Farmington River Report, week of May 26

Friday we floated the Farmington, started about 11:00 in the water after all the moving of vehicles and loading raft just in time for the rain.

Fished nymphs and streamers to start, over the same water we couldn’t buy a streamer bite the day we were on the water. It is not an exaggeration to say that as a minimum we had contact with 40 fish, many missed but many times there would be two or 3 fish chasing the streamer!!!!!!!; one or two on nymphs all the others on big mostly articulated steamers. Most were small stocked fish although  a few good fish were missed and or lost and one of probably 18” or so taken all videod by a wade angler. It was a hot hen fish, beached the boat to more easily handle, photo and release the fish. Finished the day waiting for a spinner fall and they got a bunch to eat on perfect downstream presentation helped by failing light in the flat water

Interestingly this fish was taken by a man who until recently owned a camp on the Deleware who he said it was the biggest trout he has taken on a fly. Same as the fellow Wed. who’s fished Idaho and Mt and Co. who said his big fish of the day (taken on an emerger as mentioned in my previous email) was bigger than he has ever taken on a fly as well (also 18 or perhaps a little bigger). Weds fish were a mix but mostly stockers and mostly on suspension rigs except for the nice fish at the end. We hung out a quarter mile from the end of our drift waiting for a spinner fall that didn’t take place but a few fish were eating on the bank; he caught one of these on a Hendrickson emerger fished behind a dun.. Enough caught, landed, and missed to make for a happy fisher but nothing compared to the crazy streamer bite in the rain Friday.