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 local guide Dave Machowski with a BIG rainbow (between 4.75-5 pounds on my scale, about 21"), definitely a holdover from the April Riverton Derby. It was fooled with a #20 nymph in some fast water. It took a fly change and a weight adjustment to get her to eat. Some serious girth on that big girl. I guess elephants DO eat peanuts, lol. 

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.

An Orvis rod & Lamson reel was lost near the Ovation/Hurley Building recently, 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.

We are fully restocked on Smith sunglasses, and we are doing 10% off on Smith this week though 9/3, for instore customers only. Some great new styles and lenses in the case.

River Report:

Tiny Flying Ants were all over the place yesterday evening, and the trout were rising all over the river. I saw quite a few Blue Winged Olives (BWO's) from about #18-22 in the late afternoon and evening. Caddis trickled off throughout the day, especially in the latter morning. Saw some Trico's in mid-morning. 

The total flow below the Still River in the Permanent TMA/Catch & Release is a beautiful 230cfs, a statistically normal flow for late August and a medium-low level. It's 213cfs at the Rt 20 bridge in Riverton, and a little below that the Still River is adding in 17cfs. Riverton above the Still River is running in the low 50's, and New Hartford is mid 50's to low 60's. Lowest water temps are in the mornings. This means you can fish down to New Hartford and even Canton- you don't need to migrate upstream in the afternoon to stay in cold water. These are fantastic late August conditions. Kudos to the CT DEEP for being conservative with their water management and keeping the river cold and keeping water in the river.

Lots of happy anglers walking through out doors, and  there has been very good dry fly action, albeit it can be technical at moments. Trout fishing remains solid, with fish being caught on dries, nymphs, wet flies/soft hackles, streamers, and mouse patterns at night. Make sure you have Flying Ants with you. There have been a mix of sizes from #16's to #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. 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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