Kempfield Pool - September 27

This was an interesting two hours of surface fishing. First, I managed to take the one rising brown in the big pool below the trestle in the lower C&R. A size 16 olive comparadun did the trick. This strategy did not work as I made my way down to the Kempfield Pool a few minutes later. The water above Whetstone Brook has had rising browns this month but tonight they had other things on their mind. Nothing was rising. But then I noticed some surface activity at the top of this run just below that classic set of riffles. Two fish were working just below the surface and the trusty comparadun was totally ignored. I then switched to a light olive (I like olive) emerger in a size 18. That worked!! I took both browns, one about seventeen inches and broke off another of good size. I took them in the spot that is in the upper right corner of the above photo. By then it was getting dark and I called it quits. On the way back to the shore I noticed something interesting. I saw two browns in about a foot of water. They were swimming together, one following the other. It got me to thinking. Was this some kind of spawning or pre-spawning activity? Maybe, maybe not. I hope it was!

If you can get yourself free for a few hours (5-7pm) you will have action on the Millers. In October, if history repeats itself, you should find rising browns in mid afternoon. Don't wait for the State to dump in the clonebows. Fish now. It can be challenging but it's fun.

MRF

Extended C&R on the Lower Millers

I have some interesting news. For years we have always thought that the lower catch & release area on the Millers River ended at the "breached dam" in Erving and EVERYONE thought that breached dam was right behind the Erving Paper Mill. Well, we were wrong. While sifting through the Ma. Wildlife website I found a reference to the c&r ending at the "Bridge in Erving". I placed a call to Ken Simmonds of DFW and he stated that the actual lower end of this section is just above the above mentioned bridge at the site of a "breached dam". This dam is hardly noticable unless you really look for it. The above photo was taken from the "bridge" looking upstream. The dam is just a few yards above the bridge. What does this mean? First, it adds about a 1/2 mile to the c&r and includes Keyup Brook, a stream of good cold water and spawning potential. Second, it gives us more area to stock brown trout which do very well in the Millers and are limited to the c&r areas. I asked Ken if the DFW abstracts could reflect this condition and he said that the abstracts are already at the printer but the change will be made for the 2009 season. I like the idea of the lower c&r ending at the above mentioned bridge as I saw in the DFW website. Much less confusing. Anyway, we win on this. I've fished this section below the Mill and it really looks like brown trout water. Now we know it's protected!!!

MRF

So far this September it has been like this.......

9/4 Kempfield Pool - 1.5 hrs fished, 2 browns both on dries

9/12 Rezendes Section - 1.25 hrs fished, 1 brown on dries

9/20 Lower Trestle Pool - 1.5 hrs fished, 7 browns on dries (great night)

9/24 Kempfield/lower trestle - 2 hrs. fished 4 browns on dries

All of the above took place from 6pm and after. I fished a size 16 olive or brown emerger but switched to a size 16 olive comparadun when the light began to fail. It was great every time except for the beavers that began to ruin things around nightfall.

One might say that I didn't spend a lot of time on the river and that was because of a few guiding gigs (guides don't fish) and because of three trips to the Swift where fishing has been VERY good and a weekend on the Farmington where I chased and actually caught a lot of nice browns on sub #20 emergers. It was heaven!!!!!!! I hope (maybe against hope) to make it out before this weekend which is totally committed to non-flyfishing activities. Yes, there is a life beyond flyfishing I guess.

MRF

Rezendes Pool - Bears Den Section Of The Millers

The Millers Flyfishing Forum

The purpose of this endeavor is to create a stream (or river) of information regarding flyfishing on the Millers River. The death of the Millers River TU forum has left a lot of anglers in a information twilight zone. What's happening, who's catching what and how are they catching them? Hopefully this will give anglers a chance to share insight, tips, locations or just plain lie!!

I fish the Millers and other rivers at least twice a week during the season so I will make ample posts to this forum. Readers will be able to comment on the posts or change the subject to share their own flyfishing experience. I will make all decisions whether or not "comments" are fit for publication.

This is NOT a Trout Unlimited project but it supports TU 100%. Hopefully TU projects will be mentioned on this site.

BTW, dry fly fishing for browns has been great since late August. I'll fill you in later.

MRF