I had a really weird session on the Farmington last Thursday. Despite a robust sulphur emergence — 8.5/10 — the wet fly bite stunk. Turns out it was due to a lack of fish. By my best estimate, this long time favorite pool was holding about 1/4 of the normal trout biomass. I had duns in the air, on the water, cripples galore, then mats of spinners. Instead of a boiling surface, I had….a rise here….and there… and then nothing…and then a lonely rise. It was incredibly discouraging. The feeding was over by 8:45pm, unheard of in these parts. I’m usually picking my way out of the river well after 9pm, crouched over, casting to trout sipping spinners. Not on this night.
On the plus side, I met some very nice anglers, and we shared the water with a most civil energy. Joe was trying to fool this wild brown, but just wasn’t able to connect. When he left, he offered me his spot. Second cast, bang! About 16″. Taken on a size 14 classic Catskills Light Cahill dry.
We are in prime sulphur time, which means you should have some soft hackles in your box. Here’s why:
Sulfurs take a good, long time to emerge from their shucks — and then sometimes, not at all. The trout get a good, long look at the food source as it drifts near the film. I fished this invaria cripple out of the water, and it was one of hundreds that never made it out of its nymphal case. Wet flies and soft hackles are a perfect match and method for this situation, as are dry fly cripple patterns.
I’m going to be writing an article for an upcoming issue of Surfcasters’ Journal. The subject will be the importance (or unimportance) of color in fly patterns. To the keyboard I go!
Finally, I hope to get on my horse and get some info out to everyone who requested a signed copy of the book. I’d like to do that by the end of the month. So stay tuned!
It was cold on Monday for June 1, but today we are firmly in a warming trend with great flows (275cfs). I’m anticipating stronger hatches and better fishing.
It wasn’t that way on Monday. I guided Matt and John for the purpose of teaching them the art of wet fly fishing. They’d seen me talk at the Edison Fly Fishing Show, and we’d had this date on the calendar for months. Sadly, we had unseasonably cool weather and a gusty day that held hatch activity to a minimum. We only got two in the hoop, but on another day both anglers would have easily been into double-digits. Strong casting, good mends, hundreds of fish-worthy presentations — I’m really excited for them to experience wet fly fishing at its productive best in the future. Well done, gentlemen!
Not a sulphur, but a Cream Cahill, size 12-14. They’ve been out in decent numbers on the lower river.
After our session I ventured downstream. Very weird evening. I stuck eight trout on wets but had only two hooksets, and landed neither. It was as if the fish couldn’t make up their mind about eating. At 7pm, I switched over to dry flies, and while there were plenty of fish rising, none of them seemed to be in a steady rhythm. I had my best action from 8pm into dark, using creamy colored dries and one big, honking Iso dry.
I’m back to heavy-duty yard work mode, so this will be my only post this week. I’ll try to get back to normal posting next week. In the meantime, fish on. It’s the most wonderful time of the year….
I guided Jeff, Andrew, and Angelo on Tuesday, and we couldn’t have asked for nicer weather. While Angelo was off exploring parts north solo, Jeff and Andrew headed downriver with me to learn the ways of the wet fly. We began in a snotty boulder field, and right away, Jeff was into a fat, stocked brown. There were caddis and some Cream Cahills in the air, but all of the four trout we put in the hoop took the size 12 SHBHPT. The second mark we hit featured similar water, but we only had one bump in 20 minutes, so we headed north, still in the mid-river, to see if we could find open water. Score! This is a superb run for fishing wet flies, and while the action wasn’t gangbusters, Jeff scored an 18.5″ (taped) wild brown. At this point, Angelo joined us to do some indicator nymphing, sticking one fish. It’s always gratifying to give a wet fly lesson and see your clients rewarded with multiple hits, and having everyone land a trout made it even sweeter. Fantastic job, gentlemen, and it was a pleasure guiding you.
I was downstream with Andrew when Jeff stuck this quality wild brown. Once I saw it was a decent fish, I hustled up with the net so we could enjoy this photo op. Even when you’re in the STMA, you can still find places where wild browns like to hang out.
Last night I fished with surfcaster extraordinaire Toby Lapinski from about 4:45pm into dark, 9pm. We hit the same initial run I took Jeff and Andrew to, and the fish were cooperative. We stuck 8 between us, but I wanted to investigate some favorite water a little bit upstream. We had the entire run to ourselves, and were in position at 5:45pm. The water was significantly lower than Tuesday, 325cfs and dropping, and with the sparse release from the dam, the water reached 64 degrees on the thermometer. The trout seemed to love those conditions. I stuck fish after fish on wet flies, with the runaway favorite being the SHBHPT. I have no idea how many trout I landed — the fishing was that good. The rainbows, in particular, seemed to all believe that they were steelhead. I’ve never had so many fish leap so many times, some of them even after they’d spit the hook. Tremendous sport!
Meanwhile, Toby wasn’t having the same results. But it turns out that he was saving his chips for the dry fly action. At 7pm, while I was still poking around with wets in some faster water, Toby was fishing dries in some more languid pools, and seemingly hooking trout at will. His secret weapon was an Iso dry, and Isonychia were among the bugs we saw (caddis, midges, a few sulphurs, a couple BWOs). I made the switch to dry around 8pm, and once I found some risers, I too got in on the dry fly action. Usuals and Light Cahill dries were my producers.
Thus begins (almost here!) my favorite month on the Farmington.
Stocked brown, but he ate well at the hatchery, and gave me quite the battle. All of last night’s trout were full of piss and vinegar.
Another super simple tie that can be rendered with common materials. You can add a tail if you like. With creamy mayflies just around the corner, the Partridge and Light Cahill soft hackle is a must-have in your box!
When my roses bloom, creamy mayflies are here soon.
As I predicted, this is a full week in the garden and yard. But that’s no reason why you shouldn’t be fishing — or tying. If Gary LaFontaine’s brilliant Diving Caddis winged wet isn’t in your arsenal, you are most definitely missing out. This fly is a must on your late afternoon into evening rig from now though the summer.
Tom is a long-time currentseams follower and an avid fly fishing show attendee and angler. He couldn’t have picked a finer day weather wise for a wet fly lesson: sunny, 85, 210cfs and 52 degrees water temp in the PTMA…and all those caddis! At one point I counted over 2 dozen of them crawling around his legs and backside: tan, black, and one funky darker one I couldn’t ID. Plus: micro caddis. Really small stuff that flitted around my forearms under the Church Pool bridge, enough of them to be a nuisance.
So where are all the trout? Not feeding near the surface. I saw just three rises in our four hour session. We stuck two, landed one, and that was two more fish than seven of the other nine anglers we watched or talked to had. One angler said he did very well nymphing, and so that spring trend has continued into mid-May despite the warm weather. Tom did an excellent job of managing his drifts, and he deserved far better than what the river gave him on this day. But he is certainly a dangerous wet-fly-machine in the making! Way to go, Tom.
Tom scores a lovely wild brown on his last cast — really! — in a top-secret location. The fish ate a size 14 Squirrel and Ginger.
I love my fly fishing, but I have other interests, too. One of them is maintaining a 1,000 sq. ft. vegetable and herb garden. I also grow roses, and I do flower gardens and flowering shrubs. Did I mention my lawn?
Right now is planting time. I plant by the moon, so I have a week to work the earth and get my veggies off to a strong start. I spent the last two days digging and planting a large perennial flower garden, and replacing the eight roses that didn’t make it through the winter. I’m sure you don’t want to hear my problems, but my entire 65-year-old body is one great mass of stiff and sore. So today’s an inside day.
Why am I telling you this? Save for a guide trip next week, I’m not going fishing for a while. I may repost some oldies but goodies in the next 7-10 days, and then we’ll get back to more timely, original content. I just wanted to let you know. Of course, I appreciate your readership and your loyalty, so let me formally say thank you for that. Now, off to do all the desk chores I’ve been ignoring…
Breakfast of champions: composted cow manure, mushroom compost, planting mix, all-organic fertilizer — mix it with my native sandy clay, and you’ve got a lovely home for your plants. No chemicals in my vegetable and herb garden!
It seems at least once a week, I get the request. “Where can I find the recipe for the Magic Fly?” “Can you send me your wet fly leader formula?” “What was that article you wrote on fishing droppers for striped bass?”
While part of my personal brand is that I’m helpful, I’d rather teach you to fish than hand you a fish. So yes, I’m going to be helpful here. But you’re going to have to be part of the solution, because I want you to learn how to be your own self-service librarian. You’ll be happier. I’ll be happier. Like Hot Chocolate sang, “Everyone’s a winner, baby!” So here we go.
There are two best ways to find stuff on currentseams. Let’s use the example of the wet fly team. The first is to use the search function on the website. On my iPhone, it’s the little magnifying glass in the upper right corner on the screen:
The magnifying glass is your ticket to searching, whether it’s on your phone (above right)….…or your laptop (above left).
Depending on your hardware, you simply tap or click the magnifying glass icon, and a “Search” field magically appears. I typed in “wet fly team” and was immediately directed to multiple articles and posts, many of which had the diagram on full display. How easy is that!?!
Or, you could use your favorite default search engine. Using Google and the “Wet fly team” as an example, the first two hits were direct links to my website. But if you add “currentseams” to the search verbiage, the entire results screen consists of article links and images from my website:
You are now officially cooking with gas! I really hopes this helps, and that you’ll take advantage of the vast treasure trove of material that is currentseams. From its inception, one of my goals for this site was for it to be an easily accessible storehouse of fly fishing information, and in particular an online library for all my articles, stories, flies, diagrams, etc.
So have at it. It’s a great way to spend a rainy day.
Usually, by this time of year, I’ve given you at least one report headlined with words like “spectacular wet fly action.” But not in 2026. It continues to be cooler than normal and windy and blech. When hatch activity has been strong, the fish seem content to feed on the bottom. This, of course, will change. I feel like we’ll go instantly from early spring to mid-summer weather, the surface bite will pick up, and you’ll get your enthusiastic, superlative-laden wet fly report. But for now, it’s keep on-keeping on.
I gave Jason a wet fly lesson from 11am-3pm on Thursday, and he deserved way, way better than what he got, which was two hits in four hours. To be fair, one of them was a very good fish, although it was camera shy. Jason did an excellent job of casting and getting his team of three where it needed to be, then mending and presenting. Some time later this month or in June, he’s going to hit it right, and people are going to be following him off the water, asking him, “What fly were you fishing?!?”
It’s way too early for me to be thinking about grasshoppers, but I did see one on my driveway yesterday. This is my Hopper Hammerdown.
We had 310cfs in the PTMA and points south. Water temp was in the high 50s. When it’s windy, the seed pods that blow into the water (which look very much like soft-hackled flies) do us no good, and that was yet another factor. Oh, did I mention the cold front that came through the night before? We got into our fish because we moved aggressively through pools, looking for biters. Do likewise when the fishing is slow, and you’ll up your odds significantly.
And a reminder: May is caddis month on the Farmington.
In late winter I sat down with Carl Ochnio to talk about my upcoming book, Fly Fishing Guide to the Farmington River. (There’s still time to put your name in for a personalized signed copy.) This is part of a the “Hooking Up” interview series Carl has been doing for the CFFA. With his kind permission, I’m able to share a pdf of the entire interview. You can find it in the link below the photo.
Please note that publish date is now August 4. Sorry for any confusion!
currentseams.com 