Happy Monday, fellow Currentseamsers. We hit it some time ago, and now it’s time to celebrate currentseams.com reaching the rarefied 1,000 followers mark! Suffice to say I couldn’t have done it without you, so thank you for being part of the Fun One Thousand. As usual, we’re doing a flies-tied-by-Steve giveaway. Here are the rules:
1) No purchase necessary.
2) You must be a follower of currentseams to enter. (If you’re not one already, you become a follower by clicking on the Sign Me Up button below the “Follow Blog via Email” header, at the top right if you’re on a laptop, and at the bottom of the scroll on a mobile device.
3) To enter, leave a comment on this thread that responds to at least one of these questions: What’s your favorite fly pattern(s) for the Farmington River? What’s your favorite section of the Farmington, and how do you like to fish it? If you don’t fish the Farmington, where do you like to fish and what’s your favorite fly pattern(s)? One entry per person. Deadline for entering is 11:59pm September 30, 2023. Three winners will be chosen at random. The winners will be notified in the comments section of this thread or by email, and will be responsible for sending me their address so I can ship the flies out. Sorry, I can only ship to U.S. addresses.
4) All decisions by me are final.
Thanks again for reading and following currentseams.
currentseams.com 
I rarely fish the Farmington, and if I do I use a hackjobbed nymph I tie that combines some features of a wooly bugger and a few features of soft hackles.
Most of my fishing is for striped bass, with a sizable chunk for weakfish in the spring and albies in the fall. My most used fly for stripers and weaks is a black over purple flatwing Deceiver. There is a large percentage of my fishing nights in which I end up keeping the first fly I tie on throughout the entire night (I do use Super Glue at every step in tying them), and it’s that fly.
Whenever and wherever I fish wet flies I always start with a bead head pheasant tail soft hackle with another soft hackle on the dropper. The bhpt usually does the trick but if not I’ll change the size, change the dropper or add weight. I use a two-handed trout spey so I’m afraid to use more than two flies. I fish the Housatonic most times but get to the Farmington occasionally and fish Ovation downstream or above the Pipeline. Wayne Gustafson
I fish in lake AROUND Whitrwater,WI. Cove pheasent tail nymph and freshwater Rays Fly.
I fish in lake AROUND Whitrwater,WI. Cove pheasent tail nymph and freshwater Rays Fly.
I used to live a mile from River to and my favorite place to fish was Beaver Pool. I live in Maine now and now my goto fly is the Golden Retriever. I have caught 11 species of fish on it including Stripers.
I like the Farmington above Riverton up to the dam. Beaver pool is great on the rare occasion when it’s empty. I’ve had a lot of luck with a size 16 or 18 X-caddis. Just came back from the Shetucket where I picked up 12-15 shallows and fall fish on an olive and black wooly bugger.
Steve, congrats on your 1000 followers! These days I’m doing most of my fishing on Lake Lanier for stripers. My favorite fly is Henry Cowen‘s Somethin’ Else.
My favorite pattern is a #10 gold bead olive pine squirrel zonker.
Hi Steve, Congratulations on hitting the1K milestone! You have a great blog and I always look forward to your latest post. I primarily fish the Battenkill in NY and assorted soft hackles always seem to find some takers.
My favorite place to fish freshwater is the small stream the Mill River in Amherst and my favorite fly there is the woolly bugger
Rich Rubin
Good health is true wealth
I like fishing the water between the water, where you find fewer people. My go to pattern is the usual. Actually it became my go to on the Madison this summer during spinner falls.
I don’t have the opportunity to fish the Farmingt
Favorite fly is Henrdickson CDC emerger . Campground pool. Softhackle pheasant tail, soft hackle BWO emerger with the Hendrickson as the tail fly, i.e. until some hatch shows up! Housatonic. Two Hendricskon CDC emergers in tandem. I especially find them effective when Isos are around.
Hi Steve – many congratulations on the 1K Followers – richly deserved. I have happy memories of fishing on the Farmington. Beaver Pool and Woodshop fishing with Bead Head Soft Hackle Pheasant Tail, Squirrel + Ginger and Pale Watery Wingless wet flies that you taught me to tie and fish are highlights.
My local water now is Puget Sound where I fish for Sea Run Cutthroat trout – a beautiful wild native species here in the Pac NW – year round. Favorite flies are the Gartside Gurgler and Miyawaki Poppers for surface fishing (which is really fun) and various Clouser Minnows and Gartside Soft Hackle Streamer variants for sub surface. Highly recommend!
Keep on keeping on!
I fish the Sound for SRC, too! Are you on our local forum: pnwflyfising.com? I go by the handle “Zak” there.
I live in Illinois. Where there are no trout streams or ocean shores. Yes, it sucks.
But we have Wisconsin and Iowa for the Driftless region and lots of trout streams.
Lots of streams.
So any caddis pattern, any stage works. But a pink squirrel is almost always in the fly box and the Italian Job. A lovely fly I filched from northern Italy. It’s like the wooly worm, only tied on a jig hook with a bead. Trout like it. Bluegills too. And oddly, a small pike ate one.
But for dry fly aficionados, there’s always a caddis hatch. And a Goddard is effective. But have your license on you. The DNR don’t give a rat’s patootie, what fly you prefer.
I haven’t headed up to the Farmington nearly enough lately from efforts put to our saltwater fisheries and travel, but enjoyed some great fishing around the Boneyard and further up in the TMA in People’s State Forest. It’s hard to pick a favorite pattern, but I would go with the BWO Barr’s emerger, both swung and nymphed. It’s been a favorite for picky tailwater fish on the east and west coast during early spring and fall.
Hi Steve,
Congratulations on one thousand plus followers!
My favorite place to fish, at least here in the Northeast, is northern New Hampshire and western Maine, specifically the Connecticut and Magalloway Rivers.
Favorite fly up there? A creation by my wife’s cousin, a medical doctor from upstate New York who’s my fishing partner in the Great North Woods for two weeks a year. It’s a slim streamer named Doc’s Prescription. Works great on landlocked salmon and very well on the Connecticut surplus breeding salmon back home.
Cheers!
Alton
Plattriver spider
My favorite pattern is a Magog Smelt flatwing, which works great on brook trout and landlock salmon in the Rangely, ME lakes and rivers as well as for stripers on the Rhode Island coast.
Congratulations on your 1K milestone!
I fish the west slopes of the Cascades (formerly fished small streeams in Vermont, prior to a move for work). I generally fish one of three patterns:
1. Adirondack Muddler. Size 14 barbless hook (these days a Firhole Stkcks 718), snowshoe foot tail, burnt orange dubbing, snowshoe foot wing, muddler head.
2. Vermont Caddis. Size 14 or 16, hares ear body, mixed brown and grizzly hackle. Fishes great dry or wet.
3. Culton’s Drowned Ant. Pattern and video on this site. This variation on the venerable starling and herl is an awesome fly! I drop it 18″ behind the dry fly in the film, or tie it to a heavy nymph so it gets down but still moves freely and enticingly. Thank you, Steve, for this pattern!
Steve,
Congratulations on the thousand. Loving your blogs.
Only get to fish the Farmington once or twice a year now that I moved up to the Cape.
My favorite fly up here has become the Tequila Sunrise Booby. I don’t know how those comp fisherman make up these crazy flies but this is another one that really catches. Plan to try them on steelhead this fall.
Hi Steve, Congrats on 1000. I enjoy reading your emails. When I fish the Farmingham, I like to go behind the island at School Bus Pool ( I hope that is right). It is before American Legion. How can you not enjoy a dry Hendrickson with a egg sac. Then a Hendrickson emerger. I fish Willimantic River once a year. There is one spot where every year I catch a nice 12 to 14 inch rainbow on a small conehead olive and back streamer.
I’ve only had the opportunity to fish the Farmington a handful of times to date. I loved the one guided tour with Antione Bisseau where I learned quite a bit about the river, spotting honey holes, and patterns. Fishing caddis that ride high was so much fun, learning to make them ‘dance’ and entice the fish.
Congratulations on the 1000. I don’t know how I came across your stuff. I am a central Pennsylvania flyfisherman, particularly fond of the “Little J” and Spring Creek with some blue line Brook trout fishing thrown in. I always learn from you and I enjoy learning from you. Keep up the good work. Thank you.
I haven’t fished the Farmy but I typically fish PA waters (think central state) or RI waters as I travel for work. My favorite pattern is any type of catskill style dry – they look good and fish really well also.
Congrats on on the milestone. I usually fish the Nissitissit or Squanicook rivers in Ma., one of my go to flies is the red fox squirrel nymph or a small horn burg streamer. I ok forward to your posts and was fortunate enough to get to fish with you during the project healing waters trip i had a great time and thank you for all the help that you gave us.
Steve, it was my pleasure to have you and so many other keen students on the river!
Congratulations on 1,000 and thanks for a great blog. My favorite all purpose dry is an X-caddis. I find it works well as a searching pattern when there are few/no rising fish and also when I can’t quite figure out what rising trout are taking. Not as effective at actually matching the hatch, but effective enough if I am stumped to put a few in the net. I’ve also had good luck in recent years with Charlie Craven’s Mole Fly as an all purpose emerger–though I often pair it with something bigger as it is hard to see.
Congrats on a thousand, much deserved.
I don’t fish the Farmington, well I’ve been there once or twice, but when I did my favorite fly was a black marabou streamer that I was swinging in the dark. It was my first night trip in freshwater and I really enjoyed it. I should fish the fresh in the dark more often, come to think of it.
[…] Contest alert! If you have not entered my 1,000 Followers contest, you now have less than a week to do so. You can get all the details here. […]
Congratulations on 1000 followers!
When I lived in CT, I’ve done well below Michel Angelo’s from the opposite bank., among a few other stretches. Favorite fly depends on conditions! I used to like to fish the Hendrickson hatch with a dry, but later in the summer the Isonychia, both dry and nymph. Since moving to NH I fish a trophy section of a river in VT and some local streams in the seacoast region. Perdigon nymphs do fairly well everywhere!
I don’t fish the Farmington but do a lot of striper fishing. Favorite varies a bit, but there are usually silversides around so I like the Rhody flatwing in traditional dress