New Hours:

Monday to Friday 8am-6pm. Saturday & Sunday 8am-5pm. This will be our schedule through the end of the summer. 

News:

Longtime UpCountry employee Don Butler passed away this summer, and Grady wrote a nice tribute piece on our blog. Click here for a link to this post. 

Pictured up top is a beautiful Farmington River brown caught by our newest employee Aiden. He tricked this trout during higher, off-color water with a tan & black streamer. Aiden works with CT DEEP fisheries six month out of the year, and is is very knowledgeable about the Farmington River and fly fishing in general. 

For more fish photos, store announcements and river news visit our Facebook page.

Steve Culton's brand new book "Fly Fishing the Farmington River" is out now, and it is fantastic. The book contains detailed information on the river, from the Hogback Dam in Riverton down to Tariffville Gorge. There is an updated hatch chart, new fishing locations, specific techniques and strategies for the Farmington, suggested fly patterns, plus detailed info from guides & river regulars. We have of plenty of books in stock available in the shop and in our online store here:

https://www.farmingtonriver.com/fly-fishing-guide-to-fishing-the-farmington-river-by-steve-culton/

We will match most advertised deals and sales from other stores, local or on the internet. We want your business, and as your friends and local fly shop please come to us first if we can help. Our business only survives because of your support.

Monday Afternoon 8/24 Flow Update:

CT DEEP is doing a flow reduction this afternoon, going from 200cfs to 75cfs for some fisheries work, putting the total flow in the Permanent TMA/Catch & Release down to about 100-115cfs after you add the Still River flow in. This is low but very fishable. They will put the dam release up to 175cfs Tuesday afternoon on 8/25, and back to a full 200cfs on Wednesday 8/26. The 200cfs release will be maintained at least through Labor Day weekend. 

River  Report:

New Hours: Monday to Friday 8am-6pm. Saturday & Sunday 8am-5pm We are now back to full hours on Wednesdays.

An Orvis rod & Lamson reel was lost near the Ovation/Hurley Building parking lot this week, please turn it in at UpCountry if you found it, or give us a call so we can reunite it with its owner. We also have a fly box that was turned in.

Beautiful conditions continue, with nice weather, nice water levels, and cold water. It's 56.7 degrees this morning in New Hartford behind UpCountry, and it peaked yesterday at 59.3. This means you can fish down to Canton and you don't need to migrate upstream in the afternoon to stay in cold water. Total flow this morning is a normal & medium-low 219cfs, with 177cfs from the dam, and 42cfs from the Still River. Riverton above the Still River at the Rt. 20 bridge is reading 50.7 degrees this morning, and it peaked yesterday at just over 53. These are fantastic late August conditions. Kudos to the CT DEEP for being conservative with their water management and keeping the river cold.

Plenty of good reports over the past weekend, and at moments there has been a lot of dry fly action. Trout fishing remains solid, with fish being caught on dries, nymphs, wet flies/soft hackles, streamers, and mouse patterns at night. Flying Ants were out several days this past week. There were a mix of sizes including #16's, but the majority of them were #24's. Typically a mid/late afternoon to evening deal. Make sure you match the size, or you will be highly frustrated. Trout love ants and will often key on them to exclusion of anything else. The ideal scenario for flying ants is a humid day with a little rain the day before to get them to do a mating swarm.  

You will often find trout rising in the fast water to #16-18 Tan Caddis and #10-14 Isonychias between late afternoon and dusk. You can even blind fish the Iso's even when trout are not rising, they are used to seeing them and are constantly on the lookout. Iso's start here in June and go through October and even into November - they slowly get smaller as the season progresses. There are plenty of trout being caught on the surface by matching the hatches throughout the day, plus pitching terrestrials (ants, beetles), or even tossing attractor drys on fast water (Chubby Chernobyls, Stimulators). Blind fishing ants & beetles is highly underrated this time of year. 

Summer & early fall usually means mostly smaller nymphs in the #18-22 range. The main exceptions are #10-12 Isonychia from mid afternoon through the evenings, and first light to about 10am with big #8-10 Stoneflies. Ideally I'd use 5x for bigger nymphs, and 6x for the others. Nymphs can be fished Euro style, with an Indicator, or underneath a buoyant/visible dry fly (Dry/Dropper). Focus on the faster, broken water, look for current breaks and structure. If you can find shaded water on sunny days, even better.

Morning Trico hatches on most of the river. Trico hatching & spinner falls have been sporadic and a bit unpredictable this year. Typically the main event with Tricos is the spinner fall, which happens in the mornings at an air temp of approximately 68 degrees. The spinners will form a literal ball in the air over the riffles right before they drop and fall to the water. During hot weather, it can happen as early as first light. When you have truly cold nights with cool air in the mornings, I've seen it happen as late as 10am. Tricos average a #24, and require a long leader 12' plus, with a long tippet of 7x (the longer the better).

Current hatches include Tricos #22-26, Isonychia #10-14, small Blue Winged Olives #20-24, Rusty Spinners #12-24, Cahills/Summer Steno’s #12-16, Hebe's #16-18 ("Little Yellow Quill"), Yellow Sally #14-20, and Caddis #16-22 (tan, black). Morning bugs include Tricos #22-26, Summer/Winter Caddis #18-24, Needhami Duns & Spinner  #22-26, and Tan Caddis #18.  Dry/Dropper combinations are working well for many anglers. Try an Isonychia Comparadun trailed by a tiny nymph like #18-20 Baetis or a Zebra Midge to catch trout in fast water, or a Caddis dry trailing a Caddis pupa. 

Hatches: 

Dries:

-Tricos #22-26: the main event for this morning hatch is the spinner fall, which normally happens when the air temps hit 68 degrees. 

-Isonychia #10-14: Fast water bug, usually about 4pm to dark. Can also be on the water in the late mornings/early afternoons sometimes

-Hebe #16-18 (Little Yellow Quill): a dull yellow Sulfur-type mayfly we see in August/September in the late afternoon & evenings. Standard Sulfur patterns will work for this hatch.

-Assorted Caddis (tan, olive/green #16-20, black, gray #18-22) 

-Beetles & Ants #12-20: great option from late morning to early evenings, especially when bugs are not hatching

-Blue Winged Olives/BWO’s #18-24: afternoon hatch on cloudy days, also on the water in the last hour of daylight in flat pool water. Don’t sleep on #18-22 rusty spinners at dusk.

-Yellow Sally #14-20: hatches in August & September. It's a smaller Stonefly that lives in fast water.

-Needhami #22-26: mornings, spinners & duns

-Light Cahill/Summer Steno #12-16: evenings

-Summer/Winter Caddis #18-24: hatch is typically early to mid morning. Trout focus on the pupa first, and then as the morning progresses they normally switch to the winged adults when they return to egg-lay. Try both twitching & dead-drifting your fly, trout often key on movement with this bug. 

-Midges #20-28: 365 days a year

Nymphs:

-Caddis Pupa #16-18 (tan, olive/green)

-Caddis Larva (olive to green) #14-16: tons of these in the river, good all year

-Pheasant Tails/Frenchies #12-22: imitates a wide range of Mayflies including Sulfurs, Vitreus, Hebe's (Yellow Quill), Baetis/Blue Winged Olives, Isonychia, small Stoneflies, Hendricksons, and more

-Walt's Worms #14-20: great general purpose nymph that suggests many different bugs, especially Caddis on this river. 

-Isonychia Nymph #10-12: dead-drift, swing, twitch, and even strip them in. They are great swimmers, and some days trout prefer different presentations- you won't know until you experiment. Use BMAR Iso, and also large Princes & Pheasant Tails. 

-Baetis/BWO Nymphs #16-22

-Yellow Sally #14-18: small Stonefly that looks like a miniature Golden Stone. Lives under rocks in fast water.

-”Junk Flies” (Eggs, Mops, Squirmy/San Juan Worms, Green Weenies): Often work when standard nymphs fail, especially when there aren’t many hatches.

 -Stonefly Nymphs #8-10: golden/yellow, brown, black, Stoneflies are a mouthful that can be hard for trout to pass up, and there are a surprising amount of them in the river. Good choice when flows are up. Some days when trout won’t move for a small nymph, it takes a bigger bite of food to get an eat. Often catches larger than average fish. Best in early morning during summer. Look for the empty shucks on top of rocks where they crawl out to emerge in fast water.

 -Midges #18-22 (black, olive, red): Zebra Midge, Flash Midge, Red Iris Midge, etc.

Streamers:

-Periods of higher/dirty water are a great time to fish big streamers and target big trout. Also early & late in the day during periods of low light. They are a good clean-up fly to try before right before you leave a spot. 

-Woolly Bugger #4-12: assorted colors, try also Don's Peach Bugger

-Zonker #4-6: a classic fish catcher! In white, natural

-BMAR Yellow Matuka #6: deadly fly! Also standard Matuka in olive, brown

-Zuddler #4-6: olive, brown, white, black, yellow-

-Articulated Streamers 4-6" long: various patterns to target the biggest trout in the river

-Muddler Minnow #6-10: and old classic that is still deadly

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UpCountry Sportfishing is always looking for good used fly fishing gear for cash and trade. This is how we get those great items you list on our website and you see on our racks. We buy fly rods, fly reels, quality classic bamboo, and fly tying equipment etc. Bring in your old items and we can help turn them into something new. We give more for trade ins than anywhere else. Call ahead for an appointment.