Due to the governor's restrictions and closure of non essential CT businesses we will be taking the following steps to continue operating under these new guidelines, and to help keep everybody safe:
-We cannot have customers in the store (with one exception detailed below), so we will be operating with the doors locked, and we will offer phone & website orders, as well as "curbside pick-up". This last service will entail you calling us on the phone at 860-379-1952 (either before arrival, or from the parking lot), telling us what you want, we will bag up your order, take a credit card payment over the phone, and then put your bag outside before you arrive at the door. There will be a $20 minimum purchase amount on phone & pick-up orders. All payments have to be over the phone via credit/debit cards.
-Website and Phone Orders get free shipping at $50. There is no tax for orders shipping out of state.
-We are also offering limited daily appointments from 3pm to 5pm daily, 7 days a week, where one customer at a time is allowed in the store for 1/2 hour at a time. In order to do this under the new regulations, we are limited to one employee in the store. These appointments are for those intending to make $200+ purchases, and this will also be the procedure for trade-ins. Walk-ins are not allowed, call in advance at 860-379-1952.
-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.
-We will be adding more items to our website to make it easier for customers to order from us online. Please don't hesitate to phone in orders to ask for the many, many products you want but don't see listed up. We have tons of flies & fly tying materials in stock, but none of that is currently listed on our website.
-We will continue offering twice weekly fishing reports on our website, Instagram & FaceBook to keep you current on conditions, what's hatching, what's working, with fresh new fish pics in each report.
-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 have jobs and keep supplying you with the best fly fishing stuff, fly tying materials & flies.
Thanks!
-Grady, Torrey & Jake
Make sure to purchase your CT fishing license online prior to coming here as we won't be able to sell you a license during this shutdown, click here to purchase it. We appreciate your continued patronage, without you guys we wouldn't be here! I will continue to update the weekly report here and on Instagram & FaceBook. Please hang tight & stay safe.
A shot of 3-5" of snow today in the forecast, and then back to 53 degrees with sun & clouds on Tuesday, March is a weird month. Lots of anglers took advantage of the nice weather over the weekend, and the quality over quantity trend continued. Local guide Derrick Kirkpatrick had an epic day here Saturday, with FOUR holdover & wild browns landed OVER 20", wow. 3 on small nymphs, and one on a streamer. When a "bite window" opens up and you are in the right water type with the right flies & presentation, sometimes amazing things happen. Friday he had a pair of 21" wild browns landed in the span of 20 casts after work. Derrick & Zach St. Amand are probably the two most dialed-in anglers on the Farmington River, both having spent waaaay over the 10,000 hour threshold that is considered the minimum to make you an expert.
The triple pic up top is Derrick with three of the four 20"+ browns he landed Saturday, 2nd pic down is Zach's client with a big brown. Double pic (3rd down) is Will Coleman in top half, Drew Sommo in lower half, both with some quality weekend browns. 4th fish pic is customer Mike Swierczynski with a quality trout. Last fish pic is Dave Machowski with a very pretty brown. And these are only a fraction of the big fish pics people sent me over the weekend!
Current Store Hours:
8am-5pm 7 days a week, "curbside pick up" only, changing to 8am-6pm on Monday March 30th. Call 860-379-1952 to place orders have us put together your order for pick-up. No walk-ins allowed, per new CT regulations.
http://www.farmingtonriver.com/classes-news-reviews/fly-fishing-101-with-mark-swenson-sunday-april-5th-2020-9am4pm/
Don't be afraid to get away from the crowds and explore new water, there are trout throughout the 21 miles of currently open water. You'd be hard pressed to find a section that doesn't hold some nice holdover & wild trout. Doesn't mean they will be easy to catch, but they are there and CAN be caught if you show the trout what they want (typically a dead-drifted nymph, or a dead-drifted/stripped/swung streamer). If you are stubborn and only want to fish one method or fly, you may be in for a loooong, fishless day. Or you can be flexible, work hard, and catch some trout- the choice is yours.
Move around, cover water, and look for some less fished sections for your best result. Some of the better holdover & wild trout are transitioning into somewhat faster water now, afternoon water temps have ranged from lower to upper 40s in the permanent TMA/Catch & Release (C&R) and this is putting trout on the feed and increasing bug activity subsurface. Especially as water temps rise during the day, look for better fish in the pool heads, deeper riffles, heads of runs, and even in the slower/deeper lies in pocket water. The water doesn't have to be very deep either, many of the fish in the pics are getting caught in knee to mid-thigh deep water. The recently stocked trout will tend more to pod up in softer slow to moderate speed water in pools, slower runs, and gentle riffles with some depth (2-4').
Streamer fishing is picking up, and lately black or olive have been top colors, but I'm also a fan of brown this time of year (anytime for that matter!), and white can be good too- experiment! Try also the following hybrid rig: a weight streamer such as a conehead Bugger, Zuddler, Slumpbuster, etc. with a #14-16 soft-hackle 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 & flashed into a solid hook-up.
Flows:
Total 8am flow today (Monday) in the permanent Catch & Release is medium at 325cfs (167cfs from the dam, plus 158cfs from the Still River), normal historical flow for today is 386cfs. Riverton water temps have been starting in the upper 30s and bumping into the low 40s most afternoons. Further downstream on sunny/mild days you may see an even bigger increase (mid to even upper 40s on mild/sunny day), and sometimes all it takes is a small bump-up to get the trout feeding.
Currently you have the option of targeting holdover & wild trout in the permanent TMA/Catch & Release section, or going outside of it and targetting freshly stocked trout (and of course there are also holdover & wild trout throughout the river also). The recently stocked fish are starting to get dialed into natural food sources and learn about avoiding artificial flies- on average it takes about 3 weeks for trout to get in tune with feeding naturally.
experiment with colors as sometimes it can make a big difference in getting solid strikes, and color preference can change during the day as light conditions change. Cold water normally means slower retrieves/swinging presentations will generally outfish a faster strip when it comes to streamers- but there will still be occasional moments the trout want a faster strip, so make sure to experiment and see what gets you strikes. Some days the streamer fishing is dead, and other days it will produce some big fish. Be willing to switch methods when it makes sense. Olive, black, and white are good streamer colors to start with right now, but try other colors like brown, yellow or tan if those first 3 don't excite the trout. Also flies with a primary color such as brown and a secondary color like yellow can be the ticket.
We do a lot of trade-ins of used equipment, as many of you know. Please call and schedule an appointment before you bring your gear in to trade- you need to make sure Grady or I (Torrey) are here to do the trade, and you also need to make sure it's stuff we will be interested in so you don't drive here for nothing. If your trade-in is relatively small/simple and you want store credit (that's what 90% of people do it for), I (Torrey) can generally do it. However, if it's multiple items or you want us to purchase it, Grady needs to be here. He can do big trades quickly, plus he's the only one with check writing privileges (if we purchase your equipment we pay with a check, not cash). We generally give you roughly full current market value if you opt for store credit, and if you want us to purchase it we knock about 1/3 off what we plan to sell it for.
Cortland's brand spankin' new Nymph Series Rods for Euro Nymphing are in stock now. 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, 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 Indy 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 debuted their Paradigm series of moderate action, dry fly type rods in late 2019, along with a new Contact 10' #3, and a Zone 10' #4. Zach St. Amand beat up the new 10' #3 Contact and loves it. 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. FYI the Paradigm series won "Best New Dry Fly Rod" in the 2020 Fly Fisherman magazine Gear Guide! 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 cross over and throw fly line with dries, wets, and small/medium streamers.
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 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. Opening day for 2020 is Saturday April 11th at 6am. The 6.2 mile Catch & Release (C&R)/TMA section remains C&R and barbless, the rest of the river reverts to a 2 fish limit with a 12" minimum size. Below Rt 177 in Unionville the limit is 5 fish at 9" minimum size.
Hatches/Dries: