Tag Archives: Farmington River report

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.

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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

Farmington River Report: Let’s get out the tape measure

I figured this would be a good day for streamers. Yesterday’s rain would elevate the flows (just over 400cfs in the permanent TMA) and maybe give the water a little color. Then there was the wind, supposed to be gusting to 30mph. Throw in temperatures nearing 50, and  yup, we’re going to spend the day targeting big browns on the feed.

But since I’m an iconoclast, I started off by nymphing. I had a few experiments I wanted to conduct with egg flies. (You may remember I spoke with a centerpinner Monday who caught over a dozen on eggs.) I wasn’t sure if he was using real eggs, flies, or beads. Since I was going for the eggy mass visual, I tied up a couple horrible flies last night that were basically Nuclear Eggs with a trailing 8mm trout bead. To convince myself that the pattern qualified as a fly, I put a soft hackle on one. I stuck two fish, but since I landed neither, I couldn’t tell if they took the eggs or the nymph dropper. (Dammit. I really wanted to know.) I’m going to continue research with some smaller hooks and beads at a later date.

A pretty brown that swiped the Deep Threat, missed, then came back for more.

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I dedicated an hour to the nymphing cause, then re-rigged for streamers (full-sink integrated tip and a size 6 Deep Threat in grey/olive). Nothing, nothing, nothing. Then I moved downriver about 50 yards to fish a long, slow, deep stretch of water I was sure held fish.

Second cast, mend, slow strips, THUD. I love big browns. They just never miss. It feels like you’ve hooked a submerged log, but the log is shaking its head at you. I could tell it was a good fish. And it was. Just over 18″, and very disagreeable about being forced from the comfort of its lie.

Ever notice that no one ever catches  a 17″ trout on the Farmington? Somehow, the fish grow to 15″, then suddenly shoot up to that magic   universally-accepted-as-impressive number. However, I can confidently tell you this brown was duly and accurately tape measured at just over 18″.

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I fished four pools today and found players in two of them. All I ask from the river in winter is one trout. That makes today my Christmas bonus.

Farmington River Report 12/1/15: Close, so I provided my own cigar

I spent three hours on the river today with mixed results. I spoke to one centerpinner who said he took over a dozen trout, some in the 20″ class, on trout beads. Another bait angler report a single fish in the first five minutes, then nothing for two hours.

So, what about us fly guys? I threw a mix of streamers on floating and full-sink lines for two hours. Two sharp bumps that felt like smaller fish, then a chase on the mended swing from a good-sized brown that was hiding behind a boulder; sadly, no hookup, and I could not entice him to play again.

Then, I switched to indicator nymphing, and used a small egg pattern as the bottom fly. And there he was, my only hookup of the day. Nothing to shout about, so no picture. However (and this is significant as winter and very cold water temperatures are nearly upon us) the take was not a full drop of the indicator, but rather a series of quick shudders; I set the hook, and the bottom fought back.

Tiny dark midges were out in force, and there were a couple fish rising haphazardly around 1pm. River was clear and running at 280cfs. A damp, drizzly, raw day, but nonetheless beautiful in the eyes of this angler. (And for those who care about my post titles, it was a Gispert Churchill.)

Why trout beads work. That’s a real egg on the left. This photo is from a steelheading trip in November 2013.

Bead&Egg 11-13

Farmington River Report 11/18/15: Old Reliable

I had the pleasure of guiding Mark for a half day on Wednesday. Mark is just getting back into fly fishing for trout, and we spent most of our time indicator nymphing, with a half hour dedicated to streamers. The river was low (250cfs in the Permanent TMA), clear, and cold (sorry, no temp.) Not much in the way of hatch activity, but there were fish feeding subsurface. We witnessed several trout taken, among them a healthy, fat buck rainbow that Mark nymphed up on a bead head Pheasant Tail.

Old reliable produces again. We hit two spots within the Permanent TMA, and found fish willing to take a nymph in both of them. Well done, Mark!

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Farmington River Report 10/29/15: More leaves than water

Even after Wednesday’s rain and a healthy bump in water levels (up to about 450 cfs, slight stain), the story yesterday was leaves. Lots and lots of leaves. A couple midges, a stray caddis, some lonely mayflies, and what seemed like the castoffs from every tree in People’s State Forest. Streamers were the plan, and if I threw enough mends to sink the fly I hooked less flora, but for the two hours I fished there was a distinct lack of fauna.

And there it is, in a nutshell.

Streamer leaf

~

And it almost didn’t happen. I opened the back of my truck to discover I’d left my waders at home. Sal to the rescue! Sal is a friend and the owner of Legends On The Farmington. Did he have a pair of waders I could snag for a couple hours? You betcha. A JR Cuban Alternate robusto for a pair of Simms. Done and done. Sal’s place is gorgeous, and it’s right on the river at Greenwoods.

So much depends on a pair of tan waders, glazed with river water beside the white door.

Hanging waders

Farmington River Report: Low and slow

That would describe both the river and the fishing. I was on the water yesterday from 9am-2pm. I skipped the permanent TMA and visited the Lower River and some water up in New Hartford and then Riverton way.

Nymphed in five locations. Blank. A mix of deep runs and swift riffles. Tried big (sz 8 stonefly in a run whose stream side rocks were covered with shucks) and small (tiny SHPTs) and in-between. I did catch a very nice stick.

It wasn’t until I switched over to a bright yellow streamer that I saw any action. And even that was spotty as I blanked in two of the three pools I fished.

Current conditions: water is 135cfs in the permanent TMA and barely 200 in the lower river. The water was slightly off-color yesterday, although it felt cold enough everywhere I went.

If you have plans to head out this weekend, this report should not discourage you; I was very likely fishing at the wrong time (middle of the day, bright sun, hot air, low flows) and simply had bad luck with the nymphing. The trout should be gathered in the deeper pools and faster, oxygenated water. I did see some fish rising in some classic dry fly water, but I was too lazy to switch out leaders. Caddis, midges, and a few stray Light Cahill-type mayflies.

If I had to do it all over again, I would have swung wets — and followed my own advice about crickets. 🙂

Not yesterday. 

Icy guide

A few courtesy bumps. Thank you for playing.

The t-shirt would read, “I slogged all over the Farmington River for three hours in the dark, and all I got was a handful of small hits.”

Maybe it was the weather change. Maybe it was the slight stain in the water from the rains. Maybe the DEEP pulled all the big fish out for breeding. Maybe it just wasn’t my night.

After outings like this, I tell myself this is the price you pay for those off-the-charts nights where you get two dozen bumps and three or four quality fish.

Truthfully, it was worth it alone for starting off in the rain and finishing under starlight, watching my smoke rings drift off into the cool blackness of the night.

Wherefore art thou?

Big wild brown hen 8-2015

Why I love the Survivor Strain program

Not every big fish in the Farmington is wild. Here is a Survivor Strain brown from a recent outing. Large, well-developed fins, clipped adipose, and some distinctive haloing around the lower spots. I wonder what else is in that belly? The fish’s attack was textbook big brown: hit, hit, then the take. You read so many reports of people catching 18″ trout on the Farmington that I suspect a good percentage of those fish are actually short of 18, what with it being such a nice, round default number. But I can tell you with certainty that this fish was at least 18″, measured against my landing net, which I’m pleased to report had some difficulty accommodating the catch.

Farmington Survivor Strain brown

Tag Team Nymphing

I’ve been teaching Rob how to fly fish, and Friday afternoon we met for a quick indicator nymphing lesson. Even though Rob is completely new to the fly game, he landed a juvenile Atlantic salmon his first time out. Friday was our second session, and it was slow going. There wasn’t much (if any) visible hatch activity, and the water was slightly stained from the day’s earlier rains. Rob did great job casting, mending, and presenting.

Everyone learns differently, and after an hour Rob said he wanted to watch me fish. We were targeting a riffle that dumps into some deeper water, and as the two-fly rig completed the dead-drift phase, the flies began to swing up. The indicator went under, and I handed the rod off to Rob, who landed this fine wild brown.

Some substantial shoulders on this wild Farmington brown. You can just make out the faint parr remnants, and those haloed spots speak volumes about how lovely these fish can be. Taken on the bottom fly of a two-fly rig, a size 14 olive Iron Lotus.

wild Farmington River brown

Farmington River Report: I have 20. Do I hear 21?

Some fish are gifts. Others are earned.

I got a little of both on this one. Earned by putting in my time for the past six weeks, then slogging through woods and water for thirty minutes on a steamy water-pouring-down-your-face August night, dodging beavers and raccoons and who knows what else just to get to this bloody out-of-the-way spot. Then, gifted with a sharp tug just five minutes into the fishing.

Battle details: taken in water moving at a good walking pace. The hit came as the dead drift transitioned to the swing. Two sharp tugs, then hook set (it has been reaffirmed this summer that the big ones rarely miss if you let them finish the job). Once hooked, the fish sounded as is the habit of larger trout. The interior dimensions of my net are 17×13: It took multiple attempts to net him, including one botched swipe where aluminum rim collided with spotted flank in a manner it probably ought not. The fly was an olive over black Master Splinter foam-backed mouse.

For some reason, the walk out seemed quicker.