Friday, March 14, 2025

Friday 3/14/25 Farmington River Report: Early Black Stones & great conditions

Store Hours:
8am-5pm Monday through Friday, 8am-5pm on Saturday & Sunday. These will be the store hours through March.

Pictured up top is a frequent flyer to this report, customer Jim DeCesare with an absolute stud of wild male brown caught on a streamer next to a boulder in shallow water- that fish hasn’t missed many meals lately.

The entire upper 21 miles of river from the dam in Riverton to the Rt 20 bridge in Unionville is Catch & Release until the second Saturday in April 2025. With very few exceptions, all trout fishing in CT is C&R in March and you cannot keep any trout until 6am on 4/12.

Diamondback Generation IV Euro nymphing have arrived! 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). 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 for when you do hook a bigger fish. The 3 weight is your all around Euro stick that will do almost everything. 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 version now, not just the 10' length. Prices are $625 for the 10 footers, and $650 for the 10' 7" models.

Friday morning 3/14/25 River Report:
Plenty of cool new toys in the store for this weekend, with the big news being the arrival of the long awaited and newest version of the Diamondback nymph rods, the “Generation IV Nymph” rods- see the above paragraph for more details. Joey & I are also putting a BIG Hareline fly tying materials order up on the wall, and Wapsi will be arriving sometime next week. We received some backordered Hanak hooks this week that filled some holes (400’s, 450’s, etc.).

Water temps hit 46 in New Hartford yesterday (Thursday) afternoon, and Tuesday they reached 48! Riverton above the Still River is much cooler, starting in the mid/upper 30’s in the mornings and reaching 40-41 degrees on warm, sunny afternoons

Total flow below the Still River is medium, clear, 303cfs and slowly dropping as I write this- a medium & great fishing level. Riverton USGS gauge is reading a medium-low 139cfs (from the dam to just below the Rt 20 bridge), and the Still River is providing the majority of the additional flow at 164cfs and dropping slowly. They have been ke. Water temp at the USGS Riverton gauge was 37 degrees at 8am this morning, Sunny afternoons see the highest water temps and the most bug activity, which also gives you an idea of when you should be on the water. Unionville USGS gauge is reading 569cfs.

The Farmington River was stocked last week on Wednesday, Thursday & Friday, (OUTSIDE) the Permanent TMA/Catch & Release area. Recently stocked areas include: Goodwin/Hogback Dam in Riverton down to Whittemore, below the New Hartford Rt 219 bridge down through Canton, and Collinsville/Unionville. Last week CT fisheries stocked 31,000 trout throughout the state. FYI, 20% of the trout they stock are over one foot, with some much larger. Almost all trout fishing in the river and streams around the state is Catch & Release until April 12th but open to fishing.

We are finally seeing the bigger Early Black Stoneflies that average a #14. Look for them in the afternoons, especially on milder, sunny days. At some point soon, we will see the early season Baetis/Blue Winged Olives that run #16-18. Baetis nymphs can end up in the Behavioral Drift in the mornings. The peak water temps & insects are in the afternoons, making late morning to mid/late afternoon a prime time to be out. Nymphs & jigged streamers remain the main players. Think slow & deep on your presentations. Trout are holding in medium-slow to slow water with some depth to it, but you will see wild browns move into riffles to feed in the afternoons, especially on sunny afternoons with bug activity.

When flows are normal, various nymphs #14-20, olive/green Caddis Larva #14-16, black Stoneflies #14-18, Pheasant Tails/Frenchies #14-18, Junk Flies (Mops, Eggs, Worms) and jigged streamers (white, tan, olive) have been the high percentage patterns. Try also a Micro Mop instead of a standard full size Mop. Bigger stonefly nymphs #8-10 are sometimes effective when trout are passing up the small stuff.


16-18” has been a pretty common size lately for the holdovers and wild trout, with some 20-22” browns, along with some giant FRAA rainbows that push 20-24”. The recently stocked trout will typically run 12-16”, with rainbows being the most common catch.

Extra deep discount: Diamondback Ideal Nymph rods in stock are on clearance for $330 (normally $525-550) until we run out of stock, (Generation IV Nymph rods have just replaced these). Currently we are down to the 10’ #3 and 10’ 10” #4, they are going fast.


Fishing Tip:
After you nymph a fishy section of water, before you leave make one more pass with either a “Junk Fly” (Mop, Egg, Squirmy Worm) or a jigged streamer. It will often result in one or more fish. My personal go to clean-up flies are cream mops & jigged streamers (olive, tan, white). Although most of a trout’s winter diet is small bugs, sometimes it takes a bigger piece of food to entice them to eat. Their metabolism is slow when water temps are in the 30’s and low/mid 40’s, and they don’t have to eat much, but a big meal can be too enticing to resist. Plus they will move further to eat a bigger fly. Sometimes you have to almost hit them on the nose with a small nymph to get them to eat in cold water, and those subtle eats can be very hard to detect. If you are playing with jig streamers, make sure to try different colors, some days it makes a BIG difference. Top 3 streamer colors have been olive, tan, and white. Other colors can have their moments, but usually one of those colors will get it done. Freshly stocked trout, especially rainbows, usually like black streamers. Also experiment with different presentations: dead-drift, occasional twitches, actively jigged, swung, and stripped in with different retrieves. Sometimes they will eat it on the dangle when it’s hanging straight downstream of you, wafting around enticingly in the current until the trout cannot stand it any longer.

There are definite bite windows when the fish decide to actively feed, and it can go from zero to 100 when the fish turn on, so be patient. Hours of slow fishing can suddenly get good when they go on the bite. And conversely, it can just shut off and go dead suddenly. These windows typically last 1-3 hours. As water temps rise during the afternoons and bugs get active (especially on sunny days), some trout (especially wild browns) will push up into the riffles to feed. This can also happen in mid to late mornings when it’s sunny and you get some behavioral drift of nymphs. Sunny days will raise water temps more than mild air temps will on a cloudy day. 

If you are nymphing slower/deeper water, fishing far away, fishing below you, or fishing in the wind, using a strike indicator is generally better than Euro nymphing. FYI you can fish an indy with either fly line or a mono rig. Mono rig lets you hold line off the water and also helps prevent your guides from icing up as fast, but fly line lets you fish further away and you can also roll cast it (unlike a Mono rig). Make sure to play with the depth you have the indy set at, it can make a big difference. Generally you want your flies just above bottom, but sometimes a bit higher if fish suspend in slower water. Trout like to feed at their level or a bit above, but not so much ON the bottom or below them. 

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Dries:
-Early Black Stones #14: starting up- afternoon hatch, sunny/mild days are best.
-Small/Tiny Black Winter Stoneflies #16-24: afternoons, averaging about #16-18 currently, can be smaller than that too
-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:

-Black Stonefly #14-18: afternoons, imitates what is currently hatching and also in the nymphal drift
-Egg Flies #12-20: Otter Eggs, Glo-Bugs, Sucker Spawn, etc. Shades of yellow, orange, pink, or a mix of those. Try Otter Eggs on extra picky fish.
-Caddis Larva (olive to green) #14-16: lots of these in the river (most others too), imitates the common Hydrospyche, good March/April fly
-Cased Caddis #10-14: good this time of year, especially during & after flow bumps
-Winter/Summer Caddis Larva #18 (yellow)
-Pheasant Tails/Frenchies #12-20: imitates a wide range of Mayflies including Blue Winged Olives, small Stoneflies, and more
-Blue Winged (Baetis) Olive Nymphs #16-18, good all year, a common item in the drift, should start hatching soon
-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, especially in the winter.
-Midges #18-22 (black, olive, red): Zebra Midge, Flash Midge, Red Iris Midge. A staple winter bug, fish mainly in slower water in the afternoons when the pupa are active & hatching. Larva can be fished in mid/late mornings.

Streamers:
Don’t neglect streamers! - top 3 colors have been olive, tan, and white. Black is good on recently stocked trout, and also 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