Aug. 19th. Farmington River Temps.

It would appear that the water temps. are starting a much needed cooling trend. The Farmy was approximately 70cfs this morning and the still was approximatley 30cfs.

I used the same method as my previous posting. I even visited the same locations as my previous post; the only thing different was the time of day.

Still no fishing for me, however, I will be out on the river practicing my skagit casting!


wt = water temp.
at = air temp.



Still River @ USGS monitor @ 9:15 am         wt = 66F           at = 61F

Dam Pool @ 9:25am                                        wt = 62F           at = 62F

Long Pool above Beaver Hole @ 9:35am       wt = 62F            at = 62F

Hogback Rd. pool @ 9:42am                          wt = 62F            at = 62F

Just below Riverton bridge @ 9:50am            wt = 60F            at = 62F

Pipeline just above ballpark @ 9:56am          wt = 64F            at = 62F

Church Pool @ 10:07am                                wt = 64F            at = 67F

Greenwoods @ 10:16am                               wt = 66F             at = 67F

Aug. 13 water temps. on the Farmy

I headed up the Farmington today - all the way to Massachusetts where it enters the Colebrook Reservoir.  The dam release this morning was 57cfs and there was 44cfs reported from the Still.

Usually this part of the river is deep and holds fish.

As I continued on down it did not get any better. More grass growing than water!



 And as I got closer to the Colebrook Damn I noticed the old highway bridge starting to poke up from the water. I did not see this bridge the last time I drove up here which was two weeks ago.

Here is the Colebrook Dam in the background. No boats in the water which I would imagine is because the water level is too far below the boat ramp.

Then I continued to the Still River and stopped at the USGS monitor station. This morning the Still was 44cfs and at 11:15 am I took a water temperature (wt) of 72F and the air temperature (at) was 76F. I taped my thermometer on a stick so that it was approximately 3" above river bottom and used that for the readings today. I also walked out to the deepest part of each stop (which wasn't too far) to take the temperature. The water at each stop was above my knees.

At the Hogback Dam pool I  wt was 62F   at was 76F  @11:40am

At a pool above the Beaver Hole (.4 mile down river)  wt was 64F    at was 77F   @12:00pm

At the Hogback Road pool   wt was 65F    at was 77   @12:10pm

At Riverton Bridge    wt was 66F    at was 77F   @12:20pm

At the Gas Pipeline, which is just above the baseball field and after the still dumps into the Farmy

the wt was 72F   at was 79   @ 12:30pm

At Church Pool   wt was 72F    at was 79F   @ 12:45pm

At Greenwoods   wt was 74F    at was 79F   @  12:55pm

At the Riverton Bridge - same location as last river report.



At Whittemore's Pool - same location as last week.





Aug. and still no relief from heat on the Farmy

I drove up the river the on Wednesday this week.The first two pictures are from the bridge in Riverton; I have never seen the river this low. Right now we are approximately 7" below normal rainfall for the year. People have spoken of water temperatures in the mid 70's as well as dead trout. 

I saw a couple of kids "tubing". They weren't really tubing since they were out of their tubes and pulling the tube behind them as they walked down the center of the river. I realize that some people still fish in the early morning or evening, which is their decision and one I respect. Me? I just can't do it, the fish are under too much stress with 80cfs and the warm temperatures. The days here have continued to be very warm with highs in the upper 80's to low 90's and the nights have "cooled" down to 75F, these changes in temperature do not, in my opinion, allow the fish time to recover. So....to pass away the time I am tying some wet flies and thinking about starting on some steelhead flies as well. 

These two are Whittemore's Pool. 

What looks good?

How 'bout some Silver Doctor tube flies? Learned this from Jerry the other day when he gave Lisa one; she landed some really, really nice browns with this.

3/4" tube
red, blue, yellow schlappen
red tag
silver wrap
mallard for wings