Lessons At The Pipe

Two weekends ago I spent a very good morning at the Swift's "Pipe". The "Pipe" is the section from the hatchery outflow downstream for maybe 20 yards until that flows into a deep pool that locals call the "Tree Pool". It's a strange place because of the way that the trout behave. It seems that in the early morning (sunrise) the trout are found mostly in the tree section but as things warm up, or as hatchery activity increases, the trout move up to the pipe stretch. That's where I expected to find them at 10 am yesterday just like the last two outings. NOTHING!!! The Pipe was barren of fish. I worked my way down to the Tree Pool and there, on the bottom, were dozens of trout (and some BIG suckers) just sitting there. Pinheads, scuds and hotspots all worked in sizes 16 through 22. I landed 23 rainbows but the real story was the 20+ inch sucker. This brute blasted around the pool scattering trout wherever he went. He won the battle of the 5x and I lost him. He took a #16 scud. Why the trout changed their pattern is something that I probably will not solve. By the way, this section, once rivaling the Y Pool in popularity, has been underfished over the last year even though it has plenty of fish. I guess I don't understand fishermen either! Ken

The Millers - Finally

The title of this post is a bit misleading since I usually don't hit this river until mid May after the flow recedes but it's been low (180cfs on Sunday morning)and very fishable for weeks. So I guided two individuals from the lower river up to the Upper Trestle Pool casting WB's and some dries for a few rising fish. First, the Bridge Street Pool proved it's early season worth. We took one bow and lost some others. The Upper Trestle Pool, usually too high to fish, was very fishable and we managed to lose some up there. The Kempfield was a bust except for the occasional cruising browns that tempted us. We quit just as the rains began at 2pm. The RAIN - Central New England, on Sunday morning, was down about 7 to 8 inches of rainfall year to date. Buy Monday morning we had made up half of that and as I write this (Tuesday afternoon) the Millers is roaring away at 1030cfs!!! I'm not going to complain because we really needed the rainfall and besides, the Millers now looks normal for this time of year and that is ok with me. Let's hope it stays normal. Ken

A Great Swift Weekend

With the Millers blown out by the canoe race flood the easy choice was the Swift. Even if the Millers had perfect flows the Swift would still have been a good choice. First, I love fishing tiny flies and light lines and I like well educated trout. The Swift fills the bill on both counts!!

"Glossosoma" is the genus name for what I saw littering the surface on Saturday and Sunday. This tiny caddis likes to run around on the surface and trout will chase them. The surface action was light even with the kazillion surface flies. Could the trout be feeding on emmerging insects? On went a #22 pinhead and that was the answer. I took 18 on Saturday and the fellow that I guided Sunday made it to the double digits.

The Swift is truly a great river.

Ken

Updates On The Swift And The Millers

6:45 am and there were no cars at either Y Pool lot. I was the only one at the PIPE where I caught 7 in an hour just above the TREE. Then I went to the Y.

The spillway is still spilling but it's a smaller flow. There are trout in that ARM but I couldn't wait to mid afternoon for the predictable rise. The Bubbler arm was DEAD. I fished the Y Pool proper, caught one and missed another all on tiny dries.

The Millers - I'm worried! This has been the driest first quarter that this State has ever seen. 18 Ma rivers are at seasonal record lows. The Millers is probably one of them.

We need rain. We don't need another 2010!!!

Ken