Store Hours:
8am-5pm
Monday through Friday, 8am-5pm on Saturday & Sunday. These will
be the store hours through April. We will close at 2pm
on Easter Sunday 4/20.
Pictured up top is guide Zach
St. Amand with a 21”+ beauty he landed on Wednesday.
We
have tons of books at the moment- just got in a bunch of used book as
well as a big order of new books that came in last week. Also,
more used rods & reels came
in recently, we have a BIG inventory of used stuff. Also just
received big orders from Scientific Anglers
(fly lines) & Fulling Mill
(flies, boxes, beads, hooks).
We are once again carrying
Frabill Landing Nets, very
popular with comp anglers. Reasonably priced, lightweight, and
capable of netting very large trout.
Diamondback
Generation IV Euro nymphing rods are here! I know many of
you have been eagerly anticipating them, and now we have the full
line-up, minus the 10' 7" #4 (not available yet, probably in the
early fall). The models we have include 10' and 10' 7" lengths
in #1, #2, #3, and 10' 7" in #6 & #7. The rods feel great,
with crisp and extremely responsive tip sections that recover
immediately with almost no bounce, and plenty of backbone in the
lower half of the rods. Each model includes an instruction sheet
explaining what that particular rod is best for (fish size, tippet
size, hook size, leader type, suggested reel weight, applications,
etc.). The 1 & 2 weight models have slightly softer tips than
their predecessors, but still have plenty of backbone in the mid to
lower rod for when you do hook a bigger fish. The 10’ 7” 3 weight
is your all around Euro stick for the Farmington River, it will do
almost everything and do it well. He added in a 10' 7" #7 rod
for those requesting a heavier Great Lakes Steelhead/Salmon rod for
bigger fish & heavier tippets, and the updated 6 weight version
also has more backbone than it’s predecessor while maintaining a
flexible tip to protect your tippet. The 1 weight comes in a longer
10’ 7” version now, not just the 10' length- it’s a pretty cool
rod for fishing lighter tippets, thinner/micro leader butts, and
lighter flies, while still having enough backbone to land a good
fish. Prices are $625 for the 10 footers, and $650 for the 10' 7"
models.
Friday morning
4/18/25
River Report:
The total flow on the river
below the Still River and in the Permanent TMA/Catch & Release
(C&R) is 303cfs
and slowly dropping, the historical median flow for today is
488cfs- today’s flow is a medium and an excellent water level.
Riverton is 162cfs between the dam and the Rt.
20 bridge/Riverton Self Storage. The Still River is adding in
141cfs and slowly dropping a little below that.
Riverton water temp is 41 degrees this morning, it reached 47.5
degrees yesterday afternoon. I got 52.7 degrees in New Hartford mid
afternoon on Thursday. Downstream water temps are generally higher
(averaging mid to upper 40’s, even reaching low 50’s on the
warmest, sunny days) due to the influence of the Still River and
other tributaries, especially on mild/sunny days. Peak water temps
are normally mid to late afternoon. Unionville USGS gauge is reading
a very fishermen friendly 458cfs, historical median flow for today is
996cfs.
Easter Weekend is here, and the Permanent TMA/Catch & Release (C&R) got stocked on Thursday 4/17. If you move around and
experiment with fly patterns & presentations, you should be able
to get into some good fishing. Don’t be afraid to explore and fish
new water to get away from the crowds, there are literally fish
EVERYWHERE. Staying away from the crowds = catching more fish. It’s
still mostly subsurface with nymphs & streamers, but if you look
around you can find a few risers here and there in the bigger, wider
pools in the mid afternoons. Water temps are rising, and the 10 Day
Forecast has every day above 60 degrees- 82 Saturday, with several
other days into the low 70’s. Water temps are bumping up, Riverton
hit 47.5 degrees Thursday afternoon, and downstream they got over 52
degrees, and the warm weather moving in to stay will push them up
higher. This gets the trout & bugs more active. I imagine we will
likely see Hendricksons hatching downriver (Collinsville, Unionville,
Farmington) sometime in the next week. We are still seeing
Baetis/Blue Winged Olives (BWO’s) in #16-18 in the afternoons, and
I saw a lot of smaller #18-20 gray/brown Caddis Thursday (probably
Apatania, aka the “Smoky Winged Sedge”). I haven’t seen trout
rising to the Caddis, but there have been a few rising to the BWO’s
in the bigger/wider pools. Even a few Early Black Stones here &
there, but they are almost done (except in Riverton where the water
is colder).
Various smaller nymphs averaging #16-20 have
been working on stockers, holdovers & wilds. Try #14-18 Pheasant
Tails/Frenchies, #16-18 BWO nymphs, #14-18 olive Caddis larva/Walt’s
Worms, Mops, and flies with pink beads (Walt’s/PT’s/Hare’s
Ears). Junk Flies (Eggs, Mops, Worms, Weenies) can be particularly
effective on the recently stocked fish before they figure out what
real food looks like, sometimes vastly outproducing traditional
nymphs. And some days the wild browns like to eat the Junk too. They
are very much a hot or cold fly, not much in between. If one of your
nymphs is a Junk Fly, pair it up with something smaller, drabber &
more natural (Pheasant Tail, Walt’s Worm, Hare’s Ear, etc.).
Streamers are also a very good choice, and a great way to cover a lot
of water in a hurry, and also be able to fish the water than you
cannot nymph. Make sure to cover lots of water, play with streamer
color/pattterns, and vary your retrieves. Try tan, olive, white, and
black.
Fishing reports have varied widely, depending on
the angler, river section fished, time of day, and methods/flies
used. Dry fly anglers are working a lot harder than those anglers
fishing subsurface. Nymphs & streamers are producing most of the
fish and almost all of the bigger fish. Expect to work for the high
quality holdover & wild fish. If you get into a pod of recently
stocked fish, you can do some numbers. It pays to move around and
cover water currently. It one section is not producing, don’t beat
it to death, move to a new area. The big wild browns are the hardest
to fool, you need to do everything correctly. They’ve seen it all,
and they spook easily. They are also very tuned into real bugs &
minnows. With rising water temps and increased bug activity, trout
are sliding out of slower water and into faster water to feed. This
is especially true on mild afternoons.
The Farmington
River was stocked recently on the entire river, including the
Permanent TMA/C&R this week (on Thursday 4/17). Most
sections have been stocked twice, with more to come in the near
future. FYI, 20% of the trout they stock throughout the state are
over one foot, with some much larger.
****************************************************************
Dries:
-Blue
Winged Olives/Baetis #16-18: Mid afternoon hatch, often better on
crappy, overcast days.
-Early Black Stones #12-16: afternoon
hatch, almost done but still a few around.
-Hendrickson #12-14:
not yet, but anytime now with the warm weather that is here to stay
finally. They start in the lower river first (Farmington, Unionville,
Collinsville) and work their way upstream.
-Summer/Winter Caddis
#18-24: hatch is typically early to mid morning, all year long. Trout
focus on the pupa first, and then as the morning progresses they
normally switch to the winged, egg-laying adults.
-Midges
#20-28: afternoons, sunny/milder days are best
Nymphs:
-Blue
Winged (Baetis) Olive Nymphs #16-18: active/hatching in the
afternoons, good all year, a common item in the drift
-Black
Stonefly #12-16: afternoons, mild sunny afternoons are the best of
all
-Caddis Larva (olive to green) #14-16: lots of these in the
river (most others too), imitates the common Hydrospyche, good all
year but especially in early spring
-Pheasant Tails/Frenchies
#14-20: imitates a wide range of Mayflies including Blue Winged
Olives, Hendricksons, small Stoneflies, and more
-Cased Caddis
#10-16: good this time of year, especially during & after flow
bumps
-Winter/Summer Caddis Larva #18 (yellow)- also imitates
Black Caddis larva & some Midge larva
-Egg Flies #12-20:
Eggstasy, Otter Eggs, Glo-Bugs, Sucker Spawn, etc. Shades of yellow,
orange, pink, or a mix of those. Killer on recently stocked trout.
Try Otter Eggs on extra picky fish.
-Junk Flies (Mops/Micro
Mops, Squirmy/San Juan Worms, Eggs, Green Weenie): eggs are
deadly in the fall/winter/early spring, and the others are good
change-up flies when the usual imitative flies aren’t producing,
during non-hatch times, cold water, on recently stocked trout, or
during higher/off-color water.
-Attractor Nymphs #14-20: such as
Sexy Waltz, Rainbow Warriors, Frenchies, Prince, Triple Threats, Pink
Bead Walt’s Worm/Pheasant Tails/Hare’s Ear, etc. Often work
better than drabber, more imitative flies.
-Midges #18-22
(black, olive, red): Zebra Midge, Flash Midge, Red Iris Midge.
Streamers:
*We
have a lot of new streamer patterns from MT Fly Co in the bins.
***Don’t
neglect streamers! - top 3 colors have been olive, tan, and
white. Black is good on recently stocked trout, during low light
(first & last light), and high/dirty water.
-Jigged
Streamers #8-12: various patterns/colors, deadly fished on a
tight-line/Euro rig, often sorts out bigger fish. Great to use as a
clean-up fly after you nymph a run.
-Ice Picks (tan, gray,
white, yellow): tied by Rich Strolis, a very nice single hook
baitfish pattern
-Woolly Bugger #4-12: assorted colors, try also
Don's Peach Bugger
-Zonker #4-6: a classic fish catcher! In
white, natural
-BMAR Yellow Matuka #6: deadly fall fly! Also
standard Matuka in olive, brown
-Zuddler #4-8: one of our
favorites, in olive, white, brown, black, yellow
-Complex &
Mini Twist Bugger #2-6: assorted colors, very effective