mrchunk
Member
- Joined
- May 25, 2007
- Messages
- 245
Took a trip up to the Farmington in hopes of catching a piece of the hendricksons before they were finished. Took me ~ 4 1/2 hours to get up there from Chester County. Left mid-morning on Friday and went straight to Upcountry Anglers fly shop to pick up some local patterns and knowledge and to meet up with my cousin from Boston. After picking up 25 or so bugs, all Hendrickson patterns ranging from nymphs and emergers up thru the spinners along with a few rusty spinners to round out the expected forage we drove up to a state park designated parking area within the upper TMA (Trout Management Area) to catch the spinner fall. We were on the water on Friday by 3:30 PM which we were told would be prime time for spinners to start hitting the water.
My first impression when arriving on the water was that I would be in for combat fishing. Apparently the Hendys bring everyone out of the woodwork. It might also be a coincidence as I believe CT's trout season recently opened as well. In any event, the Farmington has plenty of holes and we eventually located a slow pool with a decent eddy where we observed risers so we settled in and fished until 8 PM. We were both immediately placated with hungry browns and bows on both duns and spinners. I did best on parachute cripples and parachute adams that night. I missed what I estimated to be a 19-20 inch brown but still caught plenty of fish. We also observed BWO spinners but the fish were not keying in on them. We both caught a few salmon parr which we had heard about but did not believe until we saw them with our own eyes. The parr are generally small in the 4-6 inch range and much sleeker and silver with fewer markings than their trout cousins.
The following day we hit the water early hoping for a morning spinner fall. We didn't get the spinners we wanted so we worked faster water with nymphs until we started to see emergences. We both caught several hogs on the nymphs. We used montana stone rubber leg patterns, caddis pupae and lime green copper johns to take fish. Once the emergence started though, we were back on dries. I took this fish on a para adams in one of our favorite sections. The take was classic.
We fished Saturday night hoping for a spinner fall that never came. A few rusty spinners on the water took fish so we ended earlier that night for pizza and beers.
Sunday morning we returned to what the locals call the 'Boneyard' to look for the spinners and to our delight, the spinners were in the air coupling up. We saw so many egg layers Sunday morning and so many rising fish, it was ridiculous. My cousin stuck to a slow back eddy pretty much the entire morning as he had found a pod of wild browns all in the 16-20 inch range feeding on spinners.
I worked down river through riffles catching fish until the spinner fall ended. I reluctantly jumped into my car after lunch to head home. It was definitely a memorable trip and one I may plan to do again (as soon as this June). I hear the terrestrial action is really good in the summer.
The Farmington is a really cool tailwater and I like what the State has done with it. I think a lot of parallels can be drawn with the Tully although I think the Farmington sees more consistent flows and thus supports a better population of wild fish as well as holdovers. The stocking program is apparently done via electroshocking where the fishery management folks select 100 of the most healthy holdovers for brood fish, thereby preserving the strongest genes for their stockers. They then take the fingerlings of these broods and stock the river with both browns and bows. The fish are very spread out and pretty much any spot you try holds fish.
My first impression when arriving on the water was that I would be in for combat fishing. Apparently the Hendys bring everyone out of the woodwork. It might also be a coincidence as I believe CT's trout season recently opened as well. In any event, the Farmington has plenty of holes and we eventually located a slow pool with a decent eddy where we observed risers so we settled in and fished until 8 PM. We were both immediately placated with hungry browns and bows on both duns and spinners. I did best on parachute cripples and parachute adams that night. I missed what I estimated to be a 19-20 inch brown but still caught plenty of fish. We also observed BWO spinners but the fish were not keying in on them. We both caught a few salmon parr which we had heard about but did not believe until we saw them with our own eyes. The parr are generally small in the 4-6 inch range and much sleeker and silver with fewer markings than their trout cousins.
The following day we hit the water early hoping for a morning spinner fall. We didn't get the spinners we wanted so we worked faster water with nymphs until we started to see emergences. We both caught several hogs on the nymphs. We used montana stone rubber leg patterns, caddis pupae and lime green copper johns to take fish. Once the emergence started though, we were back on dries. I took this fish on a para adams in one of our favorite sections. The take was classic.
We fished Saturday night hoping for a spinner fall that never came. A few rusty spinners on the water took fish so we ended earlier that night for pizza and beers.
Sunday morning we returned to what the locals call the 'Boneyard' to look for the spinners and to our delight, the spinners were in the air coupling up. We saw so many egg layers Sunday morning and so many rising fish, it was ridiculous. My cousin stuck to a slow back eddy pretty much the entire morning as he had found a pod of wild browns all in the 16-20 inch range feeding on spinners.
I worked down river through riffles catching fish until the spinner fall ended. I reluctantly jumped into my car after lunch to head home. It was definitely a memorable trip and one I may plan to do again (as soon as this June). I hear the terrestrial action is really good in the summer.
The Farmington is a really cool tailwater and I like what the State has done with it. I think a lot of parallels can be drawn with the Tully although I think the Farmington sees more consistent flows and thus supports a better population of wild fish as well as holdovers. The stocking program is apparently done via electroshocking where the fishery management folks select 100 of the most healthy holdovers for brood fish, thereby preserving the strongest genes for their stockers. They then take the fingerlings of these broods and stock the river with both browns and bows. The fish are very spread out and pretty much any spot you try holds fish.
