Tag Archives: Farmington River report

Farmington River Report 6/5 thru 6/7/23: three days of being a trout bum (and a guide trip, too)

You haven’t heard from me this week because I’ve been busy. Some family stuff, some business stuff, and, oh, by the way, fly fishing the Farmington River. I fished Monday late afternoon into dark; Tuesday 7pm-dark; and yesterday I guided Max in the afternoon, then finished off the day all by myself till dark. Rather than divy the days up, I’ll give you some hard data to digest. But first, yesterday’s session with Max.

Max wanted to learn the ancient and traditional art of wet flies, and after several years of missed connections, we finally made it happen. It was worth the wait, as conditions were nearly ideal for wet fly: 165cfs in the PTMA and 247cfs downriver, water running clear and cold and plenty of bugs. We started off in the PTMA, and sulphurs were the story. We spent the first hour doing a streamside classroom, then entered the water around 3pm. In the space of an hour we stuck six fish. Like many anglers new to swinging wets, Max found the hook-setting process a challenge — you’ve got to wait before you set and let the fish do most of the work. We moved downstream below the PTMA and once Max found his “are-you-still-there?” equilibrium it was lights out. We stuck a bunch more, and Max did a great job of getting his flies over feeding fish and managing his drifts. Well done!

Not the river’s prettiest rainbow, but a good fish nonetheless. She actually went 15″ and gave us a proper display of mykiss obstreperousness. She was feeding in about 18″ of moving water; we saw the rise, and Max delivered a perfect strike over her lie. Three of the last four fish we connected with, including this one, took a size 14 tan LaFontaine Diving Caddis. (Droppers are the fastest way to find out what the fish want.) Be advised, trout, there’s another wet fly flinging fish-catching machine in the making.

Now to my observations. This is a wonderful time to be fishing the Farmington. You’ve got actively feeding fish and bugs from daylight to dark. Witnessed: sulphurs, tan caddis, dark grey caddis, March Browns, Isonychia (well below the PTMA) midges, BWOs. All three days saw a prodigious number of sulphurs on the water and in the air from late afternoon to about 8pm.

The lower water and cooler temps aren’t hurting the wet fly fishing; but you’ve got to pick and choose your locations. Any wet fly success I witnessed and experienced came in broken water 1-3 feet deep that was moving at a brisk walking pace. Slower, languid water, even when loaded with active feeders, proved unproductive. The trout in the slower water seemed to be be keyed on spinners (present even in the late afternoon) and I had only a few half-hearted tugs to show for my wet fly efforts. Faster water was money, even when there were no visibly feeding fish.

Surfcaster Extraordinaire Toby Lapinski scored this 20+” wild brown on a Light Cahill soft hackle in — you guessed it — faster water. A lovely fish, and nice pecs! It was one of two large browns he picked up on Tuesday swinging wet flies.

Finally, the evening dry fly bite was been vexing me (says the guy who was featured in a movie about dry fly fishing on the Farmington). We all put our waders on one leg at a time, folks, and I’m your proof. Monday, it was a lot of bad luck: I had about a dozen swings and misses by the trout, connecting with and landing only three. Tuesday, I hooked and landed a trout on my first dry fly cast; it was all downhill after that. The slot I was fishing was far less populated with rising fish than the night before; there were more swings and misses, and I only stuck one more fish into dark. Then a wind and rain squall blew in and stopped the feeding dead in its tracks.

And for dessert, we have…

Last night, I had the place all to myself…and about 400,000 size 16 Sulphur duns and spinners that littered the surface of the run I was fishing. My target drift lane bordered frog water and classic glassy dry water. The fish seemed to move at will from sipping spinners to slashing at emergers, and sometimes doing both. Duns were everywhere on the water and were largely ignored. With so much food in the water, I again had trouble buying a strike, let alone trying to figure out what they wanted. In 90 minutes I was able to hook and land two trout, one on a size 16 Magic Fly fished dry and the other on a size 14 Light Cahill. At 8:45pm, the feed went from an 11 to 1-and-done. I think the cold weather has changed the usual pattern of feeding long after you can see your fly.

Get out there, folks. It’s really, really good, even when it seems like it isn’t.

Farmington River Report 6/1/23: Spectacular wet fly action, then dry fly doldrums

On Thursday I had the pleasure of fishing with Andrew. Andrew had asked for a wet fly lesson, and he couldn’t have picked a better day: water on the low side of medium and clear & cold, hot, sunny weather…well, maybe it could have been a little bit better on the hatch intensity scale, as we really didn’t see much aerial bug activity, nor actively feeding fish. Nonetheless, the subsurface bite was tremendous. We started off in the PTMA with a stream-side Wet Flies 101 lesson, then headed to the water. In one hour we stuck six fish (while the anglers above and below us blanked). We finished up below the PTMA and were faced with the same situation: very little bug activity and virtually no active feeders. But the bite was off the charts! I have no idea how many trout we stuck. Like many new wet fly anglers, Andrew found it challenging to let the fish set the hook. But he did a great job of casting and presentation. Awwwright, Andrew!

The first of many for Andrew. We fished a three fly team consisting of a sz 16 Magic Fly top dropper, sz 14 tan Diving Caddis middle dropper, and sz 14 tailed Partridge and Light Cahill on point. Unlike my experience Tuesday night, all Andrew’s fish came on the creamy mayflies.
A historical — and hysterical — moment. Andrew took a spunky rainbow, and as we were admiring it in the net, he haphazardly let his leader dangle in the current a rod’s length away. Bang! Another rainbow took the point fly with fierce conviction. I’ve experienced many wet fly doubles, but none like this one!

After our session ended, I headed downstream to meet surfcaster extraordinaire Toby Lapinski for the evening rise. The mark was basically dead at 7pm, which did not bode well — it should have been simmering with rises and the air should have been dotted with creamy mayflies. Absent any action, I headed upriver to swing a team through a snotty run, and was rewarded with 8 fish in a half hour. As with Andrew, all of the action came on the creamy mayflies. The dry fly bite finally happened at 8pm, but it was probably a 3-out-of 10 on the scale, and there was no real dusk feeding frenzy. I’d ended up in the some frog water where the majority of risers were smutting on tiny flies and spinners. Since I was feeling lazy, I didn’t bother tailoring my leader and flies to that situation; as a result, I rose only 7 trout on my size 16 Magic Fly, Usual, and sz 12 Catskills Light Cahill, sticking 2 and landing 1. But that was fine with me. Toby had similar results. This weekend cold front won’t help matters, but I expect the Sulphur hatch to build over the next week. Hopefully, before long, we’ll be in that early summer dry fly nirvana.

Farmington River Report 5/30/23, or: Gary LaFontaine, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!

Fans of the movie Patton will instantly get the reference. In this case, I’m not talking about military literature, but rather LaFontaine’s fly fishing masterwork Caddisflies, which I have been studying the last couple months with renewed vigor. We’ll get to that in a moment.

I fished last night for less than two hours, but it was almost non-stop, spectacular wet fly action from start to finish. The mark was a section of the lower river, running at 328cfs and about 60 degrees. Hatch activity was at best moderate. Observed: Vitreus size 12, Sulphur size 14-16, midges, and tan caddis size 14-16. Rise activity was minimal. I fished a three fly team of a Magic Fly (heavy hook) size 14 top dropper, a LaFontaine Diving Caddis tan variant size 14 middle dropper, and a tailed Partridge and Light Cahill size 14 on point. My first three fish took one of each. From about 7:15-8:30, I have no idea how many trout I hooked. It was one of those nights where if I made three drifts without a tug, I wondered if maybe it was over. (The the answer was always no, it isn’t.) Here is the magic of the evening: this was the first time I fished the Diving Caddis, and of the over two dozen trout I landed, the vast majority came on the caddis.

Also noteworthy: there were very few visible rises, and not a ton of bugs. But clearly, there was a significant feeding event taking place subsurface — and the featured entree was egg-laying tan caddis.

The idea behind the Diving Caddis is to emulate a female egg layer, encased in a silvery bubble of air. This specific pattern is not in Caddisflies, but obviously the trout appreciated my creativity. My variant was tied with tan thread on a size 14 hook. Body was tan Lifecycle Caddis with a small gold wire rib. Underwing was brown partridge. Overwing 30 fibers of tan sparkle yarn. One turn brown rooster hackle tied hanging back to ward the bend.
I had the Farmington hat trick. Most of the fish were stocked rainbows, but there was also a hefty stocked brook trout, along with a bonus 6″ wild brookie. I also had four wild browns, which was gratifying since this section of river no doubt got torched during last summer’s heat and drought. Love me some paddle pecs! Almost all of the takes came in swirling pocket water on the dead drift, although I did have a bunch on the dangle, too.

Late Farmington River Report 5/26/23: Like son, like father

I guided Jerry and his 8 year-old son Wesley on Friday. Both are very beginning fly fishers, and neither had ever fished the Farmington River before. But, this a great time to fish the river, and we had outstanding weather: sunny, 70 degrees, flows at 270cfs in the PTMA and 435cfs downriver. On that day, 11am-3pm, the story was caddis, caddis, and caddis. Wesley hooked up first, then dad, and we ended up with five in the hoop. What a tremendous job for both anglers. Well done, gentleman and lad!

As you can see, Wesley is a little guy. After I rigged him up, I held his hand as we waded out to the spot, telling him that I had him in case he slipped. “Do you trust me?” I asked. “No,” he replied, without a moment’s hesitation. Too funny! (Photo by Jerry Ezold)
Wesley’s first Farmington River trout! He did a great job of managing his drifts (we started off with indicator drop shot nymphing) and especially with looking for a reason to set the hook on every drift. I had both father and son fishing an Electric Caddis larva on point; Wesely with tan, and Jerry with bright green. Both worked. There are many versions of that fly bouncing around the web, so I’ll try to get you the recipe I use soon. It’s produced every time out.
After spending the bulk of the time at one mark, we moved to a second within the PTMA to finish the session. I switched both anglers to a two-fly wet fly team. I had both fishing Mike Lawson’s Partridge Caddis Emerger in tan on top and both connected. (This was the first time I had ever fished that pattern, which was designed for Henry’s Fork but of course works very well back east.) Jerry scored this gorgeous wild brown on his point fly, my bead head Squirrel and Ginger. A great first time on the Farmington, guys, and you were both a pleasure to fish with. (Photo by Jerry Ezold)

The Farmington River is now moving into late spring/early summer mode. The hatches will begin to transition to heavier in the evenings, although caddis will still come off mornings/early afternoons, with egg layers returning later in the day. As you may have read, I am totally booked for June. Here’s hoping you get out to fish, and if you see me, please come say hello.

First Rose Bloom, Creamy Mayflies (with some entomology notes), and I’m totally booked for June

Every year, like clockwork, the first rose bloom (almost always the hybrid tea rose Grenada) signifies that creamy mayflies are beginning to hatch in volume on the lower Farmington River. And thus, it is now so. “Creamy mayflies” is certainly a broad term, and it covers a bunch of species. In the past, I’ve used the nouns “Vitreus”and “Light Cahill” to describe creamy mayflies in the collective, rather than the individual species they truly are. I’m trying to up my entomology game this year; henceforth, I’ll try to be more accurate with the bug names I toss out to you. What’s happening right now, to the best of my knowledge, are Vitreus, aka Pink Ladies, and the first push of big Sulphurs. Vitreus are big, a 12-14, two tails, an evening hatch. Big Sulphurs are a 14-16 and their latin is Ephemerella invaria. Again, two tails, evening hatch, and a much brighter color than the Vitreus. I’ve been calling the Vitreus the colloquial “Light Cahill” for years, and while that’s technically wrong, please give a size-color-profile guy a break!

Every year is different, but nature is always on time.

Which brings us to lessons. If you were lucky enough to book a wet fly lesson with me in June, congratulations! It’s one of the best times of the year to swing under the hatch. Sadly, I am completely full from now through the end of June. So July it will have to be. That’s going to book quickly, too, so best to jump on it early. The reason for the logjam is simple: I’ve gotten a lot guiding requests from anglers all over the country since the Orvis Podcast “How to Swing Soft Hackle Wet Flies with Steve Culton” was released a couple weeks ago, If you haven’t heard it, I humbly suggest that you do.

Farmington River Report 5/16/23: Things are starting to heat up

Last night’s cold front notwithstanding, the hatches, the water, and (finally!) the action are all starting to heat up on our favorite tailwater. I guided Alan yesterday from 10:30am-2:30pm, and we bounced around to three different marks below the PTMA. The Unionville gauge was reading 507cfs, and the river was running cool and clear. Our focus was drop-shot nymphing under an indicator, a good strategy for that time window this time of year. To give you an idea of how a typical lesson goes, we try to start in some water that isn’t too technical. (Great minds think alike, as Farmington River guide extraordinaire Antoine Bissieux showed up with his client at the same mark.) I showed Alan how I build a drop shot rig, then we moved to fly selection.

Right now, the hero hatch is caddis, caddis, and more caddis. I put an Electric Caddis with bright green caddis LifeCycle dubbing and no bead on point, size 12. For a top dropper I used one of my experimental caddis pupa (as yet un-named, details to come soon) soft-hackles, green body, size 14. Alan did a good job of getting his rig where it needed to be; casting that unwieldy shebang takes a bit of getting used to. Much of nymphing success hinges on managing drifts and setting downstream; those can also be challenging because there’s a lot to think about and tend to in a short period of time. I guess Alan did OK (he said, tongue planted firmly in cheek) as he brought a half dozen trout to net at the first mark!

I remain one of the last holdouts when it comes to client fish photos. There’ll be no arms locked, fully extended, thrusting fish into the camera on this website. This was our first fish, a spunky rainbow that taped between 15 and 16″. Nicely done, Alan! We took two trout on the Electric Caddis, and I’m delighted to report that the rest came on my experiment, which has yet to let me down this spring — every time I’ve tied it on a client’s rig, it has produced.
The second mark was a blank. I think the bulk of the feeding activity took place before noon. We did score this lovely wild brown, about 9″ long, haloed spots and parr marks, in a section of river that got torched last summer. Nature finds a way! This was a good nymphing lesson fish because he took ever so subtly — the indicator never went under, it simply stalled — and Alan, who by now was looking for a reason to set the hook on every drift, drilled it. Great job, Alan!

Happy Mother’s Day and Farmington River Report 5/12/23

Happy Mother’s Day to all!

To the river: On Friday I guided Lance and Alex from 11am-3pm. The goal was to get some more experience on the river, learn some new spots, reading the water, and work on presentation and casting and hook sets. Drop-shot nymphing under an indicator was the method. River conditions were just about perfect: 380cfs in the PTMA, running cool and clear. I would have liked to have seen a little more bigger bug activity, but midges were out in force, along with a few casual caddis and a smattering (micro-smattering?) of various mayflies. We hit three marks in the PTMA. We had one touch in the first, blanked in the second, and the third was the charm with both Lance and Alex connecting multiple times. I was lucky to have two students that were both eager to learn and unafraid to make mistakes. I could see them both improving as the lesson progressed. Great job, guys, during a slow bite, and you connected more than any other anglers we saw all day.

We turned over a few rocks and found cased caddis and crawler nymphs, but when I crane fly flew into my face, I put a size 12 Gummy Crane as Lance’s point fly. The trout said, “yes.”
Alex peering into the net to check out his prize. He connected on both the Frenchie variant on point, and in this case, an experimental caddis glass bead soft hackle dropper. Great job, guys. Persistence pays off!

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.