Autumn On The EB

Autumn On The EB

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Like The Millers Of Old (And The EB)



The old Millers River has taken a page from the 80's and 90's and republished it into the late Spring of 2015. Everywhere is producing! My friend Bill and I worked the Bridge Street Pool on Memorial Day with Bill fishing the great tail of this pool and I working the riffles at the head. Bill brought up trout to dries and I did the same high sticking above. All told 8 were hooked and 6 were landed.

Off to the Kempfield where we fished a few corners that are seldom touched by anglers and had surface action. Wednesday evening I ran into Don Barnes of Regal (the vise) Engineering and he told me of an epic sulphur hatch on Tuesday evening. We saw some of the end of this hatch and took trout. It's been great on this river BUT fish the evenings for results and a memorable time.

The EB - Boom or Bust it seems to be. You either catch them or you don't. The brookies have provided some seasonal sport but the rainbows and the browns are there to carry us through the Summer. Fishing is harder than in past years but if you get into trout it will be very rewarding.

The Swift - I've heard of the place. Maybe I should fish it(HAHAHA). Actually it's been fun making some longer casts for a change!!

Ken

Friday, May 22, 2015

Spring To Summer


Summer is almost on us although the temperature tonight and tomorrow may make you think of early Spring. Our Spring just seemed too short this year but we will move on from that and think of Summer.

The rivers - we need some rain but the water temperatures are cool and there's still depth in the runs and pools to swing a fly through. At 9am today the water at the EB was only 56 degrees. At 2pm it nudged 60. That is perfect. The Millers is going strong and I'll be there this weekend hopefully fishing some out of the way places. The Swift - been above and below the PIPE and doing well but have not been above RT 9 in three weeks. I'm afraid of what I'll find. Time to check it out.

If you can fish this long weekend that is great. If you can't you can pray for rain!!

Also, I'd like to hear how people are during on the EB since the TU weekend. No exact locations just general terms.

Ken

Saturday, May 16, 2015

The Millers is Sooooo Good Right Now And Some New Guiding Hours.



This may be the best month of May in the last five years on the Millers for rising browns. The lower CR is ALIVE! The sections below the lower CR are full of fish, period.

A few hints: browns hate crystal clear blue skies. On those days like those you will be fishing subsurface if you want success. As the sun begins to drop below the ridges the surface action will start. On overcast days the browns will start work hours earlier. We had success on both kind of days at the right time and the time is in the evening.

For those hand wringing thermometer fanatics: We had stocked brookies slamming flies on the Millers when the morning water temperature was 62 degrees. They were full of fight!!!

I'll be writing about the EB after the TU crowd leaves by Monday.

I'm opening up some late Spring, Summer hours for 5 to 8 pm during the week. Great hours! We get the evening hours with the evening hatch. Just right for learning about some new spots that you need to explore, to brush up on presentation and fly selection or to just get into fly fishing. EMAIL me (address is above) and we are on our way. Three hours for $90.00 is hard to beat!!

Ken

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

The EB But Not The Gorge


When I got into the car it was 89 degrees. A few miles west from downtown Northampton it had dropped to 87. By the time I bottomed out at the end of the hill from Chesterfield the temperature was 68!! That's the "Hidden Hills" for you. Big,dark clouds hid the strong sun from just a few miles to the east. Suddenly it was what May should be.

I wasn't looking for the Gorge but for another place. A Tenkara rod helped me bushwack through through an understory of unbroken fir twigs. "I don't think that anyone has been here" I thought as I did my best not to leave a trail. I didn't.

This part of the EB looked beautiful. A rainbow that hit the olive soft hackle made it look even better.

Then came the dark clouds that began to bring rain (a welcome event) and a hint of thunder. That drove me off after a slim 45 minutes.

I may keep this place in my back pocket, maybe not. It's a nice place. Maybe some local or the most adventurous of others may recognize the place. It may be best to keep it under wraps even with chances being slim that anyone will explore it with the CR not being so far away.

Loose lips.......

Ken

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Time To Fish EVERYWHERE


If you've been reading the comments on this blog you'll know that the upper CR on the Swift finally received it's fair share of trout. Hopefully it was a school of trout and not a pod of suckers that was seen. I'm betting that they were trout and some of you have probably fished over them already.

Fished the EB for 1.5 hours Monday evening under perfect conditions and took one rainbow and met another who also landed one. I don't think that these fish were stocked in the CR but washed down from above. The big stocking will occur next week but fish the place anyway. It will give you a peaceful reset after a month dealing with bait hogs at the pipe.

The Millers - Browns go in on the 8th and the flows are fishable. There will be plenty of anglers there on Saturday with a TU party planned but the crowds will be gone by mid May. Make it a point to try some new areas outside of the standard CR spots. Poke through seven years of past blog entries for some hints.

I have some trip openings for June. If interested just email me.

Best,

Ken

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Updates and My Mistake About The Y-Pool



Last week I said that everything was fine with the Swift because I had heard, from vary reliable sources, that the upper CR had been stocked TWICE. Since I wrote that I have not met anyone who has caught or seen any trout above RT. 9. There is no excuse for this condition. Maybe the DCR has other plans for the area like making it a strolling park or encouraging groups like the 15 or so UMASS types who were actually trying to wade (as in SWIM) in the river Saturday. I don't care what anyone says - this river belongs to fly fishers first!!

The PIPE has fish and it also has a huge population of the rudest bait slingers that you can imagine. They will attempt to crowd you out. The solution is to make this catch and release year round. I was talking to a DWF fellow last week who said the same thing.

Bows, browns and suckers will be what you will be fishing over from the gauge downstream.

The EB is RIGHT NOW and the Millers is almost there. Below 300 cfs in the Bears Den is great, 590 cfs in Erving is almost there. The browns go in May 8 in the CR sections of the Millers.

I don't know if you've noticed but we are in a dry spell. Most measured river flows in MA. are actually below normal for this time of year and it will not be the first time that we had a snowy winter followed by a bone dry spring and summer. We could use some rain.

Ken