It was a perfect day on the Millers. Thursday, June 11th was cool with a hint of mist rolling off the ridges that border the lower river. The air was full of tiny BWO's and large tan caddis and the trout were giving chase. The most important thing was that the river was flowing at 250cfs. The fellows that I guided took trout everywhere - Erving Bridge, the Upper Trestle, the Kempfield Pool. It didn't matter.
Now forward cast 24 hours to Friday the 12th. Overnight rains swell the Millers to 1000cfs by mid afternoon. Now the rains of last night blow the river past 1500cfs!! My guess is that the river will be in a bait fishing, hardware slinging mode for a week. Keep an eye on the links that I provide to various flow rates. When the Erving section gets into the mid 500 range then you will have good wading and surface action.
Time to go to the Swift!!
Ken
8 comments:
One rainbow at the Hotshire Bridge on Saturday morning and lucky to get that.
So, how is the Swift?
fished the swift today from about 2:30-7:15. brutal session. only had one hook up that broke me off at a knot. as is expected the water level was perfect. the downside was that it was VERY warm. had to be just under 70 although i didnt have a thermometer. didnt see any good hatches all day. towards the evening a few caddis were coming off. black flies. sporatic rises to who knows what. whatever was emerging that never made it to the surface. no mayflies. this was my first trip in a few weeks so hopefully this isnt indicitive of whats to come. talked to one guy who said he did well on small black gnats the day before. expected sulfurs but they never showed up.
Did you say you guide on the Millers?
Yup, I guide on the Millers. The "Blue Dun Guide Service" link on this site will tell you all about it.
Ken
Boy, I was shocked by the water on Sunday morning. Worked hard all day up and down the river. Did pick up 2 rainbows, biggest 16" and a nice brown and brookie at the mouth of Orcutts. Couldn't even get on Kempfield..water too high. By the end of the day I was pretty tired from slinging weighted buggers. How long did you say it will take to get the water back to normal?
The lower river is running at 2000cfs as I write this. If we have NO RAIN the river may be down below 600cfs by the weekend. Don't count on it. 20% of the watershed is in NH and I don't know how much rain they got. Good to see that you slugged it out and scored a slam (bows, browns, brookies).
Ken
BTW, I got news last night that the bottom release on the Swift will start TODAY 6/16. We will see!
Ken
Any confirmation on the bottom release?
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