A Really Nicely Looking Hatch On The EB

It was Tuesday evening and it was HOT as most of you know. I figured that it would be a good idea to hit the East Branch to tempt some trout to rise or at least just cool off. That's when I was fortunate to glimpse the rare EB hatch that I had only heard about. It's a hatch that only occurs in the hottest weather. As I drove down the dirt road by the first turnoff there she was. Twenty something, good looking and totally sans clothing!
Her and her friend (in swimwear) didn't seem to mind my rubber neck response or the fact that the Gorge had a good number of people in it. Sorry, no photos!

Now for the fly fishing. The Bliss Pool was occupied so down the road I went to the Slant Rock Pool. I made one pass upstream through this gem of a stretch with my dry offering but I knew that the blazing sun would have to set a bit and put this pool in an evening shadow before I'd see any surface action. The sun left the water and at 6:30 I saw my first rise. A second rise came a few minutes later. That's when I and a #16 olive cdc dry began to ply the water.

Forty minutes later I took my fifth trout. Four 'bows and a nice brown came to the net and then quickly swam away upon release.

The water dropped below the 100cfs mark today. The flow is still adequate for the fish but we need some rain. A good, local thunderstorm will bring this river up. A good day and a half of light rain would be better.

Ken

Another Millers/Westfield Update

Things couldn't be much better on these two rivers. On the 19th I took two hours in the evening on the EB and had great dry fly fishing for rising rainbows using a hendrickson spinner. That hatch, which is over on this river, still produced. I guess the trout have good memories!

The Millers, with it's LOW WATER, is doing very nicely! Browns and rainbows are hitting the surface and March Browns are beginning to make their appearance and should be doing their thing for the next month. Times are good!!

Something to watch - we could use a little rain. Just a light, steady rain that would last for a day. Not the monster downpours of the last two years. That would be good!!

I'm starting to think of the Swift again. The flows have become reasonable which gives us a third option. I'd love to hit all three this week. That would be GREAT!!

kEN

The Millers And The Westfield - An Update

It probably can't get any better on the Millers right now. The browns are in and with the holdover browns that we have been catching a great Spring and Summer are in store as long as the flow levels stay reasonable. The surface action has been great this month which is an added bonus since May has always been "average" on this river as far as dry fly fishing is concerned.

The Westfield - I know that the EB gets a big slug of 'bows a few days before TU's weekend jamboree but I decided to check the place out anyway Sunday morning. The Gorge seemed empty which leads one to believe that angling was not up to the usual standard. But I was on a mission to get those quill body drys that I tied up this winter off my brain. As it turned out I began to see the occasional rise from the Bliss Pool. Six trout came to the fly and I landed three in the two and a half hours that I fished. It was great watching those #16 drys gliding back towards me with the occasional 'bow rising from the depths to make contact!!

That's dry fly fishing!!!!!!

Ken

If A Tree Falls Into The Kempfield Pool.......

Word had it that a giant pine blew down into the Kempfield a week or so ago. My first thoughts were that it had hopefully fallen into the quite water below the mouth of Whetestone Brook and NOT ABOVE IT. That would ruin the best spot on this stretch. Thankfully it landed below the mouth of the brook across from the large boulders marking the beginning of the slow water. In fact, it probably IMPROVED the flow by channeling floating (flies) material away from the south bank and closer to the north bank where the approach is ALWAYS best.

The browns are in at the bears den and folks are catching them. The lower section gets their browns on the 14th but we have been catching holdover browns and stocked rainbows regardless.

Hit the river. It's prime time for the Millers!!!

Millers Sunday

I guided a fellow from New Hampshire on his first Millers trip on Sunday. We started at the Bridge Pool in Farley where he lost two good fish. After a while we headed upstream to Erving Center and fished below the end of the C&R. Again we had a good fish on but it throw the hook. Finally we made our way to the Kempfield Pool where we were greeted with a good number of rising browns. My client caught his first two trout on dry flies!! The first holdover brown was an easy 18 inches, the second just a bit shy of that. They both fell to a size 14 BWO dun. After the guiding session I went back and caught one of the two remaining browns that were still rising. They were all dark, beautiful fish!!

It was a good way to start the season.

One note: there's no such place as the Power Station or Power Pool on the Millers. The real name is the Kempfield Pool and it is a name that was used in the 1940's and that is documented. The "Power" label was thrown at this beautiful stretch about ten years ago by people who park near an electrical sub-station and fish from the WRONG side of the river.

Ken