Sometimes it's right in your back yard. I live in Northampton and the little Mill River flows right behind my house. I've heard of this stream - a seasonal catch and keep flow that serves the Spring time bait and hardware guys for two months before it's forgotten. I've never seen a fly fisher on this water and I have ignored it for better fare on the EB, Swift, Farmington and the Millers rivers. Three years ago I saw a rainbow rise right behind my house on Mothers Day. I thought "dumb 'bow, soon to be the victim of warm water" or something like that. No fly was cast. But things began to change. On a muggy, hot afternoon last July I saw a bait fisher below one of the dams that cross this river. I threw out the "catch anything" question only to be answered with a stringer of two 14-18 inch rainbows. Hmm.......the fly fishing guide that I own states that the river warms up too much for trout survival during the Summer. I made note of it but didn't fish the river that Summer. This winter I thought that some effort should be made here but May found me on the big waters. Then came Memorial Day. I had some time on my hands at midday so I took a walk along the Mill River. This place is a favorite swimming spot for the locals so it took some time to find undisturbed water. I found it, at noon with the temperatures in the high 80's. I also found RISING TROUT throughout this section!!!
Forward cast to 8am this Saturday morning. Into the Mill River I went with boots, swim trunks and a pocket full of flies and leader material. The first thing that I noticed was that the water was COLD! I've waded wet before and know what Summertime water feels like. This was cold. This water also had a RISING TROUT mid way through the section that I was at. Three casts later the #16 sulphur was taken by a 'bow that ran up and down this this small pool. It was released and swam off like a rocket. Two more trout were seen rising at the head of this section. My first thoughts were "this will be easy" BUT I managed to put both of these guys down.
This was fun. A little 3wt, small flies, short casts and nobody around!!!! It was almost like having my own private trout stream!!!
I'll spend more time here this Summer. If we have normal rainfall this season this place will be very nice.
Ken
5 comments:
A hidden gem...Epic.
I fished the Indian Hollow section of the westfield yesterday evening. I saw 2 rises. Took one small rainbow. The water was bathtub temperature and very low even just before dark. I didnt get a temperature but my guess as 70 degrees or warmer. I lost one good sized brown.
The temperature this morning was 43 degrees. Rain and temperatures in the low 60's are forecast for tonight and Thursday. That should liven things up!!
Looking forward to the cooler weather and rain for tomorrow. I hope it does liven things up as it seems like it been pretty dry out there. Can't wait to get out there tomorrow and wet a line on the Westfield!
Adrian
Adrian,
You'll have cooler and wetter weather tomorrow but that should help.
Slant Rock Pool - I named this spot for it's rock formations although it describes many pools on the EB. It's appox. a quarter mile beyond the Bliss Pool. You can't see the water from the road but you will know that you are there when you see two turn-offs (parking) on each side of the road. I have a picture of it on my May 26 post. It is perfect dry fly water and the tail of the pool fishes best. I mentioned that I took five on dries on that day and then took six on a following trip. It fishes best, on clear days, in the evening after the sun leaves this stretch around 6:30. With the weather it should fish great all day tomorrow.
Good luck tomorrow!!
Ken
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