Farmington River

I recently took trip to Connecticut's famed Farmington River with a group of friends.  We headed up to the river on the tail end of a nor'easter, so we had some adverse weather and water conditions to deal with.  Despite less than ideal conditions it turned out to be a great trip.

There were plenty of chunky little rainbows to be had.  They were everywhere and eagerly took our nymphs and streamers in the morning and rose to Hendricksons and caddis in the warmer afternoons.  The rainbows averaged 12 to 14 inches with the largest nosing up to about 16 inches.  They fought surprising hard for their size.

 The brown trout averaged a inch or two less and were just as abundant.   I managed to hook a few larger browns in the 20" class, while fishing streamers in some of the deep runs and pools, but they got the best of me and never made it to the net.

The fishery folks on the Farmington have an interesting way of tagging fish to identify when they were stocked.  The small recently stocked brown trout all had this green laser etch behind their right eye.  I have never seen this method of tagging before.

We managed to have one phenomenal afternoon when my buddy Rick and I got into a riffle that was just teeming with fish.  There were actually more fish in this one spot than I have ever encountered on a river before.  We discovered that they were staged in that riffle taking emerging Hendricksons.  Fishing soft hackles we took fish on almost every casts for hours right up until dark.  The numbers of fish caught was astounding, between the two of us it was one of those rare "100 fish days".

Fishing two fly rigs and catching two fish at a time was just as common as catching one!  More often than not, everyones rod was bent over at the same time.  Since we left fish biting the night before, we returned the next morning morning with another friend and found the fish there again.  This time they appeared to be taking spent little yellow crane flies.  A partridge and yellow soft hackle did the trick and we did it all over again.   This had been my first trip to the Farmington, I can't wait to head back!

Hendrickson Nymph

It is Hendrickson time here in New Jersey.  The hatch is a few weeks early due to the mild winter we have experienced here in the north east.  We are all hoping that the bugs stay around long enough for the season opener.  If you want to fish this hatch you can still get out on our trout conservation waters which are open year round, though they are likely to be crowded.  There have been no real prolific hatches report yet but there have been some sightings which mean the bugs are on the move.

Although I fish a number of emerger and dun patterns, I only fish on nymph pattern for this hatch.  I first found this fly in the book Flies for Trout by Dick Stewart and Farrow Allen.  I have been fishing the fly since the early nineties when the book first came out and I have never needed another pattern.  The grey band of dubbing in the center of the fly is essential to the pattern as the naturals often have a lighter coloration mid-abdomen.  I prefer the fly as shown (minus the crazy long guard hard that need to be plucked out!), though you can also add a bead if that's the way you roll.

Recipe:

Hook:  2x long nymph hook size 12 or 14
Thread:  Brown 6/0
Tail:  Well marked wood duck flank barbs
Abdomen: Reddish brown fur with a band of grey fur behind the thorax or in the mid section (look at your local nymphs)
Ribbing:  Copper wire (not in the original pattern)
Thorax: Reddish brown fur
Wing Case: Black section of turkey tail
Legs: Well marked wood duck flank or partridge barbs

These nymphs are active swimmers when emerging so subtle twitches and lift techniques are often productive when fishing this pattern.

Hendrickson Nymph

Unfortunately I missed most of the dry fly action with this hatch this year.  Every time I was out on the water it was a case of "you should have been here yesterday".  I did however catch quite a few fish on Hendrickson nymphs.  In fact, even though the hatch is effectively over the nymph is still taking fish.