Fly Fishing Farmington River This includes a Fly Fishing Report on the Farmington River Connecticut
Fly and Gear ordering and delivery: We can get flies to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Please see the bottom of this column for ordering options.
We also have custom Perfect Fly selections in 3 different price ranges for this stream that come with or without fly boxes. They make excellent gifts. Click Here To Order or Call us at 800 594 4726 or email us at sales@perfectflystore.com.
Type of Stream
Tailwater
Species
Brown Trout
Rainbow Trout
Brook Trout
(stocked, some wild and holdover trout)
Size
Medium
Location
North Central Connecticut
Nearest Towns Hartford
Collinsville
Season
Year-round in TMAs
Access: Good
Non-Resident License
State of Montana
Seasons: The season runs year-round in the Trout Management Areas.
Spring:
Springtime is probably the best season for fly fishing the Farmington River
Summer:
The water stays cool during the hottest days of summer and the fishing is generally good.
Fall:
Fall is an excellent time to fish. There is less pressure from anglers and good fishing.
Winter:
The water stay ice free below the dams and can be fished during the winter.
Recommended Tackle & Gear
Fly Line:
5 or 6 weight
Leaders:
Dry fly: 9 & 12 ft., 5 or 6X, Nymphing:
71/2 ft., 3 or 4X, Streamers 0-2X
Tippets:
Dry fly: 5 or 6X, Nymphing: 3 or 4X,
Streamer 0-2X
Best Fly Rods:
Perfect Fly Superb Five or Ultimate Six
Fly Reels:
For 5/6 fly line
Fly Floatants and Misc Items:
Floatants, KISS Strike Indicators
Tools & Accessories:
Nippers, forceps, retractors, etc.
Fly and Gear ordering and delivery:
Email us at (sales@perfectflystore.com) with the dates you will be fishing and we will send you a list of our fly recommendations. We can get flies and gear to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Your can also call us at 800-594-4726 and we will help you decide what flies and gear to use. All orders are shipped free in the U.S. If under a $100 order requiring Priority mail is a charge of only $8.10. Orders over a $100 are shipped free via Priority Mail.
Copyright 2013 James Marsh
Farmington River, Connecticut, Fishing Report – April 19, 2024
Stream levels are still very high and the water very dingy. Give it some time to drop and clear. Good Blue-winged olives, Cream Midge, little Brown stoneflies, and Little Black Caddis hatches are taking place. Be sure to check back with us often as we update the Farmington River Fly Fishing Report.
Stream Conditions: Rate: 1920 cfs
Level: 7.47 ft
Afternoon Water Temperature: 49
Clarity: mostly clear
USGS Real-Time Stream Flow Data at Unionville
7 Day Weather Forecast: (click the link below for more detailed weather info)
Recommended Trout Flies:
Brown Sculpin and White Belly Sculpin and Articulated streamers, size 6/4
Black Matuka and Olive Matuka Sculpin, size 4/6
Blue-winged Olives: size 16, 18 nymph, emergers, duns and spinners
Aquatic Worms, size 12, pink, red, and others
Midges: Light Green and Red (Blood) midges sizes 20/22, larva, pupa and adult. Our larva and pupa midge flies, pre-rigged in tandem, are very popular here. You can fish them under a strike indicator keeping the larva fly near the bottom. https://perfectflystore.com/product/pre-rigged-tandem-midge-larva-pupa-tippet
Little Brown Stoneflies: 12, nymphs and adults
Little Black Caddis, size 18, pupa and adults
Fly Fishing On The Farmington River In Connecticut
The Farmington River consist of two main branches, the East and the West Branch, but most all of the better trout fishing is on the West Branch tailwater. The water comes from Colebrook Reservoir and the West Branch Reservoirs. The water from both the East and the West Branches stays cool throughout the summer and doesn’t ice over during the winter. There are some wild as well as a huge number of stocked trout with some holdovers. Fly fishing the Farmington River can produce some trophy size trout. The dams were built primarily for flood control and water-reservoirs, not electrical power generation. That resulted in steady flows of water with no real high peaks in the flows. There’s a hydroelectric generator on the Hogback dam on the West Branch but it doesn’t affect the constant flow of the release to any drastic extent. The water is released from the bottom of the reservoirs and stays near a constant cold temperature year-round. The best trout waters are found upstream of Collinsville. The river has two separate Trout Management Areas in that section of the river. Both of these areas have excellent access and plenty of trout but there are miles of other areas on the river with excellent fishing opportunities. This river also has several feeder streams that are stocked by the state including the East and West Branches of the Salmon Brook, Sandy Brook, Mill Brook, Roaring Brook, Cherry Brook, Unionville Brook, Nepaug River, Still River, and the Pequabuck River.
Farmington River Fly Fishing Guide:
As mentioned above, the Farmington River that most fly anglers refer to is the West Branch of the Farmington River, in particular the section from Riverton downstream to New Hartford. This section has the highest trout population. The cold water releases from the dam keep its water near 50 degrees throughout the summer. Summertime is a good time to fly fish the Farmington with one exception. Kayaks, canoes and tubers are
there in numbers during the summer. It is best to fish early in the day on summer weekends. The river is heavily stocked with fully grown trout that probably average 12 inches. Holdover brown trout are caught much larger. The river also receives a good amount of fishing pressure during the prime months. Most of the food in the form of aquatic insects in the Farmington River are small. Many anglers are guilty of using much larger flies than they should. Midges and Blue-winged Olives make up much of the aquatic insect population and fishing small flies is always more effective. The larger size pools usually flow fairly smooth. They are more difficult to fish than runs and riffles because the trout can get a much better look at your fly. A common mistake anglers make fishing the river is to overdo the dry fly fishing. While the Farmington produces some good dry fly opportunities, the times are far and few between. Most of the time an angler is far better off using a nymph. Unless you see fish feeding on the surface or a good hatch occurring, you odds of success will be much better if you stick with subsurface flies.
Farmington River Hatches and Trout Flies
Our information on aquatic insects is based on our stream samples of larvae and nymphs, not guess work. We base fly suggestions on imitating the most plentiful and most available insects and other foods at the particular time you are fishing. Unlike the generic fly shop trout flies, we have specific imitations of all the insects in the Farmington River and in all stages of life that are applicable to fishing. If you want to fish better, more realistic trout flies, have a much higher degree of success, give us a call. We not only will help you with selections, you will learn why, after trying Perfect Flies, 92% of the thousands of our customers will use nothing else. 1-800-594-4726.
As with most any trout stream, one of the most important and abundant aquatic insects are the Blue-winged Olives. They hatch during a long period in the early season and again later in the year. As with many Eastern trout streams, the Hendrickson and Red Quills are a very important hatch. It takes place the last part of April and last into mid May. There are a few American March Browns, Light and Cream Cahills in the fast water sections of the stream. These are usually quite sparse hatches. Sulphurs are important from mid May through most of the month of June. Tricos and the White Drakes hatch in July and August. Little Black Caddis (Grannoms) start hatching in April and the first of May.
Green Sedges, and Short-horned Sedges will also hatch starting about the first of May. The Cinnamon Caddis species are the most important caddisflies. They, together with their Little Sisters, will hatch for a very long period of time. They usually start in mid May and the different species hatch off and on through September. Starting about the middle of June and lasting until after the first frost, terrestrial insects will also come into play. The beetles, ants, and hoppers are common along the banks of the river. As with any tailwater, midges are always very important, especially when there are no other hatches taking place. All season long, midges are probably the most important insect to imitate. You can always count of them. They range in hook sizes from 18 down to a 26. Don’t forget to have a good selection of streamers for the larger brown trout. Sculpin patterns usually work better than most streamers but there are a variety of baitfish in the river. Thank you for viewing the Farmington River fishing report.