Early Fall Morning on the Swift And the Kayak Dam

First, let me get this off my chest. I don't like having to hear a full throated F-bomb because you lost a fish. That happens. Grow up and get over it!!Have some class. Second, don't feel that you have a constitutional right to crowd others out. The Swift is heavily fished BUT not that heavily fished this morning. (the Pipe, four flyfishers). Have some manners and try not to talk so much either.

Outside of the above "events" it was a good morning with some bows landed. The best part was seeing (first seen on Labor Day Weekend) the giant pine that fell and crossed the river a few hundred yards below the Tree Pool. This will keep those dim witted kayakers from moving upstream to the Pipe section. Let's hear it for Mother Nature!!!!

Ken

A Short Evening On The Millers

First, sorry for the old photo. I believe that I used it last year BUT it shows that change-of-season that is now upon us. It's my blog and I will do what I want (haha).

5:30 to 7ish was the time frame. The flow was at 322cfs at 3:00pm. Close enough to hope for some surface action. MY surface action didn't happen. I took two browns on a subsurface offering that, well, is an odd ball nymph that I didn't have much confidence in. I saw no rising trout in the Upper Kemfield Run which is usually (20 years and running) a good spot. I met another fly fisher who claimed to take a 15 inch brown on a hopper at the tail of the large Kempfield Pool. I saw him hook another fish at mid pool, on a hopper, that broke him off. It fought like a brown. I believe in his 15 inch fish.

The browns are there including the occasional rainbow. Dry Fly fishing, real sight fishing, will begin once the river flow drops into the sub 300cfs range. That is when it begins in the late Summer/Early Fall.

Let's hope that the rains that are predicted for the weekend hold off. That would be great!

I still plan to hit the Swift.

Ken

Start Exploring The Swift!!

All the rivers are blown out!! That leaves us that little jewel called the Swift River. The trout are there, the fishing has been great. I've had double digit days with dry flies BUT I have basically fished alone. Why? Because everyone heads to the Y pool. It's a common sight to see over 20 cars parked at the RT9 turn off and I know where the everyone is going - Upstream!!! Why not do some exploring!!! This past Sunday morning, after a late start, a friend and I had the ENTIRE section from the Duck Pond to the Pipe to ourselves!! We caught fish and it was great.

The section above RT9 has a lot of fish BUT it has a lot of fishermen. Let's spread it out. There are trout everywhere. Check my posts from the Summer of 2010 for info on the Lower Swift. It's great down there too AND it looks like a trout stream.

Ken

The EB - Labor Day Weekend

Sunday morning September 4. The above photo says it all for the access road along the EB. Just a 100 or so feet beyond the Bliss State Park sign the road gave way during Hurricane Irene. There is a ditch, actually a sink hole, that is appox 50 feet long, eight feet wide and up to four feet deep. The road beyond is in rough shape too. The Town of Chesterfield, which added more material to the road blockage since last Wednesday, appears to be dumping fill in the large parking lot at the top of the road. Maybe it's to fix this road, maybe not. In any event, fishing the EB will be a walk in affair until things are fixed.

The River - it was STILL cloudy a week after the deluge even though the flow resembled the third week of May!! In fact, it's cloudier than early Spring!! That is very disturbing since this river usually clears up very quickly. There's a lot of sand/clay material along the shore. It's safe to say that it's still suspended in the water. A major flow will expose sand or clay (worse)deposits which can discolor a river for weeks. To make matter worse I saw "NEW" rocks in the Bliss Pool!! I know that spot pretty well and know that the large, flat rocks leaning on end against larger rocks are new arrivals. I wonder how the trout did.

More rain came today and sent many rivers into flood stage. More rain comes tomorrow. What a difference a year makes.

Yes, I took some casts but fishing silty water in September........

After Irene - The EB And The MIllers

It's Thursday, September 1st and I've taken a drive to check out the EB. First - the road is closed (see above photo). So I parked at the top and walked down. The river looked great at it's flow which I guessed was around 300 to 400cfs except for it's cloudy condition. This branch runs clear but not at this moment. I walked past the first turn off (on the right) and saw the condition of the bank side vegetation. It looked dead, stripped of all greenery (see above photo)! My real concern was the condition of the road over the next hundred yards. There have always been two fairly deep ditches which you had to drive over carefully. The storm has leveled them out! It is easier to drive this stretch of dirt road than before the hurricane. I walked past the swimming hole stretch which looked unchanged and walked half way to the Bliss Pool. The river looked the same as it was when I walked it this past Saturday.

Some observations - First, I stood 50 feet from the river and looked UP at flood debris that was caught in a tree (see above photo). The debris was about a foot over my head. I'm six foot two!! Needless to say the river was beyond flood stage. Second, the road didn't have much of any blow down litter that one would expect from this tropical storm. There certainly were not any trees/branches blocking the road. It was a rain event and not a wind event.

Summary - You will have to walk to fish the EB until the road is opened to vehicular traffic. The road seems to be in good shape. The river seems unchanged, just cloudy at this point.

The Millers - As I write this the Erving flow is at 2540cfs!!! Kiss the next two weeks goodbye!! There's always the Swift where I spent a lovely three hours this past Monday evening doing what I love to do in the late Summer: fooling trout with dry flies!!!!

Ken