Top fish pic is one of many high quality browns landed by clients of Derrick Kirkpatrick (CT Fish Guides) this past weekend, as is the 2nd pic down. Joe Marchese caught the pretty brown in the net in the 3rd pic, and the the beautiful female brown in the camo Fishpond net in the 4th pic was caught by local guide Steve Hogan. Quite a few quality fish were landed over the weekend, these are only a few of them.
Fishing advice has not changed much: still a mix of streamers, smallish nymphs, and some windows of dry fly fishing. Main hatches are still Caddis, Olives & Isonychia. Flows went pretty quickly from upper end medium to moderately low in 3 days. Weather through Saturday looks very mild & pleasant, with high upper 60s to low 70s, nights in the 50s. Apparently the MDC stocked up in Riverton (Rt 20/Hitchcock/Riverton Self Storage bridge up to the dam) in early October, they typically put 800-1,000 trout in. The flow up there is above the Still River, so it’s quite low as they are only doing the bare minimum release of 50cfs. This is both good & bad for that section. There is less holding water and the trout are spookier, but…. it makes is very easy to wade, read the water, and it stacks the trout up in the deeper water (deep is a relative term at 50cfs haha). Below the Still River flows are about 100cfs more, making for nicer water conditions.
The new Hardy Zane saltwater #7-10 rods recently arrived, the Zane & the Zane Pro, just in time for the Fall season, check ‘em out.
Increased flows will only make the fishing better overall. Throwing bigger streamers for bigger trout can be great when flows rise and discolor, it really brings the big browns out of hiding as they look to eat and ambush baitfish, crayfish & smaller trout. Best/most predictable rising activity has been in Church Pool & Greenwoods, with other pools/sections seeing rising trout too, but spottier and less predictable. But… a lot less fishing pressure when you get out of those two super popular dry fly pools. Remember you can blind fish bigger dries such as Isonychia, Terrestrials and Attractor Dries over likely looking water and bring fish to the surface, you don’t always have to throw only to rising fish. And if you really want to up your odds, add a small weighted dropper nymph under your dry.
Most bugs right now are small, as in #18-24 and even smaller, so fish are used to eating predominately small to tiny nymphs in the early Fall. Typically egg flies start working quite well in mid October on the Farmington, any day now they should become a top producer. Pair them up with some sort of smallish nymph. Try nymphs with & without hot spots, and fish both drab and flashy patterns. Some slightly bigger nymphs that are the exception would be Caddis Pupa in #16 (even bigger for the Giant October Caddis), #12-14 Isonychia, and #8-10 Stoneflies. But overall smaller nymphs #18-22 are what is getting it done. I’d probably fish these mostly on 6x fluoro tippet FYI, 5x is okay on bigger nymphs.
The streamer bite is only getting better as the trout’s aggression ramps up due to spawning & water levels continue to increase. I’m sure that in the Fall there is also a biological imperative for animals to bulk up before the leaner times of Winter, so they are on the lookout for big bites at a time of year when most of the bugs are small to very small. Don’t forget about wet flies & soft hackles! The foliage continues to get more colorful every single day. Fishing in low water has been “technical” at moments, with those adapting to it finding success, and those who remain stubborn (i.e. fishing the exact same way that worked in June, only using bigger flies, only fishing the same old spots, or only willing to fish dries to rising trout) working hard for an occasional strike. Be flexible boys & girls, or you will get zero sympathy from us when you come in complaining about “slow fishing”. Fish are still eating most of the day all over the river (mostly subsurface, but sometimes on top), and it’s up to you to figure out where, how & what. Crack the code and it will put a smile on your face.
Mark Swenson’s next fly tying class will be November 15th, and is geared toward novice & intermediate tyers who used to tie a little bit, but got away from it and forget most of what they learned. Sort of a “tune up” class for less experienced tyers. Call Mark directly at 203-586-8007 to sign up, class is already almost full.
If you want to avoid the crowds, remember that there are 21 miles of seasonal catch & release (C&R) water below the dam from September 1st until Opening Day, and it’s all loaded with plenty of trout, including even the water well below that. Everybody seems to key in on the same spots- either the popular pools in the 6.2 mile permanent C&R/TMA section, or wherever the state recently stocked, but the trout are truly everywhere in this river. Now that water temps are not an issue, you can go as far downriver as you wish. Explore and find some new water that isn’t getting beat up on a daily basis, and watch your catch rate jump up. Or go where everyone else goes, and do what everybody does, and have similar results... It’s your choice. If you aren’t good at reading new water, purchase a copy of Gary Borger’s fantastic book on the subject called “Reading Waters”, it’s the best one out there on that topic- he takes a dry subject and makes it interesting with plenty of personal anecdotes.
Farmington browns typically start spawning around mid October, and as such they are getting aggressive, making this a great time to fish streamers. We have been getting good streamer reports for several weeks now. Early & late in the day during low light are peak times to nail a big trout on a streamer, but don’t rule out other times of the day, especially in the Fall. You may want to downsize your streamers in low water, but remember also that bigger trout tend to like bigger bites. Smaller streamers will likely catch you more but smaller fish, with bigger streamers giving you your best shot at a true trophy but you will likely catch less fish. Decisions, decisions… See a couple of paragraphs down for a few streamer fishing tips & pattern advice.
A lot of peeps have forgotten about wet flies & soft hackles, but low water in early/mid Fall is a great time to fish them. Easy to cover a lot of water from fast to slow, and not get hung up on the bottom. As always, I recommend a 2-3 fly tag-end dropper fly rig. Floating line is fine for the low water, with the flies spaced about 30” apart. Put your biggest fly on the point (end). Experiment with fly patterns/sizes, casting angles, retrieves, and rod tip manipulations- there is far more than just the “down-and-across” presentation. If you experiment and pay attention, the trout will tell you what they prefer.
If you are out in the evening fishing dries, stay until the end as there is normally a 15-30 minute window right near dark when the fishing becomes easier and the trout seem to become less selective and will eat a variety of patterns, often bigger flies too. BWO hatches are picking up on the cooler days. Isonychia are getting a bit smaller, averaging a #14 now, with the bigger ones pushing a #12. If you are nymphing, small flies are norm, as in #18-22. With both dries & nymphs, keep your leaders longer (12’ or longer) and go lighter on your tippets: mostly 6-7x with dries, and mainly 6x with the nymphs (5x for bigger nymphs or when the water levels come up). You can always take a 9’ 4-5x leader and add 3-4 feet of lighter tippet to it. Longer tippets = less drag and better presentations. Don’t spook your quarry: be stealthy in your approach in low water, stay a little further away, and wear drab colors to blend into the backround.
Streamer fishing is a nice break from
the technical small fly/light leader fishing, and allows you to cover
water quickly and target some of the biggest trout. Some yellow
incorporated into your Fall streamers can be very effective, brown
trout react aggressively to their own heightened spawning colors. Can
be all yellow, or two-tone such as brown/yellow or olive/yellow.
Orange is a good secondary color too. Olive is always a color worth
trying too in anything but truly dirty water. Cover lots of water,
play with retrieves, and experiment with colors & patterns. Make
sure to use heavier tippet, nothing lighter than 2x-3x with average
size streamers (#6-10), and if you are chucking the big stuff, go
right up to 0x. The old school Muddler Minnow is a neglected classic
that works quite well in the often low water conditions of early
Fall: it can be floated, dead-drifted, swung, stripped, twitched, or
bounced on the surface- it’s a very versatile fly. Zuddlers &
Woolly Bugger are perennial favorites and still quite effective if
presented correctly.
The river was electrofished by the
DEEP in September, originally scheduled for 2 days but they got so
many fish the first day they did not need to do a second one. They
bring 150 16" plus wild/holdover trout back to the hatchery,
artificially spawn them, and then return them to the river when done.
Two of our customers watched them shock, and they said several of the
trout were so big they looked like salmon!
The river has been low since about August and will likely remain low for a while- we need rain, and lots of it! Fishing continues to get more technical, anglers are working hard to fool trout sipping flies in the flat water pools. Targeting the faster ripply/broken water with Isonychia, attractor dries, terrestrials, dry/dropper, small nymphs, and wet flies is easier and usually more productive.
Our most
popular jig hook, the Hanak 450 Jig Superb, is now finally available
in #18, and we have a pile of them
in stock. Just in time for tying the nymphs of late Summer/early
Fall. The hook design is excellent: ultra wide gap for better
hooking, curled in barbless point, and
a slightly short shank to tie smaller bugs. Ends up being more like a
#20, but with the gap of at least a #16. If you want a similar
hook with slightly heavier wire that
is available in smaller sizes, try the
Fasna F-415; it goes all the way down to a #20 and runs about
one size smaller than the Hanak. A #16
Fasna is about the size of a Hanak #18.
As
of September 1st, virtually the entire river went Catch &
Release: (21 miles from
the dam in Riverton down to the Unionville Rt 177 bridge) until
6am on Opening Day in April 2021. If you see anybody keeping
trout, don't confront them, instead call the CT DEEP TIPS hotline at
800-842-TIPS(4357) and report them. Even if they are unable to
come & ticket or arrest them, it gets logged and can help us get
more future DEEP enforcement on the river when they
analyze their call logs data. I recommend programming that phone #
into your cell phone. Please don't ask us to call them for you, it
carries more weight when lots of different individuals are calling in
violations, rather than coming mostly from UpCountry.
The toughest fishing of all right now is the flat water, tiny dry fly game in the mornings & afternoons, you have to do everything right and even then it can still be hard. Or, you can cover water/blind fish and focus where there is more current & choppy water, fishing attractor dries, terrestrials, Dry/Dropper (with a small #16-22 nymph dropper), or nymph fish with small #16-22 flies (either a very light Euro rig, or a small Indicator rig with one small split shot, I recommend 6x tippet with small nymphs). Fish holding in faster, choppy/riffly water have to make a quick decision and don't get as good a look at your fly. The "easier" dry fly fishing is in the evenings, when there are hatches of somewhat bigger bugs in the #12-18 range- don't overlook spinner, especially if you see gentle rises later in the evening. Rusty spinners in various sizes probably cover 60%+ of all Mayflies, regardless of what color they are when they hatch. Cream spinners are good too. Stay until full dark if you can, there is often a window of easier fishing in the last 15-30 minutes of light when the trout will eat a variety of dries.
Dry/Dropper tips:
While
many of the tiny hatch-matching dries require 12' or longer 6x-7x
leaders, trying to throw a Dry/Dropper rig on that is a recipe for
disaster. Think more like 9', and no lighter than 5x, and big air
resistant dries may require heavier (3x-4x) and sometimes even
shorter (7.5') leaders. You have to be able to accurately turn over
that rig, if you cannot, go shorter & heavier. Attach your nymph
to 18-24" of 6x fluoro tippet for starters. Shallow runs and/or
surface feeding trout may mean running it 12" below, and
deeper/faster runs may require up to 30-36". Most people tie the
nymph off the hook bend of the dry, but if you want the best rig of
all, create a tag end dropper for your dry fly (just like you would
in a Euro nymphing rig) above your nymph. Flows are currently low and
most of the bugs are small, so think #16-22 nymphs. This is a shallow
nymphing rig, so don't worry about dredging near the bottom, there
are different rigs for that (Euro or Indicator nymphing). For those
of you doing a Dry/Dropper rig on a Euro rod with a Mono rig, it's
totally doable if you have a thicker mono set up. 15-20# Mono is
optimal, but you can go a little thinner if the dries aren't too big
and bushy. If you go too thin, there's not enough mass in the mono to
turn the flies over. The weight of the dropper nymph actually helps
you make the cast with a Mono rig, just make sure it's not too heavy
for your dry fly to support. It becomes more critical to balance out
your flies with a Mono rig though- bigger dries need heaver flies to
be able to cast them, and smaller dries balance with lighter nymphs.
That is not necessary with a traditional fly line and
tapered leader. But the advantage to a Mono rig is that for short to
moderate range work you can high-stick it and keep all the line off
the water, up to maybe 25' or so.
Hot New Rods:
The
brand new T&T Contact II series (10' #2, 10' #3, 10' 9" #3,
10' 9" #4 & 10' 8" #6) are now available, and now the
11' 2" #3 has joined the lineup- Zach & I (Torrey) were
closely involved with the prototype development of this last rod, and
on version 7 of the prototype they absolutely nailed it. New improved
materials, new guide spacing , downlock reel seats are standard now
(to better balance), and a new fighting butt design that is more
comfortable. Recovery is noticeably better/crisper, and the actions
"tweaked" for more big fish playing power, plus the newer
materials they use to make the rods inherently store more energy and
give the rod more power for casting and playing big trout. The blanks
are incredibly strong and much much harder to break. These rods are
easy to cast, will give you more distance, and they deliver with
improved accuracy. Retail is $825.
***********************************************************************************
Current
Store Hours:
8am-6pm Monday through Friday, and
8am-5pm on weekends.
Flow:
The
Farmington is currently moderately low at a total flow of 129cfs
total flow through the permanent TMA/Catch & Release (C&R)
area (historical normal total flow is 207cfs), and averaging mid 50s
to mid 60s for water temps, depending upon the weather, river
section, and time of day. Long range forecast calls for normal mid
October weather (highs upper 50s to mid 60s, lows averaging in the
40s). Riverton is a very low 55cfs from the dam on the West Branch,
and the Still River is adding in an additional 74cfs below it's
junction with the West Branch. AM Riverton water temp was 61 degrees
this morning, peaked out at 65 in late afternoon Thursday. Downstream
water temps can be lower or higher this time of year, depending upon
night time lows, daytime highs, and sunshine (or lack thereof).
Hatches:
*Summer/Winter
Caddis #18-24: pupa & winged adults, typically early/mid AM
*Blue
Winged Olives #20-26:
typically afternoons,
especially
cloudy/cooler
days
*Isonychia (“Iso”)
#12-14:
mid/late
afternoon thru dark
*Caddis #16-20: (tan, brown,
black- anytime, but especially morns
(hatching) & evenings
(egg-laying)
-Giant October
Caddis #8-12: late afternoons/eves,
very light
hatch (orange body, light brown
wings)
-Light Cahill/Summer
Stenos #12-14:
evenings, a
few
-Ants & Beetles #12-20:
anytime, especially on milder days
-Midges #20-32: anytime, 365
days a year
-Parachute Adams
#12-24:
different
sizes imitate Isonychia, BWOs, Midges, Caddis
and much more
-Rusty Spinners #12-26: imitates the spinner stage
of most Mayflies, look for them
mainly in afternoons &
especially in the evenings
Nymphs:
*Small
Nymphs #18-22: size is more important than exact pattern
*Blue
Wing Olive #18-22: various
patterns with & without hot spots and flash
*Egg
Flies #10-18: assorted colors (yellow, pinks, oranges or mixed
colors)
*Tan
Caddis Pupa #14-18
-Caddis
Larva (olive to green) #12-18
-Isonychia Nymph #12-14:
can also use Princes, Zug Bugs &
Pheasant Tails
-Stoneflies
#8-12:
golden/yellow, brown, black, best in morns & eves
-Frenchies
& Pheasant
Tails #12-20: various sizes imitate Mayfly nymphs like Blue
Wing Olives, Cahills, Isonychia
and many others
-Antoine's
Perdigons #16-20: black, brown, olive, yellow
-Zebra Midge
#18-22: black, olive, red
-Attractor
Nymphs #16-20:
anything flashy, gaudy, or with a hot spot. Try
the Haast Haze, Rainbow Warrior,
Blue Lightning Bug, Miller's Victim,
Triple Threat, Princes, etc.
Soft-Hackles/Wet
Flies:
-Assorted
Patterns #10-18: Hare's Ear,
Partridge & Orange/Green/Yellow, Partridge & Flash, Starling
& Herl, Leadwing Coachman, March Brown, Partridge & Pheasant
Tail
Streamers:
-BMAR
Yellow Matuka #6
-Muddler
Minnow #6-10: unweighted is very versatile in Fall
low
water- float, swing, dead-drift, strip/twitch, dangle-
you
can do all 5 presentations in one drift
-Zuddler
#4-8: olive,
yellow, white, brown, black
-Complex
Twist Bugger & Mini version #2-6: 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: brown & yellow is a DEADLY
Fall color combo
-Matuka #4-8
(yellow, olive, brown)
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/
Report
by Torrey Collins