Dry Flies On June Evenings

From December to early April we dream of these evenings. These are the times of warm days that blend into sublime evenings that bring us to that magic moment: RISING TROUT!! We are at the high point of that season. There are many over lapping mayfly hatches to keep us on our toes. Let's look at two evenings. The EB on June 16 - That crystal clear, blue bird sky didn't promise me a lot when I arrived on this river. Browns, my favorite game, are light sensitive and will wait until the sun is off the water most of the time. Sure, I could of fished nymphs BUT dry flies are my favorite on this river. I started working the fast water with a #10 stimulator and took two bows before I saw the telltale signs of browns beginning to work in the deeper runs. My olive snowshoe emerger rose five and I landed three. One brown, a freight train, took off and couldn't be turned. It is now a great memory!! The PIPE on June 18 - Plenty of cars by the Y Pool lot AT 5PM but ZERO at the Pipe lot. Why?? I've caught plenty of trout here over the last two months and have published the results. Are we so hooked on "flyfishing only" that we ignore other areas? I like to fish above RT 9 BUT below RT 9 is so much more interesting. Here's what happened. I got there at 5pm and had an hour and a half to fish. I caught two on a #22 pinhead before the hatch started. I'll call it that cream cahill that I mentioned last week. It's not a sulphur!! A fellow was down at the Tree Pool working rising fish while I cast a #16 tan parachute into the fast water at and below the Pipe. I hooked five and landed three crazy bows. I can't see the dry while fishing upstream (too much glare at that time of day) so I got across from the Pipe and "checked" my downstream cast to give plenty on slack line to insure a drag free float. God only knows how many trout I could have caught if I didn't have to leave! The official start of Summer is this week and it's my favorite time of year. The Swift runs cold and clear and now ants and beetles are in the mix for this little gem. The browns of the Millers and NOW the browns of the EB of the Westfield will work their twilight magic if the rivers stay somewhat full. I have spent 40 years working our rivers for twilight trout!! The memories of these rivers and those wonderful fish will sustain you on a cold, January evening!! Don't miss this time. It is FLY FISHING!! Ken

EB Browns And A short Evening On The Swift

It pays to live close to good trout streams. I'm 15 minutes from Chesterfield Gorge on the EB, 25 minutes from the Swift and 40 minutes from the Millers. The EB is the closest and gets a lot of my evening attention. It's a good, quick fix! This river is loaded with BROWNS!! I took nine trout last evening and seven were browns and all were on dries. I was fishing the Bliss Pool and the two bows were caught in the fast water at the head of the Pool. The browns were taken only in the calmer mid section of the pool. The bows took a large dry stonefly, the browns fell for what is becoming my favorite emerger pattern - Trela's snowshoe emerger. I used the March Brown style and it is deadly. The Browns - The EB has always had them but not in this number. I was told that the DFW stocked the EB with some "experimental" browns, whatever that means. In any event this should provide better Summer action if the rainbows don't cooperate. Browns fish best on very early mornings, evenings and on cloudy, overcast days. That's my experience. The Swift - stayed away last weekend and hit the pipe around 5pm on Monday as two fly fishers were leaving. It was cool with a heavy drizzle AND a heavy mayfly hatch just starting. The fly that was hatching is a bit of a mystery. It first appears in May, hatches all Summer with a peak in early August and then continues into October. It's about a size 14 and is of a dark tan color. It's not a sulphur as some have called it. It reminds me of the Cream Cahill as pictured in Tom Ames's book "Hatch Guide For New England Streams". Anyway, I tied on a tan Snowshoe Emerger and cast upstream into that small run below the Pipe. I took 5 before I had to leave. The Millers - 900 cfs as I write this. Hmmm...Let's hope for a week without rain. I may get ambitious and take some photos of a shoeshoe emerger and post them. Ken

The Rains - Again

I should have hit the Millers or the EB on June 1st. The rains came Friday night and continued for most of Saturday. As I write this on a sunny Sunday morning both rivers are running over 1200cfs. That leaves the Swift with it's placid 55cfs flow the only game in town. I'll work that river Monday evening. The EB will be the next since it rises like a rocket but then drops like a rock. The Millers?? Who knows. This river may actually rise for another day and then start a slow drop in flow. Let's hope that the week long forecast is WRONG. In any event it doesn't seem like a repeat of 2010, the driest Summer I've seen on that river in 25 years. Ken