Autumn On The EB

Autumn On The EB

Thursday, May 11, 2017

A River Update, The EB And The Rain

"Most Fishermen use the double haul to throw their casting mistakes further" Lefty Kreh


Be careful what you wish for. We wanted the drought to end and it has and now the Millers has been roaring away for weeks..The fish are there and places like Orcutt and the bend at Kempfield can be waded with care but most places with this kind of flow are off limits except for the young and sturdy or the young and careless. I always felt that 400 cfs was the start of GOOD fly fishing on this river. We will have about 1.8 inches of rain over Saturday and Sunday and the Millers will spike again. Oh well!

The Ware just seems to be immune to monster flows and it's been fishing well. I was at Church Street and Gilbertville Center late Tuesday afternoon and did well with soft hackles from size 14 up through size 8 (that's right, size 8!!!). Lots of bugs and the occasional rising fish. This river will work well through May at least.

The Swift - lots of fish, lots of fishermen but working some fish gently rising in some calm, uncrowded spots with size 18 pheasant tails and the same size Grouse and Flash netted fish. I can't wait for the weeds to grow back down in Cady Lane!
The Eb - Here's the question. Why do we have to wait for the longest c&r section in the State to get stocked for the TU weekend before we can have trout to fish over? The EB gets stocked ALWAYS on the third week in May just BEFORE  the TU camping weekend while the REST of us have to wait for OUR trout through most of May on this river. I thought that ended last year when the lower Gorge had plenty of trout in EARLY MAY but I guess I was wrong. Now we are back to the same old routine and the EB, as of Friday, was at a very fishable level. This is not the playground of TU. It belongs to all of us.

Fish some small streams too. It's the perfect time.

Ken




14 comments:

bigmster127 said...

the milllers has been really producing some good browns for me up in the bears den area. double digits twice. not cing alot of fisherman period on the millers ive had the bears den to myself past couple times. did good the other night at the power station pool too.

Josh S. said...

Fully agree with your comment on the EB...it's a shame.

DS said...

@bigmster127 - where have you been in Bearsden? Rezendes pool? Upriver by the bridge? Downriver towards the gorge? Staying on the northern side of the river? I got a fallfish last weekend at Buckman's but that was it in the high flow.

Millers River Flyfisher said...

Josh S.

You are so right. I drove down the EB from the Gorge today. No fishers because there are no fish! Why can't TU fish over fish that have been in the river for two weeks. Maybe it's the easy catches that you get with a very recent stocking. Met an angler on the MB who fishes all of the Westfield branches. It KILLS him that the stocking on the EB is delayed. It is very wrong!!!!

Ken

Bill/Tully said...

Still too much water for my wading skills below Orange on the Millers, so I broke out the spin rod. Very nice action at the Power Sta., then moved up to the Treatment plant and hooked/released the biggest trout I've caught in my 3 yrs fishing. Nice afternoon for a retired guy. I wonder what I'll be doing tomorrow?

Millers River Flyfisher said...

Bill, What's a "spin rod"??????

(you get a pass!)

Ken

bigmster127 said...

DS all the fish were basically from last red house on gulf road too bridge upstream. i fished a little down too had alot of action too. the browns holding tight in fast moving water youd be surprised. will be out there thursday and friday for sure and possibly sunday even if it rains. love the overcast days.

Anonymous said...

What does MA Wildlife have to say about the lack of stocking? You can bitch about it on this blog till the cow comes home and nothing will be done about it until they are put on the spot!

DS said...

@bigmster127 Thank you! I caught two rainbows and lost one this morning at the Birch Hill Dam Rd pool this morning. Met a very nice gentlemen (Hi Bill!) downriver, where we saw browns jumping. Both fish were caught on a Tungsten Jig Bugger, black size 8.

Millers River Flyfisher said...

Anony,

I wasn't writing about a general lack of stocking. There are fish stocked everywhere. I was writing about the EB where the stocking is delayed. BTW, this blog has got it done!!!

Ken

Sam said...

Props to the DFW with the amount of stocking they do along with the quality of trout put in. The rainbows are especially wide this year. Browns seem to get well acclimated quickly, especially the one that jumped clear out of the water I was fishing during the rain today. Never could get that one to hit, but its smaller cousin did. Let go to get bigger.

Millers River Flyfisher said...

Sam,

I agree.

Ken

Pat said...

Ken,

Unfortunately I'm sidelined from doing much wading bc of a procedure I had done so I've been hitting the easy to get to spots on the main branch of the Westfield. I ran into a gentleman that said there are signs posted along route 20 that "this section of the river has not been stocked due to Mass F&W not allowing volunteers to help spread the fish through use of their ATVs", which I confirmed. I assume this was posted by BG sporting goods since it is across the street. Any insight on this and why the F&W would not allow VOLUNTEERS to assist? Sounds like some union garbage to me.

Thanks,
Pat

Millers River Flyfisher said...

Pat,

We had the same problem on the Millers over 10 years ago. ATV's were used on land where they are not allowed.

We have always had plenty of volunteers for the bucket brigade.

Ken