2 Farmington reports for this week 2/24 & 2/26

[Nymphmeister]

I'll keep this short & sweet:

Fished Sunday, and there weren't a ton of people out, but there was someone everywhere Opie & I wanted to fish, so I got aggravated and we decided to only fish the "in between" spots, including outside of the TMA. While not a day of big numbers, it was one for quality fish- the smallest was 17", the biggest 18+. Golden Stones, Eggi Juan Kenobis, and Cased Caddis were the successful patterns. The not-so-popular spots allowed us to fish with virtually nobody in sight for the rest of the day.

Braved the snow & fished today, and I took a DONUT! No fish for the Nymphmeister, I'll have to change my TPO handle to SkunkMeister. Got a late start, but that's no excuse 'cuz my buddy Mike Klubek landed 8 and lost probably almost as many. No big ones today though, all in the 12-15" range for him. Guess I only catch big fish . Got my butt kicked, I think I need remedial fishing lessons. Mike said it was Karmic payback for the ass whooping I gave him on the Housy last Spring. Various patterns were successful for Mike today, it seemed that getting a good presentation in the right spot & detecting the strike were the keys to success. I must have left that set of keys at home .

Most of the takes the past two outings were very subtle- the indicator would go under slowly or hesitate ever so slightly. I suspect that even though I was fishless today, I probably got takes I didn't detect. Oh well, it keeps one humble.

[Troutfishing4life]

Torrey
about the indicator stopping very slow or just a quick stop
at the pequest I had the same problem the last time i fished there and got nothing
but the first day sounds very good

[alanb_ct]

Here is that fly:
http://www.orvis.com/store/product_c...ubcat_id=14828

[Nymphmeister]

Thanks for posting the link Alain. I didn't try the Eggi Juan today, maybe that was my problem! It's a silly looking fly, but it apparently works well sometimes. I tied some up for a newbie flyfisher heading to the Connetquot last Saturday, and she caught 100% of her trout on it, even when presented against a BH Glo-Bug in a 2 fly rig. I've only fished it once, but it produced a couple really nice fish for me on the Farmington.

[Nymphmeister]

I don't get skunked often on the Farmington, but when I do it makes me wince 'cuz I know I'm fishing over a ton of fish. Like I said, humbling. And frustrating, esp. when your buddy is getting them >. I cannot even say for sure that I even got a single take today. And I've been fishing that river for almost 30 years now. Ouch. Maybe if I hadn't stayed up 'till 3:30 AM, I would have gotten there earlier and caught some. Shoulda, woulda, coulda.

[Nymphmeister]

Here's Opie's 2/24 Farmington report from his website firsthatchflyfishing.com, I know how he feels after getting the big goose egg today myself (and watching my buddy get 'em):

2-25-08 Well, have to say that I got the old skunk yesterday at the Farmington. This has not happened to me since I don't know when. Got a late start in the am which was fine. Only 10 degrees to start the am off so Torrey and I got the river around and fishing at 10 am or so. It was funny, high flows and in the middle of winter, there was someone fishing in every spot we wanted to hit. Wasn't a lot of people just enough to be out and fishing in every area. So, we had to fish the in between spots. Torrey ended up with 5 or so nice fish. 1-2 fish every spot we hit. He definetly had to work for them. The fish were just not that cooperative. I'm good for at least 1-2 fish in those in between spots that I only fish a few times per year but not yesterday. What was nice was that I got a chance to fish an area that I didn't fish much over the years and Torrey filled me in on some secrets which will be helpful come Spring time. So, cudos to Torrey and now I have to go take a shower to get the skunk smell off of me

Hero one day, zero the next. Literally.
-Nymphmeister

[Magnet]

Thats kinda funny. Maybe my fly fishing prowess is rubbing off on the HRO guides. My last 4 trips to the TMA this month have been skunk trips.

[paul young]

hi Torrey,

i was the guy you met up with in the woods on tuesday.(the "steelheader") lol

i gotta admit, i'm addicted after just 3 trips up there!

sorry to hear you had to wear the hat yesterday.... did your buddy do anything where you were headed? i fished it for 3 hours- hooked 5 and landed 4 of them. again, everything was 16"+.

it was really beautiful. too bad it turned to rain at the end.-paul

[Troutbum from Griswold]

Yeah Torrey.......very humbling as you said. You know your putting your fly over fish and your using the right flies but sometimes, not often, unless you put the fly on the trout's nose, your not hooking up. Well, the river is regularly good to me so I can't really complain but........I will anyway because that's me :'( I was happy for you on Sunday however. You got some really NICE looking fish. However, it is frustrating when your friend is catching and your watching :

[Nymphmeister]

Paul Young-
Wish I'd known that was you, and I'm glad you did better than I did. Beware the Steelhead, it is more addictive than Crack coccaine!

Opie-
Not sure what I did wrong on the 2nd outing, guess I just wasn't "in the game". The sleep deprivation & late start didn't help. Sunday I think I was most excited about catching some really nice holdovers outside of the TMA, in a spot I don't usually fish in the Winter. Putting that one in the memory banks, but I won't be able to fish it again until Opening Day or later, seeing as how Feb 28th is the last day of the regular CT trout season (other than the C&R areas). Interestingly enough, my biggest holdover Farmington trout also came outside the TMA, and to my surprise on a dry- here's a link to the picture of it, at the top of the HRO Farmington River Report:

http://www.dryflies.com/reports-farmington.html

I've caught bigger ones there, but they were broodstock & not holdovers. This one "counts more".