Pictured is a great Farmington River brown trout by fly tyer extraordinaire Nathan Mumford, caught on an Isonychia (Iso) spinner. Don't sleep on spinner patterns! Big trout love them.

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Labor Day store hours:  8am-3pm. 

News:

The entire upper 21 miles from the dam in Riverton down to the Rt. 177 bridge in Unionville is Catch & Release now, from 9/1 through the 2nd Saturday in April 2027. 

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  in stock available in the shop and in our online store here: Book

UpCountry is busy improving our twice weekly fishing reports and expanding our online store. We will match most advertised deals and sales from other stores, local or on the internet. Don't hesitate to ask. As your local fly shop please come to us first if we can help. We do what we do because of our love of the Farmington River, spending countless hours in pursuit of its conservation, and genuinely regard our customers as friends. We hope to continue to earn your business with better service and an unending support of the future of our precious river.

We offer in store pickup if you are coming to the Farmington plus free, fast shipping on orders over $70 if you can't make it. Our goal is to have more of our products online to buy so you can see what we have before coming out to the shop.

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River Report:

Holiday Hours: 8am-5pm Sat/Sun, Monday(Labor Day) 8am-3pm

Good Isonychia (Iso) hatch yesterday from about 1-4pm, complete with trout making splashy rises to them. Small Blue Winged Olives (BWO's) in about #22-24 were hatching also. Both bugs hatch best on cooler, cloudy days like we had Wednesday. Various Caddis were sporadically hatching too, including some small black ones that are easy to miss unless you examine the shoreline rocks. At dusk I saw a lot of Yellow Sally stoneflies, and trout were rising to them. The best fish I landed was an upper teens wild brown that ate a small Caddis pupa in the evening while I was nymphing some riffle water. I also landed what looked to be a very small wild rainbow with stunning colors and parr marks. Manged to do the trifecta of all three trout species: rainbow, brown, and brook trout. Interesting note, virtually all the browns I landed appeared to be of wild origin. Wild browns love feeding on cloudy days.

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 may 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.

Don't forget that as of September 1st, the entire Farmington River from the dam in Riverton, downstream to the Rt 177 bridge in Unionville is Catch & Release until the second Saturday in April. This section encompasses 21 miles. 

Water level is great, 264cfs total flow this morning in the Permanent TMA/Catch & Release (C&R). I'd consider 250-400cfs to be a beautiful, medium level. Riverton is 216cfs at the Rt 20 Bridge, and a little below that the Still River is adding in 48cfs. Riverton water temp is 53 degrees this morning, it peaked at 53.5 yesterday afternoon. New Hartford by UpCountry has been averaging temperatures in the mid/upper 50's in the morning, peaking in the low 60's. You no longer need to migrate upstream in the afternoons to stay in cold water. These are fantastic early September conditions. Kudos to the CT DEEP for being conservative with their water management and keeping the river cold and keeping water in the river. 

Fishing has been great, with trout being caught on dries, nymphs, wet flies and soft hackles. The streamer bite has been decent, particularly in the early morning & better after the overnight rains we have been receiving. Isonychia #10-14, Tan Caddis #16-18, Assorted Dark Caddis pattern #16-20, Tricos #22-26, Yellow Sallies #14-18, Hebes/Yellow Quill #16-18 Flying Ants #16-24, Cahills #12-14, Summer/Winter Caddis #18-24 are all possibilities. Iso's (Isonychia) are great because they are a big Mayfly and they can be blind-fished in the fast water, even if nothing is rising.

September often means using smaller nymphs in the #18-22 range. A good strategy at our current flows is to use a heavier #16-18 nymph at the bottom of your rig, and a smaller lighter pattern on a dropper 18in to 24in above. Two nymphs that break these rules are Isonychia #12-14 in the afternoon & evening, and Stoneflies(black, brown or yellow) #8-10 from daybreak to 9-10am. Use 5x for the large nymphs, and 6x for the others. Look for areas of faster current with rocks and structure plus places where the water is slowing into the heads of pools. A pool can be large or just a 15ft deep spot inside of larger runs.  Look for water shaded by trees and hills keeping an eye on the angle of the sun on bright day. Euro nymphing excels with tiny nymphs, while traditional indicator & high stick methods can be limited unless you combine your little flies with a larger one for weight.

Hatches: 

Dries: 

-Isonychia #10-14: Fast water bug, usually about 4pm to dark. Can also be on the water in the late mornings/early afternoons sometimes. Even if you don't see any hatching and no trout are rising, you can successfully blind-fish these in riffly water that you would normally nymph. 

-Blue Winged Olives/BWO’s #18-24: afternoon hatch on cloudy days, also on the water later in the day when the sun goes off the water. Don’t sleep on #18-22 rusty spinners at dusk.

-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) 

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

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

-Yellow Sally #14-20: hatches in August & September. It's a smaller Stonefly that lives in fast water, looks like a miniature Golden Stone

-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 #10-14: 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. Dead-drift, swing, twitch, and strip the nymphs. 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. Active & hatching in September here. 

-”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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