The Swift - Saturday November 24

Now, this was great!!! Stole two early morning hours and landed 12 trout, all 'bows and one brookie. All were caught on one fly, a #16 "Hot Spot". The hot spot is any dark, slender nymph with either a yellow, orange or pink band of dubbing around it's middle. No tail, no hackles. Just dead drift this nymph WITHOUT an indicator unless you begin to see nyphing rises and then drift it under some indicator putty and only six inches under the indicator too.

Indicator putty - the best stuff going and I don't know why it's not used more often. Unlimited sizes, easy to put on and adjust and easy to take off. Still, flyfishers are using their cork "bobbers" and yarn indicators that are the size of a shaving brush!!!

I may try a weekend day on the Millers if the water level stays down but the Swift is calling me.

MRF

Saturday, November 11, on the Swift

Saturday morning found me on the beautiful Swift River for the third consectutive Saturday. This was different from the past two outings. first, it was not raining and second, it was loaded with flyfishers. I made my first cast below "the pipe" at 7:45am and by 9:00am I counted eight other anglers fishing above and below this section. What made it special and entertaining was the presence of flyfishing celebrity Marla Blair with a camera crew of one who spent over two hours recording her flyfishing prowness. Marla caught a lot of trout but the major event was the dunking of her camerawoman who fell "back first" into those frigid waters. She and her camera survived and that's a good thing. Marla is a fishing machine!! So was the young guy, maybe twenty, dressed in waders and a hooded sweatshirt (a Swift River homey) who yanked trout out of thin air that morning. This kid can fish!!!!

The count - 11 rainbows either landed or almost landed. Early on the trout were slow to respond with only a #16 dark beadhead showing any interest. By 10:00am the fish became more active. You could see them darting back and forth. That's when a #20 dark olive emerger began to bring trout to the net. The days obligations made me leave just before 11:00am when I KNEW that a full blown hatch would start soon.

Winter is a special time on the Swift. I need to spend a full day there.

I will soon.

MRF

Saturday on the Swift

The alarm went off at 6:00am. Soon I was driving down Rt 202 under dark skies and breezy conditions to get my spot on the lower Swift River. The weatherman on the radio spoke of the Nor'easter charging up the coast with hurricane gusts and buckets of rain. If this holds off till noon I'll be fine.

Now here I am, below the "pipe" and I'm the ONLY one here!!!! I guess my brother longrodders have been scared off for a second Saturday because of a forecast. Soon I'm joined by the only other angler I'll see this morning. I tie on a #16 grouse and flash and for the next two hours bring only two small rainbows to the net. This pipe stretch, so good last Saturday, is just off today. I end up switching spots with the other angler, taking a position at the deeper, slower section a few hundred feet below the pipe. This section is LOADED with fish and they appear to occasionally be taking something just below the surface. Then things change as a tiny olive mayfly appears. Soon the surface is awash in them and the trout really begin to rise. A search through my"tiny fly box" reveals only two olives and they are #20, a bit large for this occasion but they will have to do. Short story - I lost both those flies after taking four of those rainbows. Time to leave.

Six trout in four hours isn't that bad and it beats raking leaves! As I drive over the Rt.9 bridge I notice that the "Y Pool" parking lot is EMPTY!!!!!!! I've NEVER seen that before.

It's early evening and it's raining. I have a roast in the oven, a glass of wine next to me and I'm half way through tying up some tiny olives. Next time.......

MRF