8am-5pm Monday through Friday, 8am-5pm on Saturday & Sunday. These will be the store hours through March.
Pictured up top is a 22” holdover FRAA ‘Bow that Derrick recently sight-nymphed. The 120 trophy Rainbows the FRAA stocked in April 2024 held over beautifully.
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 rivers is C&R in March/early April, and you cannot keep any trout until 6am on 4/12.
There will be a “Sage Day” at UpCountry on April 4th, from 10am-1pm. Our Sage rep Dave Steeves will set up a tent & table outside, and you will have an opportunity to cast various Sage rods and ask him questions. He will be giving away some swag too.
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Friday afternoon 3/28/25 Update:
Two things to update, 1) the Blue Winged Olives/Baetis hatch is finally starting up as of today, and 2) I incorrectly said the the Permanent TMA/Catch & Release was recently stocked, and that is not correct. Everything upstream & downstream of that section has been recently stocked though. Usually the Permanent TMA gets stocked in April.
Friday morning 3/28/25 River Report:
Make sure to check out all the used rods & reels we’ve received in trade-ins, we have a pile at the moment, and there are some great deals. New product is arriving every day, we received a Smith Optics sunglass fill-in. We have a couple of Guideline 10' 8" #3 LPX Nymph Euro rods in the rack, with more coming from them soon. Umpqua & Tiemco is here, including their Euro butt section material. The Wapsi tying materials order arrived last week and is up on the walls now, as is a recent order from Hareline. We currently have an excellent stock of fly tying materials. The Hareline order included Polar Reflector Chenille (good streamer material that’s similar to UV Polar Chenille but denser and not UV), and we now are stocking Danville 6/0 thread in a variety of colors. Ice Dub is once again restocked in a wide variety of colors (pretty much all the good ones). We also received backordered Hanak hooks that filled some holes (400’s, 450’s, etc.). Hanak 230 is now available down to #18.
Back from my 3 state, week long trout fishing vacation with my buddy Euan from Scotland. Looks like the river is in great shape with a total flow of 295cfs. Riverton from the dam to the Rt 20 bridge (Riverton Self Storage/Hitchcock) is 178cfs, and the Still River is adding in 117cfs below that. Main hatches are Early Black Stones #12-16, and Midges. We should see Blue Winged Olives/Baetis #16-18 any day now, they are late (probably due to the cold winter, slows the development of the nymphs).
Water temps in New Hartford have averaged mid to high 40’s, depending upon the weather and time of day. Riverton above the Still River is always colder this time of year, starting in the upper 30’s in the mornings and reaching the low 40’s on warm, sunny afternoons. As air temps increase, the Still River becomes a warming influence, which is a good thing when the water coming from the dam is in the upper 30’s to low 40’s. Unionville USGS gauge is reading 507fs, historical median flow is 1,010cfs.
Quick Tip:
Many of you are Euro Nymphing, and wind is your biggest enemy. 2025 has been super windy. Make sure to carry some small & medium Air-Lock strike indicators with you. Pop one on your Euro leader, they are surprisingly easy to cast. On a windy day, this will anchor your rig to the surface so the wind can’t blow on your leader and move your flies during the drift. If you don’t want to do this, try fishing closer with your rod tip lower to the water, and bump up your anchor fly two the next bead size, even 2 sizes up if it’s really windy. Bulky anchor flies like Mops & big Rubber Leg Stoneflies are more resistant to being pulled up toward the surface by the wind. Perdigones are a bad choice on a windy day because they have so little water resistance the wind easily pulls them up toward the surface.
The Farmington River was stocked recently on most of the river. FYI, 20% of the trout they stock throughout the state 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 still open to fishing.
We are seeing the bigger Early Black Stoneflies that average a #14. Look for them in the afternoons, especially on milder, sunny days. Any time now, we will see the early season Baetis/Blue Winged Olives that run #16-18. They often hatch best on cloudy, cooler crappy days. Baetis nymphs will end up in the Behavioral Drift in the mornings. The peak water temps & insects are in the afternoons, making late morning to 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 #12-18, BWO/Olive Nymphs #16-18, 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’ 10” #4.
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, black). 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 & 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 lately 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) 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 (with occasional
exceptions).
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Dries:
-Early
Black Stones #12-16: afternoon hatch, sunny/mild days are best.
-Blue Winged Olives/Baetis #16-18: as of 3/28 has not started
up, but any day now. Afternoon hatch, often better on
crappy/overcast/cooler days.
-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 #12-16: afternoons, mild sunny afternoons are the best of
a
-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 March/April
-Pheasant Tails/Frenchies
#14-20: 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 any day now
-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: Otter Eggs, Glo-Bugs, Sucker
Spawn, etc. Shades of yellow, orange, pink, or a mix of those. 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, 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