This long, hot, dry spell has made the Swift an oasis. Water temperatures at the Pipe section range from 55 to 58 degrees and now we have a recent stocking. Along with the hot weather/cool water come the kayaks, rafts, tubes (see above photo) which put things on hold for us. The fishing - it's been good. Not up to the best that this section serves up but good anyway. Serendipities seem to get the job done. So have beetles on the surface. I took the advice of one fly fisher and tied on the only one that I had. The result - caught one and then lost the beetle on another fish.
Check out the section above the pump house. There's always rising trout there.
Ken
13 comments:
i took a shot at the hatchery pool today for about 2 hours. Not alot of success. I've only been fishing this river for 2 years but I remember alot more fish in the water around this time last year than what I was seeing today. Supposedly this section has been stocked but it didn't seem any different today than it did a few weeks ago. I caught one on a sulphur dun on 5x which was nice. water was off color. I lost 2-3 on a dry dropper just before I was leaving.
Cluster - I was there Friday morning and there are alot of fish in the pools below the pipe. Looking at the flow chart and your reporting the water being off color makes me believe you were there when they increased the flow by 50%, which I think puts the fishing off a bit.
There were 5 others there after I moved downstream a little after 7am - then only 1 at 11:30am. Also had 7 kayakers between 9:30 and 11am - C&L all of them unharmed.
A word on that off color water at the pipe - The effluent from the hatchery has an off color, a gray cloudy tint, that one can see below the pipe especially with the low water conditions that we have.
This section has trout but they seem to be concentrated in the pool below the pipe run.
The off color was murky like the water was churned up. I checked the gauges after the fact, and I was there when they had doubled the flow. I nymphed from the pipe down into the main poop below the pipe and saw very few fish. I typically do very well in here. No fish were seen or caught in the main riffle right outside the pipe which I find usually holds fish. Also didnt see more the a couple in the riffle leading up to the main pool. I dont doubt that they stocked it. Maybe the increase flow pushed the fish around a little, although we're not talking like 300 cfs. It went from 30 to 60 or something like that. I remember last year basically having to step on fish to get out where I wanted to cast from. It just seems different from last year is all. With that said, I fished earlier in the week in the FFO only section and I saw alot of fish, although it didnt seem as heavily stocked here as I remember last year either. I'd be curious to see if the numbers were different from year to year.
I am planning on fishing the swift on Thursday. Would anyone be kind enough to suggest some flies I should have in my arsenal.This will be my third trip to this beautiful river. I caught 9 fish in May, 0 sevaral weeks ago.
Fished the Millers last nite and the water at the Bridge Pool was very warm. Caught several smallies there and moved up river, behind the old mill. Water a little cooler there and caught 1 smallie and lost a few other fish. Wanted to try the Kempfield pool,but was a bit late and not completely familiar with the terrain there.
Sam
Michael,
For me it's been serendipities and hot spots (16 through 20), beetles during the day and sulphurs in 16 and 20 in the evening.
Many other small flies work too.
Ken - Have you ever tried the Czech Nymphing method out on the Millers? Read about it recently and was wondering if you did it personally or have been asked for it on your guided trips?
Thanks,
Joe.
Love the pic of the beached tubers fishing the hatchery pool. Multi tasking. Too much! Ha.
See you on again on the water.
Joe,
I guess that you can say that I've used the Czech technique without the total "setup". I have used a short line and a short leader with a short cast much in the same way that we "high stick" a likely run. I had a banner spring day in the Bearsden three years ago using the above approach. It is effective especially in deep, choppy runs. The Millers is full of those.
Ken
Well I fished the Swift yesterday. I had pretty good success above the Rt.9 bridge. 8 rainbow trout came to the net.Water flow was pretty good.I lost a couple of nice ones.
Michael,
A good day for sure!!! The Swift is our savior during this drought/heat wave!!
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