Autumn On The EB

Autumn On The EB

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

The Fishable East Branch - August 3rd


The online gauge read 500cfs. Time to go hit the EB of the Westfield. I spent most of the weekend at Plum Island (No, I didn't fish for stripers. Go back to the post of June '08 for my reasons) having a lot of fun but now I needed to chase trout. I got there about 5:30pm and found a spot that I visited two weeks ago loaded with swimmers so I chose my second spot which was "unoccupied". The pool was still bathed in full sun so on went a #12 dry stone to work the fast water at the head of this great piece of water. Two 'bows crushed this fly before the shadows began to cover the north bank. Then came the telltale rise so I switched over to size 16 light comparadun pattern.

The evening rise never really developed. Just a rise here and there. The three other trout (2 'bows and a brown) came to the net by just blind casting this dry fly to likely spots. This also resulted in two missed fish due to day dreaming on my part. Anyway, it was a good night. I had another flyfisher working the lower end of the pool that I was on. I should of taken a photo of him - he was centered perfectly at the lower end of this water with the rapids in the background. His casting was textbook and he was obviously enjoying himself. He probably really enjoyed himself after I left the pool at 7:45 (I was starving and the thought of those steaks on the grill was too much). I hope he did well.

BTW - I was on the Bliss Pool. I would like to head far downstream some evening but don't like the idea of driving too far out in my little car after nightfall. After Labor Day, when daytime flyfishing comes back into it's own, .........

Ken

P.S. the photo is of my 4wt, 7ft 3in. bamboo that I bought for $100 back in 1980. The hardware is fair, the handle is too big but I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

glad you got some quality fishing time. looks like a very nice rod. digger10r

Millers River Flyfisher said...

I started with fiberglass (yes, I'm not "30 something"), switched to bamboo but got caught up with graphite back in the early '80's. Graphite is great and is the only weapon over 5wt which gets the job done without rotor cuff surgery but give me a smooth, slow current and rising trout and the slow, sweet action of bamboo can't be beat. It also protects very fine tippets because it is "slower" and cushions 6x and beyond. It also looks so damn good, a perfect match to the environment that one is in.
Ken

Anonymous said...

the flyrod in your main picture looks like it's graphite. fishing a heavy rod that day?

Millers River Flyfisher said...

Here's the story about that photo. I took my girlfriend out to the river that day in July of last year. I had one of my bamboo rods, she had one of my graphites. She mangled the 5x leader so I started to untangle it. She took the photo. The bamboo was off to the right out out camera view. No, I wasn't waxing away about fly selection or fishing with graphite that day. Graphite is a godsend in many situations but not all.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ken: Which / where is the Bliss Pool (if its possible to describe that location)?
Has anyone done a guide to the EB Westfield?

Always enjoy the reports, and keeping up with N.Mass conditions. Thanks.

Rick
RI

Millers River Flyfisher said...

How to find the Bliss Pool: google up Chesterfield Gorge. You will find directions to the C&R section of this river. Do not stop at the parking area but travel slowly down the dirt road along the river. You will see a sign that you are entering Bliss State Park. The pool is on your left. There is a great pool above that section and MANY great stretches below it. All hold trout.

I may work on a guide to this section, maybe.

Good Luck,

Ken

Anonymous said...

Looks like the Millers will soon be dropping to a fishable level and I'm looking at ten days off.
Quick where's my tippet material?

Pete