MERRY CHRISTMAS 2016

Merry Christmas from the Farm River Angler to all !!! I would like to share with you a few photos from Christmas Day. The last photo is a hand carved and hand painted rendition of the Farm River Wild Brown Trout. A very special gift today from my close friend and fellow fly fisherman, Dave.

Wishing you Season's Greetings

Beautiful  Floral Center Piece
A gift from a very special family

Hand Carved and Painted rendition of the Farm River
wild brown trout. Thank you Dave.

Some Fly Fishing History

A few weeks ago my son gave me a shadow box with a photo of Elsie Darbee and three flies she had tied placed into three smaller compartments in the lower part of the box.

For your viewing pleasure

It Has Been A While...

My last blog entry was on July 11, 2016. A combination of the long hot, humid summer, low water and high temps kept me off the rivers until today.
This morning after the rain had stopped I went on a recon mission to a local stream to see if any of the trout, stocked or wild had survived. When I arrived at the first location , the river was up a bit and with some stain in the water. I did not take a temp but the water was ice cold to the touch. The first stretch I fished using a Partridge and peacock soft hackle produced a very robust and well fed holdover rainbow that put up quite the battle. While in this area I spotted one fish rising in stretch I could not quite reach.
At the second location I landed a small wild brown on the same soft hackle. I continued downstream until I reached another area I know holds some wild browns and was rewarded with seeing two more swing and miss the soft hackle.
A good start to the fall, but we need much more rain.
I took no pictures today, just a quick exploratory mission.

Rainbow Monday on the Farmington River 7-11-16

Spent a couple of hours late AM  fishing the main stem of the Farmy. The first location was void of any other fishermen, so I geared up and headed to the head of this pool. Fish were rising sporadically and there were some BWO's, ISO's and small caddis rising. I initially started Euro nymphing and had no luck. I switched over to a sz. 14  BH Ausable Ugly , and landed several nice rainbows. Went back to nymphing using a sz. 16 Frenchie and landed another bow. I did have one brown come up three times to an ISO Compara Dun, but no take, just followed a short distance and melted right back into the bottom. Frustrating at times.

Moved down river, to a second location and and Euro- nymphed up two more solid hold over bows and missed another one.Nice cool over cast day to be out before the next heat wave!

A couple of several bows today.

Browns and Bows

Today I visited a small stream, hoping the rain overnight helped to refresh the stream a bit. I was fishing a sz, 16 Partridge and Peacock soft hackle and found a nice holdover rainbow in a deep run.
I moved upstream to fish another stretch and was rewarded with an handful of wild browns, bringing a few to hand and having some LDR's . The water had come up a bit and was a little off color.
A rewarding trip this morning.
PS. If you were fishing a local small stream yesterday 7-4-16 using a Payne Bamboo Rod and met a friend of mine please reach out to me! Can contact at espnsports44@aol.com. Thanks

Nice holdover Bow

Wild Brown and a few of his cousins!

Farmington River Hat Trick 6-13-16

I spent a couple of hours fishing the Farmington River Monday, arriving late in the morning to find that I had a nice stretch of river to myself. I saw that there were some caddis sporadically coming off the water and it appeared that the fish were taking them as they emerged. I began nymphing using a small BHPT in the faster water at the head of this stretch and immediately had a nice rainbow. I had steady action for about the next 2 hours,landing a good mix of browns, bows and one decent brookie, which completed the hat trick.
I also had to contend with the wind, which at times was blowing like a hurricane and I could see whitecaps on the river!!

My one brookie completed the Hat Trick!

Caterpillars and Wild Browns

I did a little exploring this  morning, thinking that the rain on Sunday would freshen up some of the small streams. The stream I chose to fish has a nice canopy of trees, shading the water and providing some food for the trout. The water was up a bit and slightly stained and after approaching the stream saw some fish rising. After some close observation saw that the caterpillars were falling from the trees and the trout were just hammering them.
I was fishing a small Partridge and Peacock Herl SH, and I took a bunch of wild browns on the dead drift, and swinging the the SH hackle down and across.
Enjoy the photos.

Delectable Delight

Nice Shaded Section

First one of the Morning

Another Beauty

Last One 

Monday Monday 5-23-16

Monday, late morning I headed to the Farmington River to spend a few hours fishing and hopefully avoiding the crowds that will surely accompany the Memorial Day Weekend. With the weather predicted to be sunny and hot this weekend, the river will come alive with not only fishermen, but an assortment of tubes, kayaks and canoes.
As I  drove along the river my first choice of spots was occupied, so I continued upstream to my second choice and saw that my friend Dave was there. So I parked, got geared up and walked up to the area he was fishing. After exchanging the usual pleasantries and seeing that the fish were very active chasing caddis, began  nymphing using a pheasant tail and green caddis larva. Dave was drifting a green BH caddis larve and some type of soft hackle. We had constant action for a couple of hours, all on nymphs. All of the fish I landed were taken on the PT, which was my dropper. I also landed a very solid, broad shouldered brown and a few others using an olive Greeen WB.
As the sun hit more of the water the action slowed down and it was time for me to head home. A very successful day fishing with a good friend.

Dave has a good one here

Nellie, Dave's Springer watching the action

Nice Brown

Dave with a beauty

One Fly and Redemption

Last Saturday I joined Brk Trt ( Small Stream Reflections) along with a couple of other wild trout fly fishers in a two fly challenge on a small stream. While I hooked several brookies last week, I could not close the deal. I fished with a Partridge and Peacock soft hackle and the "Bomber".
Today I returned to the same stream armed with my go to pattern, Soft Hackle Pheasant Tail size 16. That was it, one fly. While approaching my first spot to fish, I came upon Billie the Great Blue Heron who was fishing also and frightened him off. Needless to say I did not fish that location. As I moved upstream where we had observed two fish rising last week, I found Bucky Beaver doing the back stroke, so I did not fish that location either. Farther upstream I came to a nice riffle along the path. I swung the soft hackle through this area and promptly had my first wild brook trout of the day.
Fished a few other location to no avail. Moved up to a nice run I have always had success in and on the first cast hooked and lost one, cast again and brought another nice brookie to hand. Fished a few other locations and found no more takers. The stream has dropped quite a bit since last week.
I returned to my car and moved down stream to another section and in a nice deep run took a gorgeous colored brook trout. Got him on the third attempt as he swung and missed the first two times.
Moved a short distance down stream and in a fast run a nice solid fish nailed the PT and put a bend in the rod.
So... one fly and Redemption!

first one of the day!

one for two here

Took this beauty in the pool (pic) below

Last Beauty of the day

last fish took the PT in this fast riffle.

Rainy Days and Wild Browns

Today dawned cloudy, damp and rainy. Plans were made to fish a wild trout stream with Mark from Fishing Small Streams. It was pouring rain when we arrived and Mark asked "Do we really want to do this"?  We agreed to tough it out and soon Mark was into a couple of fish. The rain abated and we moved upriver to another location. I finally got on board with two wild browns.

The first wild brown of the day

Another beauty

These two wild browns made my day complete. I had a few other hook ups that resulted in LDR s.  So in answer to Mark's original question "Do we really want to do this"? The answer is YES. We each had a few wild trout brought to hand, so in spite of the rain we had a successful day!





Wild Ones & Personal Best-Twice

I decided to seek out some wild browns today, fishing late morning and early afternoon. I thought that the recent rains, the cloudy, overcast day would be to my benefit. Man was I surprised.
Late morning I am walking along the bank I observe a rise under a tree. I roll cast my Soft Hackle PT above the rise, let it swing down and on the first twitch the water boiled and I was into a gorgeous wild brown, which totally exceeded my expectations, as this one was the largest wild brown I have caught in this stream. Measured out at ten inches. I continued fishing upstream and found a few more assorted wild browns willing to play.
After lunch I fished another section, a long. deep pool and spotted a rise at the end of said pool. Fishing the same SHPT, drifted over the fish and was into my second personal best wild brown in this stream. Continued fishing this pool and landed two more smaller cousins to the larger brown.
The last fish of the day was in another section, photos below, where one the prettiest of the day fell for the SHPT. And as I always try to do ended the day on a positive note. Enjoy the photos below. These are some of the most beautiful wild browns in the state. The first and third are my two best wild browns.

My first personal best of the day

Second personal best of the day

A Couple of Things

Over the past few days I fished a local stream and found some nice wild browns. The one pictured below was the catch of the day, about 9 inches long.

Visited the Farmington River LTMA with a friend who is learning to Euro Nymph and we got into some very nice rainbows in a couple of different locations.

Earth Day 2016

Yesterday was Earth Day and I spent some time in the afternoon along a local stream swinging soft hackles.
I found a long, quiet, stretch of river and as I approached saw some of the trout sipping something just beneath the surface. I started out drifting a size 16 SHPT and actually missed the first three fish, as they took the fly on the drift just below the surface, I saw the leader twitch and was a bit late setting the hook. It did not take me very long to get dialed in and for the next 90 minutes or so, had a ball catching and releasing numerous cookie cutter rainbows all in the 10-11 inch class. Closed out the day with a nice brookie.
The fish cooperated and took that SHPT on the drift, swing and at times on the retrieve.

Euro Nymphing 101

I fished the LTMA of the Farmington River today with a friend of mine who was just getting into Euro Nymping, in fact today was his first time. We went to a spot that has always been a good producer for me arriving late morning. We got geared up, rigged the rods and we were ready. Fred was using a jigged PT and a pink squirrel as the dropper.. After several minutes of stream side instruction, he was ready to go and soon landed his first trout on a fly. We had plenty of hook ups and action for a couple of hours with numerous rainbows to hand and a few browns mixed in. Plenty of LLR too. Fred took the prize of the day a gorgeous, fat, chunky holdover brown with all fins intact that gave him a run for his money. Now he is hooked!!
We both had a very enjoyable day on the river. I took all of my fish on a large streamer, which provided a lot of action.

OPENING DAY 2016

Today dawned cold and clear, so I waited until later morning before my son Matt and I started for the Farmington River. Arriving late morning proved to be a wise choice. We had our first stop to ourselves, another reason to get a later start. Matt was Euro nymphing and got on the board first with a nice fat brown and I followed shortly thereafter with a couple of nice Bows on streamers. We both continued to catch and release quite a few nice rainbows with a few chunky, well fed browns thrown into the mix. We had plenty of action for a couple of hours.
Below are a couple of photos. Matt playing a nice rainbow and finally in the net. A very successful opening day!!!