Farmington River Report 12/10/15: BWOs, anglers, and trout

The permanent TMA was crowded! Smoke ’em if you got ’em, I guess — it’s hard for the mall to compete with near-60 degree weather in December. Andy Lyons moseyed on over to say hi. (Please do likewise if you see me on the water — the internet is a great way to reach out to people, but it can’t replace a handshake. And Andy, if you’re reading this, I want that nymph recipe). (See comments below for Andy’s generous response.) Water was on the low side of medium at 225cfs. Didn’t get a water temp, but I think it’s fair to assume that it’s a wee bit higher than normal. Witnessed: a very strong BWO hatch around 1pm.

To the outing: Mark is an experienced fly angler who is making the transition to trout. He’s all in on the immersion process, and this was our second trip in as many weeks. Like our first time out, we focused on traditional late fall/early winter holding water, with an emphasis on indicator nymphing and streamers. We hit five spots, and found players in two of them.

Mark’s first fish of the day came on a simple egg fly (donated to me the previous night by Gary S of the CFFA). What a lovely early winter brown.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

After our session ended, Mark wanted to keep fishing. I pointed out a likely spot for him to toss some streamers. Look what he found on the second cast. Check out the transparency of that tail. Nice job, Mark!

MarkABrown12-10-15

4 comments on “Farmington River Report 12/10/15: BWOs, anglers, and trout”

Andrew Lyons says:

December 11, 2015 at 2:46 pm

Hi Steve, It was nice meeting you on the river yesterday….and Mark as well. I hesitate to bother people when they’re working but I wanted to introduce myself after following this site for so long. You’ve been kind enough to share patterns over the years so it’d be my pleasure to give back to you and your followers…here is the pattern from yesterday.

Material List:

Hook – #14 scud I am using Saber #7251
2.5mm Tungsten I like unfinished or Anodized Olive which was on the pattern yesterday
Lead – 8-10 wraps of .015
Thread – Brown UTC 70
Tail – CDL Medium
Thread butt hot spot – Glo Brite #8 Sunburst Amber
Wire Rib – Copper Brown Small
Flash back – Hareline Flash Back Rust
Body – Golden Pheasant Tail
Thorax – Jan Siman Peacock Bronze mixed with shaved pine squirrel

Crude Instructions:

1. I start by tying in the thread butt halfway down the bend
2. I then wrap lead and use the brown thread to lock in the lead and bead
3. I bring the thread down to the hot spot and tie in the cdl leaving as much or little hotspot exposed depending on preference.
4. I tie in a thin piece of flash. Just enough to cover the back of the fly for the width
5. I tie in my wire
6. I tie in my golden pt
7. I wrap the pt forward and tie off 1/2 wrap before the bead…we want to leave a little room for the thorax.
8. I bring the flashback to the bead and wrap twice and cut
9. I counter wrap the wire to the bead make a few wraps and break off.
10. I then add a small prob 3/4″ tight dub of the thorax blend, wrap and whip finish a few times.
11. Using a Velcro brush I brush out the thorax

I don’t have a name for this pattern but I can tell you it’s been effective lately on the Farmington and all of the materials can be purchased at UpCountry….except for the Jan Siman ( SLF Prism Chocolate Brown is a good substitute.) If anybody wants to see what the finished product looks like they can see a picture on my instagram account name nutmegeuro.

Thanks again for keeping the site up with fresh relevant content about the water I care about.

Andrew Lyons