We are open 7 days a week, current hours are:
8am-5pm
Monday & Tuesday, Wednesday
10am-4pm,
8am-5pm Thursday & Friday, and 8am-5pm on Saturday &
Sunday.
*****We
are looking for one more
part-time
employee, someone who knows the river well and and is knowledgeable
about flyfishing*****
Pictured
up top is
guide Mark Swenson’s client Kayla with the first trout she ever
caught on a fly rod, not a bad start!
We
have the brand spanking new Simms
Flyweight Waders
in
stock now, check ‘em out. Super lightweight and fold into their own
pouch for easy carrying.
Perfect for traveling when you need to
pack light.
Current
Sale Items:
-Thomas
& Thomas Contact II Euro rods $499 (were $895): all sizes are
completely sold out. The all new Contact III+ is available now in the
store.
-Scott G Series fly rods $660 (30% off, were
$945)
-Thomas & Thomas Lotic fiberglass rods $450 (were
$695)
-Sage Sonic fly rods 25% off
-Scott G Series fly rods
25% off
-Simms G3 Waders 20% off
-Simms Confluence Waders
35% off
-Scientific Angler Amplitude Smooth Trout fly lines 20%
off
-All
Airflo fly lines are 40% off while they last, we are almost out of
them.
***Sales
apply only to
in-stock merchandise and can be bought in-store, or on the website &
shipped to your door - call with any questions***
Gift
Certificates are available and can be sent by mail or bought on our
website.
We
will match most
advertised deals
from other stores local or on the internet if we have the item in
stock. We want your business, and as your friends and local fly shop
please come to us first if we can help. Our business only survives
because of your support.
The
brand spanking new
Thomas & Thomas
Contact III+ Euro rods are now available.
We are happy to accept various trade ins toward the III+ to make them
more affordable, and you can also trade in your Contact II. They have
two different tips, including a solid one that enables you to more
easily cast lighter flies, cushion lighter tippet, fish thin Micro
Leaders, and it also makes it harder for smaller fish to throw the
hook. The Contact III+ is made of a new material that’s twice as
strong and recovers noticeably faster/crisper. This will translate
into greater accuracy. With the included second tip, it's like
getting two rods in one. Lengths remain the same at 10' & 10'9"
with the exception of the new 11’ 5“ 3wt (3" longer). If you
break a rod tip on these, T&T has an expedited repair program for
the Contact III+ series that should have you back on the water with a
new tip in a week, instead of the usual 6-8 weeks. Between the
improved damping/recovery and one snake guide (right next to the tip
top), you get dramatically less tip wrapping with micro leaders.
Monday
Morning 4/20/26
River
Report:
*****We
are looking for a part-time employee, someone who knows the river and
is knowledgeable about flyfishing*****
Don’t
forget to get a 2026 CT fishing license, you will need a new one as
of January 1st. You
can get a license here at UpCountry, on the CT DEEP website, or you
can get one in person at most town halls. Don’t forget to also
purchase the $5 Trout/Salmon Stamp, you need it to fish the
Farmington River and any other river that is a TMA (Trout Management
Area).
We
currently have almost all models of the Thomas & Thomas Contact
III+ rods in stock,
with the exception of the 4 weight, we just received our third batch
of them. They are sweet! I (Torrey) now have spent several days
fishing the 11’ 5” #3 and the 10’ 9” #2, loved them both,
happy to describe how they fish if you stop by the store.
Holy
changing weather patterns Batman. Last week, highs near 90 degrees
with nights in the 50’s to 60’s. Today there was frost on my car,
and we are looking at highs in the upper 40’s to low 50’s through
Wednesday, below freezing again tonight. Some good reports over the
past weekend, with nymphs doing 90%
of the damage. Streamers
are catching fish too. Dry fly fishing is still slow, despite seeing
a few Hendricksons last week, we haven’t seen a good hatch in the
Permanent TMA/Catch & Release yet. Did hear
several reports of decent numbers hatching downriver in Collinsville,
Unionville, Farmington- head
down there if you have your heart set on trying to find a fishable
Hendrickson hatch, but be prepared to fish subsurface if the hatch doesn't materialize. Hatches
start downstream first (warmer water), and then progress upstream,
with Riverton seeing hatches last (coldest water).
Seeing more small assorted Caddis #18-22
(gray/brown, black) than anything else. We’re
probably on the tail end of afternoon #16-20 Baetis/Blue Winged Olive
(BWO) hatches. There
are good numbers of wild
fish moving into faster water now, due to rising water temps and more
bugs. I’d have some
Hendrickson dries (emergers,
duns, spinners) in your
box in case you hit a hatch and see some risers, but I’d expect to
mainly fish nymphs. The
nymphing has been very good lately, the fish are feeding well
underwater.
The
Permanent TMA/Catch & Release (C&R) was stocked on 4/13
with a large number of trout, predominately browns, including 1,000
larger Two Year Olds that average 14-18” and are quite fat. Fishing
is getting good. In recent years the Hendrickson hatch has been hit
or miss, with some good days but plenty of slow ones on the surface.
Be prepared to fish subsurface though, so far that’s been the main
deal in 2026. Trout are always feeding subsurface this time of year,
even when you don’t see risers or bugs.
FYI there is a
new state record rainbow, caught on the Farmington, it weighed
16.47#, 31” with a 21 ¼” girth. This was stocked by the state for the
Riverton Derby.
Total flow below the Still River and in
the Permanent TMA/C&R is a
beautiful 365cfs (medium)
as I write this Monday
morning, normal/median historical total flow would be 463cfs.
Riverton above the Still River (dam down to the Rt 20 bridge) is
165cfs
(historical normal/median flow would be 263).
The Still River is adding in 200cfs
right below that, normal/median flow would be 200cfs.
Riverton is about 42
degrees this morning, it reached 44
degrees on Sunday.
Behind UpCountry it’s 44
degrees this morning. Unionville USGS is 743cfs
(medium),
the normal/median flow for Unionville would be 906cfs
for today.
Colebrook Reservoir is full after being low for
many months due to the drought in the second half of 2026. The
reservoir height/elevation has come up about 40+ feet since early
March, from about 670 feet up to 712+
feet, “full” would be considered to be 716’ of elevation this
time of year, and once it goes over that the Army Corps will dump
extra water to get it below that.
Flies that are working
include Caddis larva (cased & regular), #8-10 Stonefly nymphs,
smaller Walt’s Worms, BMAR
Hendrickson nymphs #12-14, Blue
Winged Olive nymphs #16-18, general nymphs #14-20 (Midges &
Mayflies), flashy Perdigons #16-20, Rainbow Warrior #16-18, Junk
Flies (Eggs, Mops, Worms, Green Weenies), various streamers (Woolly
Bugger, Zuddlers, etc.). In the mornings (roughly 7am to 10am’ish)
you may find some trout rising to Winter Caddis, and during cloudy
afternoons, there may be a few trout rising to Baetis/BWO’s. Some
days there can be a good streamer bite. Top colors this time of year
are white, olive, tan, and black.
We’ve been seeing a
lot of smaller Caddis #18-22, gray/brown ones & black ones. A few
Hendricksons have been popping, but not enough to call it a legit
hatch as yet. Some Blue Winged Olives #16-20 are hatching on
cloudy/cooler afternoons, but we are near the end for that bug. Early
Black Stones are about done, you may still see a few up in Riverton.
Midges are a daily occurrence. So far, not a lot of rising fish, but
that should change in the very near future.
*******************************************************************************
Dries:
-Assorted
Caddis #18-22 (gray/brown, black): dominant bug
currently
-Hendricksons #12-14: a few (not many), not enough to
call it a hatch yet
-Baetis/Blue Winged Olives/BWO’s #16-18:
afternoon hatch, best action on cloudy, crappy days, hatch is near
the end
-Summer/Winter Caddis #18-24: hatch is typically early
to mid morning. Trout focus on the pupa first, and then as the
morning progresses they normally switch to the winged adults when
they return to egg-lay. Try both twitching & dead-drifting your
fly, trout often key on movement with this bug.
-Midges #20-28:
afternoon hatch, especially on sunny/milder days. Sometimes brings
trout to the surface. If not, go subsurface with Midge pupa &
larva.
Nymphs:
-Pheasant
Tails/Frenchies #12-20: imitates a wide range of Mayflies including
Baetis/Blue Winged Olives, Hendricksons, Sulfurs, Isonychia, Vitreus,
small Stoneflies, and more
-BMAR Hendrickson Nymph #14
-Baetis/BWO
Nymphs #16-22
-Cased Caddis #10-14: above average pattern in the
early season, especially when flows are up (high water knocks them
into the drift, they mostly live in slower water near the stream
edges).
-”Junk Flies” (Eggs, Mops, Squirmy/San Juan Worms,
Green Weenies): Can work when standard nymphs fail, especially when
there are not many hatches. Also great in higher and/or
off-color water, and on recently stocked fish.
-Big Stonefly
Nymphs #8-10: golden/yellow, brown, black, Pat’s. Big Stones are a
mouthful that can be hard for trout to pass up, and there are a
surprising amount of them in the river. Good choice when flows are
up. Some days when trout won’t move for a small nymph, it takes a
bigger bite of food to get an eat. Often catches larger than average
fish. Experiment!
-Small Nymphs #18-22: various patterns, many
bugs are small to tiny, with size of the fly often superseding the
exact fly pattern.
-Midges #18-22 (black, olive, red): Zebra
Midge, Flash Midge, Red Iris Midge, etc.
-Caddis Larva (olive to
green) #14-16: tons of these in the river, good all year
-Attractor
Nymphs #10-20: such as Sexy Waltz, Rainbow Warriors, Frenchies,
Prince, Triple Threat, flashy Perdigons, etc. Some days trout ignore
natural/drab nymphs but will eat gaudy attractors.
-Winter/Summer
Caddis Larva #18 (yellow)- also imitates Black Caddis larva &
some Midge larva, works all year long, one of the only bugs that is
active & hatching in the Winter.
Streamers:
Streamers
are a great “clean-up” fly to fish after you have thoroughly
nymphed a run, and often will produce a bigger fish than the nymphs
did. Also, anytime flows are higher is a great time to use a
streamer.
Top colors currently are olive, black, tan. A
little yellow paired with another color (olive, tan, etc.) in a
streamer can trigger brown trout. Black can be very good on recently
stocked trout (especially rainbows), during low light (dawn/dusk),
and high and/or dirty water.
-Jig Streamers #8-12: various
patterns/colors, deadly fished on a tight-line/Euro rig, often sorts
out bigger fish. Can also be fished under an indicator, or
stripped/swung like a regular streamer. Great to use as a clean-up
fly after you nymph a run. White has been a top color, and olive and
tan are both very good.
-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 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
-Muddler Minnow #6-10: an
oldie but a goodie, still VERY effective