Autumn On The EB

Autumn On The EB

Monday, June 22, 2015

The Swift - A Sublime Evening


The EB and the Millers have been working well but what about the Swift? It's fine!!

6 hits and 3 landed on a size 18 pheasant tail which seemed to work for the sulphur hatch that never seemed to get going this evening. The Tree Pool has lots of fish and few fishermen especially in the evening when I was there. Lenny, a client and friend, worked the lower end with a good brown to net. There were 2 other fly fishers but they left by 5:30pm.

The pheasant tail was at the business end of a size 6x tippet and I spent about an hour and a half casting upstream and letting the sunken fly drift downstream in the Gordon Catskill tradition. Many don't realize that people like Theodore Gordon fished their sunken flies upstream instead of across and down. An upstream cast gives you the perfect drift. You see the line/leader STOP. You catch trout that way on a river like the Swift.

A perfect Summer evening on the Swift. There will be many more!! We are lucky to have GOOD trout fishing that is only an hour away for most of us. I've fished from New Brunswick for Atlantic Salmon to Montana for trout. I still say that we live a good spot.


Ken

8 comments:

Muggs said...

Dear Ken,
A year ago - maybe two - you caught my attention by describing a Westfield brown as "the size of a railroad tie". I caught him this morning. A beautiful fish, and the biggest I've ever come across on that river. In addition to my fly, I removed a large black bugger from his jaw. It seems others know about him as well.

More power to you for dragging yourself away and heading to the Swift. With the exception of one heavy day of rain, the Westfield has been fantastic of late.

Best you and your readers.
Muggs

Millers River Flyfisher said...

Muggs,

Good to hear from you!

There are BIG browns in this river and they are fairly close to deep water whether it's a deep pool or some short plunge pool.

The Swift has been good!!

Ken

Bob O said...

I had a vey enjoyable couple of midday hours on the Swift yesterday as the first of the thunderstorms raced by. I had just concluded Joe Brooks volume Nymphing for Big Trout and put some of his techniques to trial. In a pool where I often expect one or two fish, I found the denizens had thrown all caution to the wind. In the midst of the twenty five minute deluge I landed one after another. All were taken subsurface on a variety of unweighted dark soft hackles #16 and #14's on 7x tippet. I didn't exclusively use the upstream approach and found that many takes occurred below me as the fly passed by, and curled across the current at the drift's end. A couple of savage hits, one resulting in a break off, surprised me as the fly hung downstream in the current. Once the rain subsided, so did the bite. Perhaps I had cleared to pool...?

Millers River Flyfisher said...

Bob O,

So did I around 5pm for about 45 minutes on the Swift before thunder and those tornado warnings sent me packing. A good hatch was on (sulphurs) and a size 18 light pheasant tail dyed yellow scored well. A quick change to a dry during the last 10 minutes was ignored.

I know where you like to fish. I must of just missed you!

Ken

Unknown said...

I was just wondering, where is this tree pool? I've fished a lot from the route 9 bride up through the y pool, the hatchery, and the boat ramp but I haven't really explored much farther than that.
-Eamonn

Millers River Flyfisher said...

Eamonn,

You know where the Pipe is (also known as the hatchery pool where the PIPE is). The Tree Pool is the calm water below the PIPE. There is a tree that fell into the water about 10 years ago and is still there. There is another tree that is defying gravity just below the down tree. That's the end of the Tree Pool. In the next few years that second tree will fall in.

Ken

Unknown said...

Had a great morning yesterday, two hours at the Y pool - all alone. Trout were active, not many of them. I caught two and hooked and lost another four all on a 16 Stimulator. Then went to the tree pool and did the same on a 16 grey para emerger. alone except for a few spinners who came and went with no luck. They told me that trout were all over below the boat launch. On my way home I saw the launch was packed with trailers. Great day all the same.

Gene G.

Millers River Flyfisher said...

Gene,

I hope that people read your comment. I've fished the PIPE section twice this week and saw two people on my first trip and none on the second.
definitely underfished.

Ken