Tonight we move the clocks BACK!! It is sad! Gone are the wonderful evenings on our favorite trout streams like the Millers and the EB. What is left is our great tailwater, the Swift. One can wade the Deerfield but it is a game of chance. Can one wade it as planned?? Maybe not. Tell me if you can.
At the start of each season we dream of steady flows, of hatches that fill the waters with hatching duns and reliable spinners. If we are lucky to see these events they will give us days and evenings that dreams are made of. That has happened every year.
Those days are past us now for the next six months. The Swift, if the flows are NORMAL, will give us mid day surface and subsurface action. Let's hope for that!
The Millers is cresting at the 2000cfs level. See you in 2013 unless the flows drop a lot. Probably not.
I get a lot of good responses from this blog. I thank all of you!!
13 comments:
Well, the good news is we can start fishing earlier.
Mike
It was great meeting you yesterday Ken, I do hope that you had a successful day guiding. My brother in-law and I didn't want to bother you while you were on the water, but we're wondering if you guys landed the pig behind the orange rock in the pool just above the gauge? He spit me and broke off Joe before you guys worked over that area and we wanted to let you know about it, but again, didn't want to interrupt.
Thanks for the flies, they're working great!
~Pete
Ken, Great to see you yesterday. I was working the pipe when you came by. I had great success after your instruction the previous week and had a banner day. (Your "hotspot" was the key). I left late morning when a rude fellow started fishing the same water I was...oh well! I drove up to the Millers and picked up one but it was tough fishing.
Plc
That fish moved above that rock and was slashing the surface. We didn't get him but had fun trying.
Good to see you.
Ken
Toby
Good to see you too and glad to see that the hot spots worked. I saw a bow taken that was well over 20inches from the pipe after you left.
Ken
The pipe was popular on Sunday. If I was that rude one tbooth, please forgive me. I fished the first run down on the pipe side. Glad to see you Ken, and your client. Hope you made a few connections after I'd left. That little scud/sowbug concoction was the ticket for me in #16 or #18. Saw that 20-inch chunker landed by another. Of all the trout I landed only two were brookies, small and pale. Balance were bows. No browns. Winter weather may be arriving but fishing's not finished. Not by a long shot. I love the snowy still 35 degree days where the sun is warm on my back. Tight lines.
Ken,
I'm sure you've covered this before but what is a reasonable flow for the Millers. I'm a traditional wet fly guy and was looking forward to maybe heading up there this Sunday.
Thanks,
Scott
Scott,
Look for a flow in the 400's. The water is cooler now and the trout will be less active so a lower flow will get the fly down and near them and that is important at this time of year.
Now, Sunday will have temps in the 60's which changes things. I would hit the Millers tomorrow or Monday as the flows drop. I might skip the Swift and do ther Millers tomorrow OR do both: the Swift in the morning and the Millers in the afternoon. We will see!
I responded to your post earlier but I guess it didn't take. Oh well!
Ken
Fished the Orcutt section Sat. morning. The sun felt good on my back in the 30 degree temp. 1st rainbow that I caught was full of eggs and released them all as soon as I began to remove the hook from it's mouth. I landed another rainbow from that spot off of the point downstream and then moved up to just below the bridge. Landed a big rainbow, very dull coloring compared to the others caught, probably been there for a while.
The flows are near perfect now. I will be heading out within an hour to take advantage of the nice weather. Oohh,,I was the ONLY one fishing between So. Main St. and Wendell Depot.
Tom from Orange
I hit the Swift on Saturday and found some very good midge fishing between the crib dam and the guage. I had luck on very small black midge fished downstream and even swinging. There was some rising to emergers around 2-3pm. I took one and broke off a couple below the pipe as well. Was a bit chilly, but nice. Didn't even look at the lot above 9.
I went back to the Millers on Sunday morning, this time to the Wendell Depot C&R area. As was the case on Saturday, I was the only fisherman from the center of Orange all the way to Wendell. First drift in the Kempfield section produced a healthy brown. I enticed 4 more browns to the net before heading to the Orcutt Brook section (it IS on my way home after all). Landed a nice big brown and a freshly stocked rainbow before calling it a morning.
The flows have been nice and the fishing productive. And certainly no pressure form other fishermen.
Tom from Orange
Fished below Kempfield yesterday heavy cold water but was able to pick up a few rainbows & 2 browns in the smoother water. Note to self, heed Kens advice on approaching the river. Took a little slide down the slope on the left side of the river.
Later I fished under the rte 2 bridge and landed several more including a big slab rainbow that I had to fold to get into the net, nice looking fish too, not pale and beat up like most other bows
Great midday with probably half dozen other fishermen on the water. BTW Ken, I got your answer on flows in plenty of time- Thank You
Scott
Very good reports especially on the millers. Let's hope the flows stay manageable. Had a good Sunday morning around the pipe as most of the few anglers did. Lets hope for a winter like last year!!!!!!
ken
Post a Comment