We recently purchased another huge collection of quality fly tying materials. Stop by and check it out. Hooks, dryfly necks, streamer necks, dubbing, flash, squirrel, used vises, tying tools, fur, zonker strips, rubber legs, deer hair, foam, and LOTS more.
Additional 10% off used & clearance fly rods & reels over $500 Clothing is 20% off the marked price. All Landing Nets are 10% off the marked price. The sale merchandise is going fast as it's rare that we mark things down during the height of the season.... but we can use some income during this slower summer, and you, our loyal customers, should benefit.
Derrick & Antoine are doing a Casting Clinic on Saturday September 23rd, contact them directly to sign up for that. Better casting = Better presentations, bigger Fish. Call Antoine at 860-759-4464 to sign up for the clinic.
Monday morning 9/18:
Up top is a handful of brown trout fooled by Jim DeCesare, and below that is a pretty brown Chad Hussey caught. Water temps are cooling down a bit finally.
UpCountry has just purchased yet another giant collection of Used graphite, bamboo & fiberglass fly rods, used fly Reels & Classic fly reels. Most of this equipment is very affordably priced and will only be offered in store to our walk in customers. There are lots of classic Orvis, Hardy, Pfleuger, custom and much more. Come and take a look before someone gets there first. Most items are between $10 - $200 with a few higher end bamboo rods mixed in. If you have ever considered buying an affordable bamboo rod to fish with, this is the time, we have some great rods from $100-500 dollars and a few premium ones for the more experienced bamboo aficionado.
River temperature is 65 degrees at the Goodwin Dam in Riverton at 8am this morning. First light to lunchtime is a great time to be out and catch the best water temps, and are actually lower as you go downstream. With nights averaging about 50 degrees this week, the Farmington will have decent water temps.
Rain today (Monday 9/18) should put some water in the Still River, which will both help augment the dam release (71cfs in Riverton). The Still River is adding in 43cfs this morning, bringing the total flow in the permanent TMA/C&R up to about 115cfs. Looks for flows to increase mildly after today’s rain.
The lower flows are both good & bad. Less current makes the trout more wary. But… it also makes it easier to figure out where the fish are: anywhere you see deeper, darker water. And when there is a hatch, it can be some really good dry fly fishing with more rising trout. Lengthen your leaders (12’ and longer), stay a little further away from the fish, wear drab clothing colors that blend into the backround, move slow, and if dry fly fishing use a longer with a down & across cast to present your fly to the fish before your leader. Long light tippets (3-6’) will give you a better drag-free presentation. Downsize your flies & tippet, unless you are matching a bigger bug like an Isonychia (they average about a #12 right now, give or take) or a Golden Stonefly (#6-10). There are also a few Giant Octboer Caddis around, they run #6-10. Other than the above bugs, nymphs should mostly be #18-20.
Flying Ants have been on the water in the afternoons/early evenings lately, and bringing trout to the surface. ClassicAnts & Beetles are a good choice from late morning to early evening. The morning Trico hatch/spinner fall is getting near the end, but you should have a few #24 spinners in your box just in case. Look also for Summer/Winter Caddis in the early to mid mornings. There have been assorted Caddis hatches on cooler mornings in riffly areas, running #16-18, tan/light brown is the most common color. Late afternoon to dark look for Isonychia averaging about a #12, they hatch in the faster water only. There have been light hatches of #24 Blue Winged Olives. Dusk to dark typically offers a better 30 minute window of bugs & rising trout. Light Cahills #12-14, assorted Summer Stenos, White Spinners, Isonychia, and assorted Caddis would be the main players.
Don’t forget about streamers. I’d stick to small to medium size (1.5”-3”) with the current lower water conditions. Brown trout are pre-spawn and getting aggressive, and sometimes throwing the meat will aggravate them and draw a strike. Play with colors & retrieves, fishing colors like olive, brown, tan, yellow &white. Early & late in the day is prime time, but midday can be good if you look for shade & structure. Cover as much water as possible when streamer fishing. You are looking for aggressive trout, which typically strike quickly, or not at all.
The most consistent nymphing tactic has fishing the faster water & pockets. Overall you want to nymph with small flies averaging #18-20, because most of the nymphs are small to very small right now (except Isonychia & big Stoneflies). A favored AM nymph rig would be a bigger #8-10 Stonefly nymph paired up with a #16 Caddis Pupa or a #18-20 nymph like a Pheasant Tail/Frenchy, Walt’s Worm, or a Blue Winged Olive Nymph. We are seeing Yellow Sally Stoneflies#14-16. August/September is peak time for them on the Farmington River. I find imitating them with nymphs more productive than dries, they look like a miniature Golden Stone and can be imitated with a #14-18 yellow brown Sulfur type nymph pattern.
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Hatches/Dries:
Hatches have been light, with dusk to dark being the best window, don’t leave too early! We are also seeing light morning Trico spinner falls, along with Caddis hatching on cooler mornings.
-Ants & Beetles #12-20: good choice late morning through early eves when bugs aren’t hatching but trout are sporadically sipping small stuff, you can also blind fish bigger ones
-Tricos #22-26: light but fishable, the spinnerfall is the main event and it happens at about 68 degrees air temp
-Summer/Winter Caddis #18-24: hatching in early to mid morning
-Summer Stenos/Cream Cahills #12-22: evenings at dusk
-Fall Caddis #16-18 (tan/light brown): hatching in early to mid AM, and returning to lay eggs at dusk in the riffles.
-Isonychia #10-14: fast water insect, late afternoon through dark
-Blue Winged Olives #22-26: esp. cooler cloudy days
-Midges #20-28: mornings & eves, try a Midge Pupa subsurface
Nymphs
-Big Stoneflies #8-12 (gold/yellow, brown, black): early to mid AM in fast water, you will see the shucks on the rocks, as well as on cement bridge abutments
-Isonychia Nymph #10-12: nymphs are working, fish in fast water, dead-drift & swing them. Prince nymphs & large Pheasant Tails work well to imitate them.
-Caddis Pupa #16-18 (mostly tan or olive/green): dead-drift & swing in medium to fast water.
-Frenchies & Pheasant Tails #12-20: various sizes imitate many different Mayfly nymphs (BWO, Isonychia, Sulfur, Iso, etc.) & smaller Stoneflies and are quite effective everywhere
-Caddis Larva (olive to green) #14-16: anytime, lots of these in the river
-Jigged Streamers #8-12: various colors/patterns- dead-drift, twitch, swing & strip, best on a Euro rod & leader, excellent choice to fish in September/October with aggressive pre-spawn brown trout
-Attractor Nymphs #14-20: anything flashy, gaudy, or with a hot spot such as Rainbow Warriors, Sexy Waltz, Prince, Triple Threats, etc
-Junk Flies (Eggs, Mops, Squirmies/SJ Worms, Green Weenies):
Streamers:
With Fall at hand, aggressive pre-spawn brown trout, and slow hatching actvity, now is a good time to fish the meat. Big trout are almost always on the lookout for bigger bites, especially early & late in the day and during lulls in bug activity. Also a great choice anytime the flow is up or off-color.
-Rich Strolis articulated streamers (assorted)
-Jigged Streamers #8-12: various patterns/colors, deadly fished on a tight-line/Euro rig
-Rio's Precious Metal #4 (Kreelex copper, olive, white)
-BMAR Yellow Matuka #6
-Zuddler #4-8: olive, yellow, white, brown, black
-Complex Twist Bugger #2-6: assorted colors
-Conehead White Marabou Muddler #8
-Woolly Buggers #2-8 (peach, black, olive, white, brown, tan)
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Diamondback Ideal Nymph Reels:
These are the most well thought out & designed Euro nymphing reels out there, the product of Joe Goodspeed who designed the Diamondback Ideal Nymph Rods. It has a full cage which makes it very unlikely for long/thin leaders or Mono Rigs to work their way outside the frame- a common problem with most modern reels (very few are full frame, 90% have a half frame). The machined tolerances are also extra tight to help with this. It has removable weights so you can fine-tune the rod/reel balance. The ultra large arbor, large diameter, narrow spool is ideal for Euro nymphing where you don’t want or need a ton of line capacity- this also gives you a faster retrieve rate and less line coiling. The drag is ultra smooth to protect light tippet. The most unique feature of all is the offset reel foot, which gives you the ability to put the mass of the reel even closer to the rod butt, improving rod balance. If you need to take up slack quickly the reel is designed so you can hit the spool with your palm to spin it rapidly and take up excess line. Anywhere the line/leader can rub against the reel when stripping line has been machined round to eliminate abrasion. The Ideal Nymph reel is unique, with all the features you wanted and clever ones you never even thought about. They use the latest 5D-5 Axis machining to make this unusual & beautiful fly reel. These reels have already become a hot seller.
The T&T Contact II 10’ 9 2wt rod debuted in 2022, and it is an excellent addition to the best line-up of euro rods. I absolutely love it- the perfect rod for conditions that dictate lighter tippets & smaller/lighter flies: casts great, very sensitive, very low swing weight, and a blast to play the fish on. It is my current favorite rod, it’s really fun to fish with, and guides Zach St. Amand & Derrick Kirkpatrick are also big fans of it, as is shop employee/shop rat Joey. The length is ideal for rivers like the Farmington, allowing you to fish & cast further away, make longer drifts, cast easier, faster hook sets, and the soft tip will protect your tippet against big trout. Enough power in the butt section to handle bigger trout when necessary, and a bit of extra flex in the tip for casting thinner micro leaders and lighter flies. The new 2wt is a great compliment to your arsenal, especially if you already have the 3wt, which is the “all 'rounder” for Euro Nymphing.
The Diamondback range of Ideal Nymph rods are in stock. These excellent Euro nymphing rods are available in 10’ 1wt, 10’ 2wt, 10’ 10” 2wt, 10’ #3, 10’ 10” 3wt, 10’ 10” 4wt, and 10’ 10” #6, with more models to come soon. Joe Goodspeed, (formerly of Cortland and T&T) designed this new series in 2022, and he did a great job. At $525-550, these rods are a deal and easily the best Euro rods in the $500 range. Using the latest, state-of-the-art materials & construction, the rods are light with excellent recovery & sensitivity, plenty of big fish playing power, double rings on the downlocking reel seat, 3 snake guides on the rod tip for minimal line/leader wrap with thinner/micro leaders, and 2 single foot ceramic stripping guides to reduce friction & improve line shoot. The 10’ 10” #2 has been a best seller for the Farmington River, also the 10’ #1 (a unique & very fun rod). The 10’ 10” #3 has the backbone to handle larger trout & heavy jigged streamers. I’ve also noticed the 10’ #2 is very popular with top competition anglers who have access to any rods they want, Joe really nailed it on this particular rod.