One thing that separates the Farmington River from rival trout streams that equal in fishing quality, is its accessibility. Only two hours from Boston or New York City, located in the northwest corner of Connecticut, you don’t have to take a plane followed by several hour car rides to be on some of the best trout fishing in the Country.

The Farmington River is a bottom-flow tailwater that flows from the Saville Dam which as a result keeps the temps at a trout-friendly temperature year-round. It features a 21-mile-long seasonal catch and release stretch that also includes a 6-mile-long permanent catch-and-release only section. The river hosts an enormous population of brook, rainbow and brown trout. While the is a large amount of stocking done on the river by both state and private organizations throughout the year, it also hosts a very large and growing population of wild brown trout. Between the consistent water temps, extraordinary insect life, and great mix of everything from fast shallow riffles to long deep pools, it provides an ideal habitat for trout to thrive in. In addition to the large population of wild browns, the stocked fish hold over extremely well year after year and all have the opportunity to grow very large. It is not uncommon to have days where one will land numerous “trophy” fish over the 20in mark.

As someone who is admittingly a “dry fly snob” and has travelled all over the place to some of the best trout streams anywhere, I can tell you without a doubt that when it comes to dry fly fishing the Farmington River is on the top of the list, period. The Farmington is one of the few rivers that you can truly go out and target rising fishing 365 days a year. While I have nothing against chucking streamers or drifting nymphs or anything else, I just simply find nothing more rewarding than the visual aspect and hunting like approach to targeting fish on dry flies. Tricking a fish to take a size 24 on slow water in the winter is just as fun and rewarding as finding a slab crushing size 10 Iso’s in inches of fast water. And the Farmington has it all.

These fish are educated. They see plenty of pressure at different times of the year and are very in tune with their environment. While proper fly, size, color etc is important, it is not nearly as important as one’s approach to catching that fish. Sit back out of sight for a while, watch a section or specific fish for a while and get in tune with what is going on. Where is its “feeding lane”, what bug is it keyed in on (as there is often more than one type of insect on the water at any given time), how often is it feeding? How can you position yourself to make a perfect presentation and drift to that fish without alarming it? It is easy to get excited when you approach a section of river and see fish rising and just jump in and start casting, anyone that says they still don’t do that at times is lying. But the more you can take a step back and be patient, put together all the pieces of the puzzle first, that is when you will start consistently catching high quality fish on dry flies.