don Butler's deadly Hendrickson Parachute Egg Sack Spinner- try it during a spinner fall on picky fish.

Been a windy and cooler May so far. Starting Thursday the highs go into the 60s & 70s and the wind dies down. Monday the MDC cut the dam release by about 200cfs, bringing the total flow in the permanent TMA/Catch & Release (C&R) down to a beautiful medium 400cfs. This will make for easier wading/access, and should also translate into more rising trout. Hendricksons are still hatching and moving upriver, Caddis are showing at least as far upstream as the permanent Catch & Release (C&R)/TMA. Not sure on bottom boundary of Hendrickson hatch, late last week they were as far downstream as New Hartford, but you will probably need to stay further upstream if you want to catch that hatch. I'd say Campground to the dam in Riverton is the safest bet, but you may still see some quite a  downstream of that in the lower half of the permanent TMA/C&R- expect the lower end of the hatch to be lighter, and of a shorter daily duration. The bottom hatch boundary will move upstream on a daily basis, and milder days will see the best Hendrickson hatches- cold weather will diminish bug activity. 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). Milder, less windy weather moving in starting Thursday should remedy that. 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.

Remember the beloved Grey's Streamflex rods? If you liked them, you will love what I'm about to tell you: Pure Fishing has released an updated version of the Streamflex series under the Fenwick name, using the latest materials that give the rods even improved rod recovery and durability. These rods feel fantastic in the hand. We have these in the Euro specific models, The 11' #3 & #4 Streamflex have an MSRP of $349.95- we are selling them for $265. The also do a Streamflex Plus that goes from 10' to 10' 6"- a six inch extension piece hides in the handle and can be put in or out in seconds. We have the 10' #3 Streamflex Plus (goes up to 10.5')- MSRP is $379.95, we are selling it for $285.

Recently stocked trout sometimes 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. They will also often 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. 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, and also try dead-drifting them like a nymph. 

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Nymphs #12-18 imitating or suggesting Hendrickson nymphs, Blue Wing Olives/Baetis, Caddis Pupa, Caddis Larva (regular olive/green #14-16 & cased #10-14), and larger Stoneflies #6-12 (golden, brown, black) have all had their moments. Also try attractor patterns (gaudy flies with hot spots, flash, UV materials, or unusual colors), sometimes they will outfish the usual drabber flies for reasons only know to the trout. It can be worth trying bigger #6-10 nymphs such as Stoneflies & Mops- larger nymphs sometimes interest larger trout (more calories in a single bite, just like with streamers). Bigger nymphs can also be better in higher and/or off-color flows.  Remember that GISS (general impression of size & shape) is far more important than having an exact imitation, and sometimes exaggerated features like a hot spot or flash gets their attention better than a "perfect" drabber imitation. Trout perceive our imitations differently than us humans do, so what looks good to YOU isn't necessarily what the trout prefer. We'd be lucky to catch any trout at all if our flies truly had to look exactly like the natural insects. If your fly size & shape/profile are close to the natural bugs, and the color is ballpark, all you then need is to put it in front of a willing trout with a good presentation. I've caught more trout than I can count during Hendrickson hatches on #12-14 Pheasant Tails, Frenchies & Hare's Ears. The shape (tails, slimmer abdomen, thicker thorax), color (brown) and size match up to the real bug. I've caught many a rising trout during a Hendrickson hatch on a #12-14 Parachute Adams after they refused a dozen different dun, emerger, cripple & spinner patterns.

Don's deadly Hendrickson Parachute Egg Sack Spinner

For streamer fishing black, olive, brown and white are great starting colors, but make sure to experiment and let the trout tell you what they want. Other often good colors are yellow and tan. 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 (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.

We've recently received BIG orders of assorted hooks from Umqua/Tiemco, Fulling Mill jig hooks, huge Wapsi  & Hareline tying material orders, lots more books including the hot new streamer book from Kelly Galloup "Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout II", a definitive new book on Brook Trout by Bob Mallard "Squaretail" (autographed copies), and lots of spin tackle. We are happy to mail order over the phone for you, or prepare a goody bag for curbside pick-up. Thank you all for the support you've shown our business since the CT shutdown of non-essential businesses, we appreciate every single sale/order you give us! Let's all stick together & stay safe as best we can.

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.

Flows:
The Farmington is currently medium at 401cfs & dropping 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 411cfs. Riverton is 243cfs, and the Still River is adding in an additional 158cfs below it's junction with the West Branch. 8am Riverton water temp was 46 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 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: 
-Hendricksons #12-14: hatch is New Hartford up to least Pipeline/Lyman Rock, maybe even higher
-Caddis #16-18: olive green body, just starting, up as far upstream as Church Pool  
-Blue Wing Olives #16-18 (aka Olives, Baetis, BWOs, etc.)- afternoons, hatch is near the end 
-Summer/Winter Caddis #18-24: pupa & winged adults (early/mid AM, sometimes afternoons) 
-Midges #20-32 (late morn thru dusk) 

Nymphs:
-BMAR Hendrickson Nymph #12
-Hendrickson Nymph #12-14- can be a specific imitation like the BMAR Hendrickson, or a brownish Mayfly nymph such as a Pheasant Tail, Frenchy, darker Hare's Ear, etc.
-Olive Nymphs #16-18
-Olive/green Caddis Pupa #14-16 
-Pheasant Tail/Quasimodos/Frenchies #12-18 (in #12-14 imitates Hendricksons, smaller ones imitate smaller & immature Mayfly nymphs like BWOs, Sulfurs & others)
-Prince Nymph #12-16
-Caddis Larva (olive to green) #14-16 
-Cased Caddis #10-14 (especially after flow increases, knocks the larva into the flow)
-Perdigons #12-16 in black, brown & olive
-"Junk Flies" #8-16 (Eggs, Mops, Squirmy/San Juan Worms, Green Weenies- great for fresh stockies)
-Zebra Midge #18-22 (black, red, olive)
-Attractor Nymphs #12-18 (Haast Haze, Rainbow Warrior, Blue Lightning Bug, Miller's Victim, 
   Triple Threat, Princes, etc.)- anything flashy, gaudy, or with a hot spot   
-Bigger Stoneflies/Pat's Rubber Legs #6-12 (gold/yellow, brown, black)       

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

Streamers: 
-BMAR Yellow Matuka #6
-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
-Dude Friendly #8 (white, yellow, natural)
-Woolly Buggers #2-14 (black, olive, white, brown, tan)
-Rio's Precious Metal #4 (Kreelex copper, olive)
-JJ Special/Autumn Splendor/Tequeely #4-8
-Matuka #4-8 (olive, brown, yellow)