I’m in a goofy mood, hence the goofy title. Welcome back! I hope a splendid holiday weekend was had by all.
There is no joy in Mudville — and not just because I’m a Mets fan. There’s certainly no joy in Riverton. As I write this at 12:20pm, even if you were fishing above Riverton, you’d be fishing in water that is at a dangerous temperature for trout. It’s already north of 70 degrees(!). The MDC has decided to help (he said sarcastically) by cutting the flow a bit. With this week’s heat wave, the hits just keep on coming. Fear not: the hardiest specimens will find a way to survive, and the stocking truck shall return, as will New England fall nights in the 40s.
Things are heating up in the Culton kitchen, too. These are Trinidad Scorpions. Their heat is measured in the millions of Scoville Units (a jalapeño is 5k-8k).
Note: once safe fishing does resume, the entire river from the base of the dam to the steel bridge in Unionville is catch & release only until 6am second Saturday in April. If you have not done so, please program in the DEEP TIP line into your phone so you can report poachers: 800-424-4357.
I’m kicking off my speaking season tonight in Long Island with my good friends the Long Island Fly Rodders. I’ve been presenting to them for years, and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone. If you’re in charge of speakers for your club, now’s the time to book as my calendar is filling up.
Finally, I was on the Cape this weekend and managed to get out on the Brewster flats for one morning. I’ll tell you about that later this week. If you salt, that might be your best diversion while you wait for the Farmington to drop.
Even though we’re haven’t experienced a heat wave in weeks, water temps on the West Branch continue to play spoilsport. As I write this at 12:30pm, it’s already close to 70 degrees(!) in Riverton. Not good. With the warm, damp late summer weather, it’s no surprise that flying ants have been out with trout eating them. But, as UpCountry Sportfishing’s Torrey Collins writes, “you need to be very careful about water temps in the afternoons. This means you may need to fish between Canal/Beaver Pools and the dam to stay in water temps of 68 degrees or less.” As of late, the cutoff point for safe fishing above Riverton has been around 10am.
So: my guide trips remain in limbo. Patience will be our virtue. Although, if you want to curse and mutter under your breath, I certainly won’t stop you.
Thanks also to everyone who started following me on Instagram.
This was my client Michael on the Lower River in late June, late afternoon, 100cfs, and believe it or not, the water was colder there and then than it is coming out of the dam right now!
It seems never-ending, this stuck-inside-of-Riverton-with-the-New Hartford-blues-again feeling. But a glance at the current temperatures coming out of the dam offers some positive traction for the glass-half full crowd.
This weekend saw the coldest temps out of the gate since August 3rd. If we continue to have cool nights in the 50s, that bodes well for a reduction of a few precious degrees. Of course, sunlight and hot air can quickly defeat those few precious degrees. But better times and lower water temps are coming.
In the meantime, I am continuing to put all my Farmington River lessons and guide trips on hold. Like trout, the Farmington’s aquatic insects are shocked as well. My spies tell me hatch activity has been minimal at best. If you must fish the Farmington, please do it from Riverton northward, and do it from first light to mid-morning. Please carry a thermometer and do not fish in water above 67 degrees. Right now is great time to visit the bluegill pond with for 6-foot glass rod and some poppers or a size 18 Elk Hair Caddis. Panfish fight way outside their weight class (ask me how I know!).
I wish I had better news for you, but the Farmington River continues to flow within the risky margins of trout-friendly/trout dangerous temperatures. It’s a tantalizing balancing act; at 70 or 72 degrees, brown trout are probably OK, and not in any real danger. Unless you hook them and subject them to stress — stress that may ultimately kill them. Here’s some up-to-date information from Torrey Collins, the shop manager at UpCountry Sprotfishing:
“Water temps remain marginal with water coming out of the dam at about 66 degrees all day long, and then warming up during the day and as you move downstream. Coolest water temps and the longest fishable window is early to mid mornings. Look for water temps 68 degrees and below, and DO NOT fish in 70 degree plus water or you will stress the trout out and can potentially kill them by catching and releasing at 70+ degrees (not enough oxygen in warmer water). If you are fishing in Church Pool in the afternoons, you are 100% fishing in 70+ degree water. Don’t be that guy. If you have a thermometer, please use it- it will show you where & when you can and cannot fish. Pretty much on sunny days by about 10am you better be up in Riverton above the Still River (it’s a warming influence that dumps in warm to hot water in the summer), and you may need to move even closer to the dam release to stay in cool enough water. When water temps move into the mid 60’s, many trout will hold in the faster water due to the higher oxygen content.Rain in the forecast for tonight & tomorrow will raise the Still River, which means that from there down the river will be even warmer, so be careful and take water temps. FYI when you take the water temp, make sure you are in the current and your thermometer is shaded, otherwise it will give you a reading higher than the actual temp.”
Very not good. Ixnay on the ishingfay.
I’m continuing to place my Farmington River guide trips on hold until temperatures moderate. We’re getting rain tonight and the MDC is lowering the flow. What we really need are cooler days and some early fall chilly nights!
The flows have come down on the West Branch (about 325cfs from the dam and about 450cfs in the PTMA). But all’s not well. As predicted, the ridiculous volume released by the MDC burned through the colder stores at the bottom of the reservoir, and those won’t be replaced for months. Right now, the dam release is about 64 degrees, which is barely trout friendly. The problem is, the farther you go downstream, and the warmer the air temp and the more intense the sunshine, the warmer the water gets.
This is from Torrey Collins on this morning’s UpCountry Sportfishing river report: “(water temperature) rises varying amounts depending upon the day, time of day, and distance from the dam (it reached a peak of 67 degrees in Riverton in the late afternoon yesterday). With a much cooler forecast this week and cooler nights, I’d say you can safely fish downriver as far as New Hartford in the mornings, but by noonish I’d be up at People’s Forest/Mathie’s Grove/Campground & upstream in Riverton where the water temps will be a little cooler as the day progresses and water temps rise a bit. Bring a thermometer with you and actually use it.”
So if you choose to fish for trout on the Farmington, please consult this infographic from ColoradoTU.org:
Happy Monday. This morning, Hogback dam is still pumping out nearly 1.2K. According to Torrey Collins, 50cfs is coming from the bottom and the bulk from the over-the-top-spillway. The upshot is a lot of water leaving the reservoir, and not much of it cold. If you choose to fish, please be vigilant about water temperature — and of course, be careful!
As far as the flows getting back to normal: this water dump will continue until the reservoir reaches a level deemed safe by the Army Corps of Engineers. Meanwhile, the CT DPH has ruled that the MDC can be released from their drinking water obligation. This is encouraging as it means the MDC gets their way, and should no longer have a reason to be a dick about releasing a minimal amount of water. But “should” doesn’t mean “can,” or even “will.” Once the ACE determines the reservoir as at a proper level, we’ll see what the MDC does with the bottom release flows. For now, I like that the MDC is releasing only a minimal amount from the bottom, as this will help with restratification. Stay tuned on this one.
So, how about some confirmed good news? The MDC has agreed to a conservation easement that will assure 5,500 acres of land around the watershed will remain undeveloped. You can read more about that here and here.
I feel like my current fishing world can be best summed up by Ray Davies, who wrote, “The news was so bad that I fell out of bed.”
The fishing on Block was soul-crushingly bad. This is the third straight down year, and I felt lucky to have landed five stripers in seven nights. (Yes, you read that correctly.) Four skunks in the mix. (Really?) My biggest fish was 22″, bringing my streak of not landing a keeper or better to three years. How far that shore fishery has fallen!
Back on the home front, Mother Nature and the MDC are wreaking havoc upon the Farmington River. A couple days from now is my traditional date to go fish the dorothea at a favorite mark, but that’s obviously not going to happen. To add insult to injury, I’ve had to cancel both wet fly lessons scheduled for this week.
Normally, I’d console myself by heading to the Housatonic, but that river is also experiencing catastrophic water levels. No smallmouth for you! And no smallmouth for me, either. The white fly hatch will come and go, and none of us will be able to enjoy fishing it. Maybe the Hous will come down to a dry/wet fly fishable level in 2-3 weeks. That’s assuming we don’t get pounded by rain…again. This is now four consecutive alternating years of flood, then drought. It’s the new normal, and it sucks for all of us. What’s worse, it can’t be good for the ecosystem. Would a happy medium be too much to ask? Perhaps the silver lining will be more trout holding over to this fall. We shall see.
Bloody hell! 5,500cfs is a long way from being even remotely fishable.
Finally, good reader, I must apologize for all this doom and gloom. I try to be a positive force, but I also feel compelled to tell it like it is. I suppose I could use this time to prep my fall striper box, or my winter nymph box, or even get a head start on some steelhead flies. Maybe some bluegills down at the pond on Elk Hair Caddis and a six-foot glass rod would cheer me up? Now there’s a thought…
If you woke up this morning and checked the Riverton gauge, you were greeted to the incredible sight of 1070cfs (now 1240cfs). This, of course, is due to the MDC, under the direction of the Army Corps of Engineers, needing to bleed water from an overfilled reservoir. We’ve been pounded with excessive rain in the last week, which is a good thing. Or is it?
It’s tricky. On the lemonade side, we have water volume just at the right time. 68cfs and an oppressive heat wave do not make a good mix for the survival of trout. From that perspective, this is a good thing. On the lemon side, we have an unusually high water dump that cannot be sustained. Those of us familiar with the total disregard the water gatekeepers have for the natural resource can easily imagine a sudden, catastrophic drop in water levels that will no doubt do damage to trout and invertebrates. The question must be asked: Could you not have released a steady 250cfs, the average release, for the entire month of June, with your already near-full reservoir, thereby avoiding this wasteful dump? (We’ll get to that answer in a moment.)
One thing is certain: a sustained 1K+ water dump is going to hemorrhage irreplaceable stores of cold water. In just one week, we’ve gained 5 degrees of released water temperature:
That sub-50 degree water isn’t coming back until we get some very cool fall nights. The reservoir simply cannot re-stratify in the heat of summer. It’s happened in recent years: the flow from the dam is robust, but it’s coming out at temperatures that are close or at the stressful threshhold for trout.
Never was this resource so ridiculously managed, and it’s all because of money. In what has to be one of the most absurd contracts in the history of water management, the MDC actually saves money by ignoring requests from downstream stakeholders for increased flow. At a recent meeting, the MDC head stated that they currently have no mechanism for releasing more water than the legal minimum or what the Army Corps orders for flood control. That’s not entirely true. They can release water called for for power generation downstream — and pay a fee of $1 million to do so — or ignore such requests and pay a fee of $250K. So MDC has decided to keep their $750K and screw everyone else who uses the river for recreation, screw the wildlife, and screw those of us who depend on the river for income.
To that last point: I should be on my way to the river right now to give a wet fly lesson, but I’m not. I had to cancel. So, I’m out a guide fee today. It’s not that big a deal to me. Because unlike the MDC, I’m not completely beholden to profit.
No, you’re not seeing things. Yes, there is water again in the PTMA and even in Unionville. Last Monday, the upper Farmington River, its reservoirs, and watershed in southern MA got deluged, with some areas receiving inches of rain. Now that the Colebrook Reservoir is at 100% capacity, the Army Corps of Engineers has instructed the MDC to dump water and reduce the level. That’s why the gauge looks like this:
While this is better than the paltry 60cfs MDC was releasing, it’s a perfect illustration of how poorly this resource is managed. Instead of dumping 340 extra cfs of water en masse, why couldn’t the flows have been set to 150cfs for weeks? Better yet, how about the historical median flow? You know what’s going to happen next: the flows will go back to a trickle, and we’ll have the Farmington Rock Garden River. Again. There is no word on when those flows will be cut, but it is surely coming. So get out and enjoy the water while you can.
I’m still waiting to get you some better information on how this will all shake out, and what can be done about it. There are forces at work for better stewardship of the river. Stay tuned.
I was both humbled and honored to have the opportunity to guide three groups from Project Healing Waters. Over the course of two days, we fished, learned, talked, and just plain enjoyed being out on the water. On Tuesday afternoon, I did a streamside classroom for everybody, Wet Flies 101. OK, to be technical, it was at a picnic table at their campsite, but you could hear the river, so that counts for something.
This was the day after those torrential rains, so I gave the first group the option of streamers below the Still River or wet flies above Riverton. Option B was the choice, and off we went. That section was, not surprisingly, loaded with anglers. (Many thanks to those who shared the water both days and were so giving once they learned who we were and what we were doing. True, small kindness is vastly underrated.) The water was bracingly cold, and we had between 70-80cfs of flow to work with — not great, but doable. We found a few fish willing to jump on, but as I heard from the guys multiple times, it really isn’t about putting fish in the hoop. And in this case, they’re mighty right.
Not a bad day at the office! Time flies when you’re having fun, and on both days I frequently lost track of time.
For Wednesday AM, we stuck close to home, fishing water adjacent to the campground. The river had come down a bit, and cleared some, but we still had the challenge of mid-day summer fishing. Nonetheless, by covering water as best we could, we found a few feeding fish. The warmth of the sun on our shoulders and the cool of the river at our feet reminded us that were in a really good place. I had the group fishing a two-fly wet fly team, a fine compromise when not everyone is a great caster. Hatch activity on both days was minimal, and with the recent down and then up flows, I’m sure the insects were as discombobulated as we were.
We finished up Wednesday above the Still River in some gorgeous dry fly water. So, naturally, I suggested we fish dries. I rigged everyone up with a long leader system — minimum 13 feet — and we had at it. What a fantastic job this group did in some fairly technical water. While the trout were feeding — somewhat irregularly on emergers, but mostly spinners, the hatch (sulphurs size 14-16) wasn’t going to break any records for volume. But we stuck with it, and before too long, my man Guppy connected with a nice rainbow on a size 20 Usual.
I’d just seen a trout nail a skittering sulphur on top, so when Guppy’s fly began to drag at drift’s end, I told him to let it be. Moments later, whack! How exhilarating when it all works out just like you drew it up in your mind.
I stayed to fish after our session, but the evening rise never materialized in any big way. There were far more emergers and duns in the late afternoon than in the evening, and no spinner fall to speak of. I managed to stick three trout in about two hours. When I climbed out of the river at 9pm, my legs felt like cold, semi-unresponsive lumps. I was shivering. The fishing had been disappointing. But it hadn’t rained. It hadn’t stormed. And I realized that just being there did indeed count for something.
currentseams.com 