The alarm is set for 5am. I leave the house at 6:30am after two cups of coffee, a bagel and some drifting on the web. It's dark. Dawn is scheduled for 7:29am which means that you MAY be able to thread on a size #20 to a strand of 6x at 7am. I'm up for this but in a strange way. Tonight we set the clocks back and that's what's bothering me. Sunset on this Saturday is at 5:30 which means that tomorrow sunset will be at 4:30. The best hours of the year, for me, have disappeared into memory. The hours of the "evening hatch", the sublime time between dusk and dark, of shirtsleeves and rising trout, are gone for the next six months. That time means more to me than Hendricksons at 1pm on a late April afternoon. The road ahead means frozen feet, icy guides and lots of fly tying. The "Dark" season is here.
I get to the "pipe" on the Swift at 7:15am. Within a half hour there are six working this crowded water. I hook three and land two. Time to move!!
I almost always have the crib dam section and the water below to myself. The fast water at the base of the dam yields nothing to my rig which consists of a #14 scud at the top and a #20 serendipity at the bottom. Twenty yards below I begin to pick up some small brookies and browns on the scud. From the gauge everything changes!! More small brookies and browns on the scud but now some good bows smash the serendipity!! And these guys want to rip line from my reel!! I take ten from the crib downstream, six are good sized 'bows!! That was it for today.
I went home and raked leaves again, turning a lot of them into the garden soil. It will build up that soil for next Spring. Next Spring......
I'll fish through this Dark Season but my mind is on next Spring!!
Ken
5 comments:
The last of the yard work kept me off any river yesterday. Hopefully we'll have an early spring.
Ken,
Its Chris takacs. Glad to hear you had a good day! I scoped out the swift yesterday, without a fly rod! Had the gf with me, so we were just hiking around. Many people above Rt 9, and most catching fish. Small stones for some and BWO for others...
The female guide (i forget her name) was at the y pool.
I then headed down to the pipe and it was crowded...Since I have never been below I took a ride...Nice water! (well, except for the pond/lake/large part of the swift where that pontoon baot sits)
This crib dam you speak of. Is that the Dam before the new condos (heading south on bondville road), or is it the second dam where 181 starts, and the flag sits at the top of the dam? If the first dam (when your heading south from the pipe) is the CRIB dam, do you park at depot street and walk up?
Thanks Ken!!!
Hey Chris,
The crib dam is the structure that one can see ABOVE the stream gauge that is next to the parking lot for the Pipe. The crib dam was created years ago to divert water to a side channel which is still visible. When the Pipe is crowded, as it was Saturday morning, the stretch from the crib downstream is a good alternative. This section is best fished with an upstream quartering cast, from the left (facing upstream)side of the river, from below the gauge and then working upstream to the crib dam.
The area that you mentioned is the top of the Bondsville section. Fish below the dam and enjoy the experience!!
Ken
Ken,
Thank you! So is the crib dam behind that big grey house?
I didn't get my feet wet yesterday, just vieded the area from standing next tot he gauge. about how dar up fromt he gauge is the crib dam? I believe I saw it (if infact the DAM was what I was looking at)...
Thanks ken! I appreciate the reponse! Just went outside to bring my garbage out..wont be long until we need to put the fly IN their mouth for them to hit.
Ken,
I here you. Knowing we are entering the "dark months" this is tough time of year for me. I'm sure that come January I will be jonesin' to the point of needing a quick fix with a trip to the famous Swift. Most likely it will be a cold weekday to help diminish the crowds. I will undoubtedly fish my favorite stretch breaking up the run with a 20 minute "time out" of hot coffee at the car. As histoty shows, not a huge fish-catch day. But 5 hours on a quiet river with 5-6 fish to show, brings hope for the coming spring.
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