Yes, The thermometer will hit 60 this weekend and next week will feel like the first week of April but we are just lucky. Winter will arrive soon enough and we will spend more time at the vise than we did all Summer.
I'm working up flies that seem to fish better from December through March for fishing the Swift. My Swift River Scud, a more trim and less bushy version of the standard tie, tops my list.
Another fly that works well in the cold is the Swift Serindipity. This version skips the deer hair wing and goes with white turkey flats instead. The body is kevlar in your choice of color. Red work best.
Hot Spots have been with me for close to 10 years. When I first developed this fly I searched the internet to see if the style existed or if the name was already used. No on both counts. Now there are a zillion hot spot variations. The contrasting color really works and you heard it here first!!
San Juan Worms can be a game changer in the Winter and don't forget any and all larvae patterns especially for the Pipe. Winter caddis skitter across the Y Pool on any winter day when the Temperature hits 40+.
Start tying.
19 comments:
Hi Ken, great advice. What size for the scuds and hotspots? Thx
Dwight,
Scuds are size 14 and 16 mostly and tied on scud hooks.
Hot Spots go from 16 through 22 mostly.
Ken
Ken,
I hit the swift today first time this season. I took your advice and fished between the gauge and the pumphouse. Even with 13 cars in the parking lot I had this stretch to myself for the first 3 hours. There were plenty of trout. Sadly none were brought to net. I still struggle with these low water conditions. I tried hot spots, soft hackles, a swift serendipity, and even a sulfur comparadum. The only one that could get the trouts attention was the sulphur which only got some half hearted looks.
When you fish the Swift Ken do you try to target specific fish? I noticed many today were cruising around and not hanging out in any one spot. I tried to find a few who were hanging out in one spot.
Mike
Mike
Ken,
Is there still any action to be had on the Millers or has that been put to bed for the winter?
Thanks,
Michael from Winchester
Michael from Winchester-
The flow on the Millers is low and with the warm weather it is very fishable. Heavy rains coming this Tuesday and that should shut it down.
Mike C.
I tell people not to fish for the trout that you see but to fish for the trout that you don't see. Soft hackles around #16, hotspots and PT's in #20 work well there. Fish it slowly when the water is low.
Ken
Thanks Ken,
I certainly get distracted by the fish I can see. Misty of the water in that stretch seems to be pretty flat with not a lot of features. Where are you targeting your casts in that situation?
As a follow up do you fish the PT and hot spots upstream or across and down.
Mike
Mike C,
I believe that you are talking about the long pool/section below the gauge. I do a combination of high sticking soft hackles, small nymphs and then fish them across and down through the drift. I get two different presentations for the same fly(s). It works!! Having no features on the surface means nothing because waiting fish are there and you can't see them. Many brookies with rainbows below are in this stretch.
Ken
Thanks Ken
That is the section I was talking about. I did do some down across and down with the hot spot and soft hackle but perhaps I didn't spend enough time because I kept trying to target fish I could see.
I did see quite a few brookies in that section and it was amazing with all those cars how emty that stretch was. It there more water like this working up stream from the gauge to the Rt9 bridge?
Mike
Dear Ken,
For the record, the EB was quite fishable today. I wish I could go again tomorrow, but we'll begin our holiday travels on Monday and I have chores to do. I recommend the area north of the gate to anyone looking to dodge the press of the Swift in Belchertown. There were a few cars, but no one in the stretches I tend to fish. I caught two, and a third broke me off in the fight. Dark arts this time of year, but fun all the same.
All the best, and thank you for a good year on your webpage. I'll be back in the Bay State by late March, and will look forward to checking in then.
Muggs
Hi Ken,
When tying soft hackles at size 16 and 18, I'm having some success but it's slow going tying that small. I am wrapping the soft hackle, but wonder if pulling through at that size is a better technique. Some of the professionally tied flies I've purchased at fly shops (size 18 and smaller soft hackles) looked more like they've been pulled through as they sit tighter to the hook shank. I spend most of my time finding and preparing the hackle for the matching hook. This would seem to make that task a little easier.
Any thoughts?
-Jaime
Jaime,
Pulling it through works when available hackle is too large. I discussed the technique a few months back.
Muggs,
Good to hear from you and see you next Spring!!
Mike C,
Yup, that's the place and it's where I fish. I don't like crowds.
Ken
Thank you Ken!
I don't like crowds either, Ken. I lost a dandy this afternoon on an orange thread body soft hackle, a fly I learned from your blog web site. Not sure if my tippet knot let go or if it just plain broke. Anyway, it felt good to have that hefty rascal on for a little while on the 7' Fenwick I have owned for 40 years. That orange fly was the only one I got attention with this afternoon. The hackle was grizzly more suitable for dry flies, but it looked and worked OK.
Regards, Sam
Sam,
Sounds like a partridge and orange w/o the partridge. I'll try to tie some up with webby grizzly.
Ken
Ken,
I don't have partridge feathers right now, so when I use that grizzly feather I only go around one time or so to keep it sparse. I tried that pull through method with mallard feathers that one of your followers does, but I just can't get it right so I use the grizzly right now.
Regards, Sam
Sam,
Mallard or wood duck works well on smaller soft hackles using the pull through method.
Ken
Sam,
Grizzly hen hackles would make a good substitute. The barring is a little wider than partridge but much softer and cheaper than rooster hackle.
Mike
Ugh- Poachers today at the Swift. I saw 2 guys standing on the log below rte 9 and were fishing with bait. They were also keeping fish. I went under the bridge and got stared down including one of them saying with a heavy Eastern European accent, "no more fish". I said "well, you better watch out because it's against the rules...". I then called the poachers hotline, but it was already 4:40 and dark. Too bad.
Falsecast,
You did the right thing. It will keep the wardens looking for these guys.
Ken
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