Tag Archives: Farmington River guide

Farmington River Report 4/20 & 4/21/23: Nothing, then all of a sudden it’s on!

I guided Jordan and Chris on Thursday and we started off on the lower river. Given the recent cold, dank weather, I was hoping the morning sunshine would kick-start some bugs, but that was not the case. We plugged away with nymphs, fished drop-shot under an indicator, and although both anglers hooked fish, I wasn’t happy with the action. So we moved upstream to the PTMA.

Jordan landing his first real Farmington River trout. He did well, prospecting in a seam adjacent to the one I’d shown him. It was a spunky rainbow that ate a size 14 Frenchie variant.

The next task was getting Chris into some fish. I took him to the same slot where my client Jason had had success the day before, and the fish were still there. Chris did a good job getting his nymph rig where it needed to be, and he was rewarded with multiple hookups. Around 2:30pm, creatures began stirring. This was to be the first major Hendrickson event of the year for me. I hustled down to Jordan’s position and re-rigged him for wet fly with a simple two-fly team. Our Blessed Lady of the Soft Hackle smiled upon us, and Jordan banged up a hefty brown on the dangle. I left Jordan to swing away, and rigged Chris for dry fly. I tied on a Usual, one of my favorite Farmington River patterns, and we got to witness one of those epic Hendrickson dry fly eats: a perfect drift in the feeding lane, the trout committing to the fly, white mouth agape, and the turn with the hook buried in its jaw.

While there were plenty of stocked rainbows and browns in the mix, there’s something about the Hendrickson hatch that brings out the wild things. Here’s a lovely some-teen wild brown with unique spotting on the pectoral fins, taken by Chris on a dry fly. Nice work, fellas!

Friday was play day for me. I found some space in the lower end of the PTMA, which delighted me no end because Friday was sunny and warm and the kind of day that especially draws a crown this time of year. Unfortunately, it was also blustery, and the gusts sent a torrent of tree seeds into the water. To make matters worse, the seeds were about the size and shade of a female Hendrickson, so I made sure my wet fly team had darker flies. It was a bittersweet afternoon for me because I ended up in some water that was a netherworld of activity. Plenty of rises below me — but two anglers, too. Plenty of rises above me — but same angler density. I managed to take several fish on wets using an upstream presentation (and I slipped in a couple downstream victories as well). What was significant about this was the fly the fish ate. On my three fly team (Squirrel and Ginger top dropper, Dark Hendrickson soft hackle middle dropper, Dark Hendrickson winged wet on point) the only pattern the trout ate was the middle dropper. When the hatch indicated that I should switch to dry (the trout will no longer show interest in the subsurface fly) I had one of those days where there were so many duns on the water, I had trouble getting the trout to find my fly. I consoled myself by watching the sheer number of naturals that didn’t get eaten. And the trout that I did hook made those successes seem sweeter.

The version I used had a brown partridge hackle fiber tail, rusty brown thread dusted with DRC spectrum dubbing, and a brown partridge feather.

Many thanks to everyone who shared the water (Jack and Dennis, you should have stayed a bit longer!) and to those who came to say hello. I hope the flies I handed out served you well.

Hendricksons are out full throttle in the Farmington River PTMA

Yesterday and today saw a strong showing of Hendricksons in the lower end of the PTMA. On both days the duns started to come out in force around 2:30-2:45pm. On both days the best of the action was over by 3:30. As always, savvy anglers will fish under the hatch until the wet fly no longer gets eaten. The trout will tell you when it’s time to switch to the dry. A more detailed report to come this weekend…

It’s good to see you, old friend.

Farmington River Report 4/19/23: Jason triumphs over another cold, slow day

Given the cold, blustery conditions, cloud cover, and total lack of hatch activity (well, OK — I did see one tiny BWO and we witnessed one rise), Jason picked a good day to cover drop-shot nymphing under an indicator. We fished two marks within the PTMA and one below it, and fishing trout that wanted to eat was a challenge. Jason was a great student and asked plenty of questions. He’s going to do well. As always, when the nymphing is tough, you’ve got to move around, cover water, manage your drifts, and figure out where the fish are holding. Look for a reason to set the hook on every drift. Set hard, sweeping low and downstream. I can be discouraging when you’re doing everything right and have nothing to show for it. But, the generally persistent generally make out. Well done, Jason!

A bent rod and a focused angler, or: Things a guide likes to see. Things really haven’t picked up this week, but hopefully the warmer weather on Friday will give the bite a boost. I had Jason test-driving a new nymph today, and I’m happy to say that it worked.

Random mini reports: Striper struggles and trout are about

On Sunday night I fished with surfcaster extraordinaire Toby Lapinski. We were after stripers that were after herring. I had a bump after a few casts. After a few more, I had a take with some head shaking and thrashing, and after a few seconds I had…nothing. No big deal as the fish didn’t have any size. I’d like to tell you that the night ended happily ever after, but that was it for me save a snagged herring. Toby got into a window of opportunity and connected with a few bass, landing one that was sub-slot, and one that was well over slot. Nice! I’d decided to fish elsewhere, so I missed it. Why should my spring striper luck change now? To add to my woes I stayed out way too late. Glory days are coming. But when? Yes. I know. After.

I’m guiding tomorrow, so today I bounced around the Farmington River looking for fish. I was on the water from noon to about 4pm. I hit five marks in the PTMA down to Unionville-ish and hooked up in three of them. However, it was a fish here, a fish there, and long stretches of nothing. It was hours before I saw a bug, and the bite was correspondingly slow. The cold air and rain showers and gusty wind didn’t help. I didn’t see another angler hook up all day. I saw a handful of small caddis, a few size 14 BWOs, and a couple stray Hendricksons. No risers.

Thanks to the currentseams readers who said hello today! This is good time to remind everyone to please come say hello. You’re not bothering me, and it’s good feeling to put faces and voices and smiles to names.

Today’s method was drop-shot nymphing under an indicator. I fished a BH Squirrel and Ginger size 14 on point with a size 18 Starling and Herl dropper. Every fish came on the BHS&G until the sun came out…and then it was every fish on the S&H. Droppers are a wonderful way to give the trout a choice.

Farmington River Mini Report 4/11/23: Stockees everywhere and a surprise guest

I fished the lower Farmington River yesterday from 12:30pm-3:30pm. I hit four marks and found stocked fish in three of them ready to jump on. I easily got into double-digit numbers, mostly rainbows with a few browns and one brookie in the mix. The method was a long leader with a jig mini-streamer. The water was cold, 49 degrees, and a great height, 540cfs. Lots of caddis and midges out, and a few stray small olives. Fish on!

Just when I was telling another angler that it was too cold for Hendricksons, look who shows up! There were a few stray bugs that came off about 3pm. This was in Canton. I only saw one rise all day, and it was to caddis.
Safely removed from a tree. And I got to carry a lucky bonus dead dried worm around for the afternoon.

Giving Currentseams subscribers first chance at April lessons

It’s that time of year when the phone begins to ring. People want to go fishing! Me, too.

Given my schedule, I want to give currentseams followers first dibs for lessons on what looks like a very limited availability in April. Some dates are already out: every weekend, Monday 4/3 and Good Friday. Between other commitments and my own fishing, I will very likely only have a handful of dates available to take people out. Of course, there’s always May. But if you wanted to get out with me in April, jump on it before it’s gone.

If you’re unfamiliar with my guiding/teaching philosophy, you can find that here. I’ve also updated my Trip Checklist which is basically an FAQ. Thank you again for all your support!

A very healthy brown landed by Jake last spring.

Some Hendrickson thoughts as April approaches

I’ve been fortunate to have had so many fantastic days fishing the Hendrickson hatch on the Farmington River. So naturally, I’m licking my chops in anticipation of this year’s complex action and (hopefully) grand style. Here are some of the things going though my mind on this lovely March morning (which, if it were three weeks from now, would have Hendrickson written all over it).

Mssr. H.

I hope the water comes down. I’ve had many days where the river was way up — with legions of bugs dotting the surface — and nothing was snapping at them. Oh, sure, the trout gorged below, but is there anything more discouraging than seeing the water littered with Hendrickson duns and nothing is trying to eat them?

So, tailor your presentation to to the water level. Most anglers associate the Hendrickson hatch with dry fly action. But I’ve had some crazy days nymphing when it seemed like it was a fish on every cast. You can use specific Hendrickson nymphs, pheasant tails or something like this.

Don’t neglect wet flies. The earliest stages of this hatch are tailor made for wet flies like the Dark Hendrickson winged wet. You’ll know when to switch to dries because you’re not taking a trout — or multiples if you’re fishing three flies — on every cast.

I’m going to try some new things this year. Here’s a post from years past where I riffed on the Dark Hendrickson theme. I’m curious about soft hackles this year, particularly glass beads vs brass beads. More on that as I get out for some field testing next month.

I do really well with The Usual. Of course, I have Comparaduns and classic Catskills-style dries. But I embrace simplicity, and trout almost always display a wanton eagerness to attack Fran Betters’ classic.

Be aware of other hatches. Little BWOs, Mahogany Duns, and especially caddis can come off at the same time. Woe be to the angler who is unprepared for the trout taking something other than H-bombs. I always have a Squirrel and Ginger as the top dropper on my team of three.

Farmington River Report 3/21 & 3/23: “Two skunks walk into a bar…”

I can’t remember the last time I had two consecutive blanks on the river. But there we are. To be fair, I only fished a couple hours on Tuesday, but yesterday I put in a full half day in five locations for not…a…touch. This was my first time to the Farmington since January. Tuesday was sunny and breezy and chilly. I’d planned on hitting the lower river, but settled for a few miles below the PTMA. Still, the water was about 800cfs. BWOs #20 flitting about. Headed up to hobnob with my friends at UpCountry, then with Sal at Legend’s, and then I re-hit the water. Observed airborne: tiny olives, small tan caddis, and early black stones #14. At my third mark, I stuck a fish, but it quickly became unbuttoned — we’re talking about two seconds of head shakes — which was too bad because it didn’t feel small. And that was it.

I should mention that over the two days, I was dedicated to the nymphing cause. I thought Thursday would be better with the warmer air and damp conditions — the olives loved it — but the Still River bumped up and we had over 600cfs in the PTMA. I nymphed the snot out of three marks, then hit two above the PTMA. Zero. Zip. Zelch. It wasn’t just me. Over the course of the two days, I saw one trout hooked among about a dozen anglers over six hours. In hindsight, I probably should have thrown streamers.

Fellow lefty Paul being bold and daring swinging wets in March. He was so kind and willing to share water, and I thank him for his giving spirit and positive energy. He even let me nymph the deep slot in front of him. Neither of us could believe that I blanked.

But what I really wanted to talk about are the new things I tried. I started with a different butt section for my indicator nymph rig. It’s 6′ long, and I flip-flopped the yellow sighter section with the clear section, making the sighter the bottom of two halves. I didn’t like it, so I’ll go back to my original configuration. (On a side note, everyone sees differently, and the yellow really pops to my eyes. Make sure you can see your sighter!)

The next thing I tried was a three-fly team for nymphing. I’d only done it once before, way out west on the South Platte, but the more I thought about it, the more it makes sense. I kept the bottom two patterns fairly close — about 16″ apart. The top dropper was a soft hackle. Obviously, this setup needs far more field testing with some willing subjects. It goes without saying that good casting form and minimal false casting is paramount to prevent tangles (which you will get).

And finally, I played around with some new flies — that early black stone I posted on Instagram, and a slightly larger version of Pat Torrey’s Little BWO. Once again, more field testing required.

Better fishing days are coming.

Don’t miss more exclusive, meaningful content on Instagram

Happy hump day! Just a wee reminder that if you’re not following me on Instagram — @stevecultonflyfishing — you may be missing out on some good stuff. What goes on Instagram doesn’t usually make it to currentseams. Like this website, I try to keep it informative, entertaining, or useful (and on a good day, all three). So, if you’re not following me on Instagram, hop to it. I just posted this nifty little black stonefly soft hackled nymph….

Steve’s BHSH Little Black Stone. You can find the recipe on Instagram. 🙂

Today’s job: getting the trout vest in Farmington River shape

I have shamefully neglected my trout vest and its accoutrements and baubles and other implements of destruction. So that’s today’s job: get it ready to go for some late winter/early spring fishing. Find a place for everything, and put everything in its place. Make sure I’m not missing anything. And restock the pathetic container that is my subsurface fly box — especially the nymph side, which is embarrassingly barren. Enough self-flagellation. To the tasks at hand!