CT Freshwater Report as of 12/20/2025

CT Freshwater Report as of 12/20/2025

Pictured here is Ben Toscano with a beauty brown. With it being right around the corner, Merry Christmas! Good flows coming out of the damn. The West Branch Farmington in Riverton is 165 cfs with the Still at 467 cfs, combining for 632 cfs. This is a bump up from the warm rain we received yesterday. Water temps peaked around 39 degrees but quickly dropped back down to just under 33. Please be mindful of redds as you wade around the river. Temps this week are going to be in the high 30’s with lows dipping below 20. A pretty chilly week so dress warm. Keep in mind that the Farmington River from the dam to the Rt 177 bridge is now catch and release until April.

BWO (#20-24) will hatch into mid-December. Some midges will hatch around the afternoon but for the most part it's all small bugs. Bigger flies to use would be stoneflies or other junky type flies. Overall, the bugs this time of year are small around #20-22 with exception to some larger #16-18 flies, so size down your flies to account for this. Streamers can still be productive this time of year but fish tend to slow down in the cold so you want to slow down your retrieves or even dead drift in some cases. Slowly jigging a fly with some movement can be a good technique.

Look to the slower water now as the cold air drops the water temps. Most fish are spawned out right now and eager for an easy meal so there are plenty of fish to catch. Downstream from spawning areas, trout will pick off eggs that come loose and float downstream. With fish looking for big meals don’t forget larger buggy flies like mops, squirmies, and flashy stuff. Bite windows are a real thing and don’t usually last for too long. Stay out there are fish hard until something happens.

Bugs off the Farmington are about the same. On smaller freestone rivers there aren’t as many bugs as there are on the Farmington so fish feed more opportunistically. Don’t be afraid to go a little bigger in fly choice on the smaller rivers. With cold water, small stream fish tend to stack up in the deeper pools and at times can be tricky to find. Moving around the river is key to finding small stream fish in the winter.

Lots of rivers across CT have been stocked, including salmon! Some recently stocked rivers are the Naugatuck TMA and the Shetucket.

If you go out and have any questions, feel free to stop by the shop, we are more than happy to help you with whatever you need. Swing by the shop to take advantage of our amazing holiday deals! As always, tight lines!

Location:139 Center St, Bristol CT, 06010

Number: (203) 343-0775

Hours:

Monday                                  Closed

Tuesday                                 Closed

Wednesday                         8AM – 5PM

Thursday                               8AM – 5PM

Friday – Saturday              8AM – 5PM

Sunday                                  8AM – 3PM