Mid September and fly fishing has been good, mostly.
The browns on the EB survived the Summer and have been rising at dusk for me. Sunset is around 6:50 now and these fish didn't start to dance until about 6:30. I took two at the Bliss Pool this week between 6:30 and 7:00pm. Two browns came to the net on size 14 olive comparaduns which seemed to match the large mayfly (maybe a cream cahill)that was hatching. One brown went 18 inches, a very good fish and the other was about 14 inches. I live 15 minutes from this gem of a river so I can time these evening trips pretty well. I was there for only an hour. It was worth it.
The Swift has been producing as usual despite the flow changes. Just adjust your tactics. One fly fishing site said the dry fly fishing on the Swift was off. Think again!! Low flows bring the bows up and it's been like that all Summer.
The Millers - This is my 30th season on this river and it has been sub normal. Normal means rising browns when flows are good and the flows have been ok through July and August but things are, to me, different and the reports that I've received back that up. If you have been doing well then that's very good for you but for me it hasn't been that good. An "off" year?? Maybe but why? Things seem the same as they have been but the action just really isn't there.
Maybe the Fall bow stocking will wake the browns up. We have another month or so to find out.
Let me know how your're doing on the Millers. Maybe it's just my luck or.....
Footnote (9/23)- Heard that the Millers will get stocked with Browns this Friday.
Ken
16 comments:
Ken,
I have feeling the 85+ degree water we had this summer might have something to do with it? Even the Miller browns can't take that for very long. It was an unusual hot summer this year, and I think we've seen the effect this year.
A friend of mine fishes the Millers often, and said the thinks the fish kill in July was "catastrophic." Any top-water dam release river in New England this year got cooked, that water got sun-baked and then spilled over, even with the rain.
Scott and NHFFO,
I disagree. As I said in my post THIS summer wasn't close to the worst summer over the last 30 years. 2010 was the hottest AND driest in memory but by late August the browns were on the feed. I remember worse summers in the past. This summer had normal or above normal flows AND this river always gets warm in the summer.
Something else may be at work here.
Ken
Well, in NH when a stream goes to crap really quickly you usually find out it was getting worm-dunked. Seriously, the biggest constant for us here is bait-fishing on fly fishing only water, or F&G cutting down on stocking or patrols.
I concur with Ken. This summer was fairly mild on the Millers when you consider afew of the summers we've seen in the past 5-10 years. I also concur that the fishing has been off. Alot of my tried and true spots where I find holdovers from South Royalston down to Athol simply arent showing signs of life. I always prefer to think that its something that im missing or doing wrong and the fish are there. Ill keep trying and hope for the best.
ive fished the millers almost every week this summer....and its definitely NOT because of the little-bit of hot weather we've had earier this summer...actually...we've had ALOT of rain....and its kept the millers very cool all summer..the fish are just SMARTER...this year...lol
actually...the "scent" of the millers has gotten stronger....maybe a little leak in the paper mill??...will the river run red blue and green like it used to?
just wait till you see red, blue and green water like it used to... and the fish still survived...
it has been smelling rather strong this summer...but ive caght many fish thru the summer...the breowns are just smarter than we are..
Word has it that the DFW will stock the Millers with browns this Friday.
It still doesn't explain what happened this Summer. Maybe this time they won't float stock it. We always had good dispersal of trout before float stocking.
Ken
When will the Swift receive its stocking of trout?
Typically the Massachusetts' fall stocking is completed in the two weeks before Columbus Day. So that means we should see a fresh infusion in a week or two. No matter, there remain plenty of fish to be fooled.
Tightlines.
Actually, I think the Swift has plenty of fish already. If they do stock the Swift below RT 9 I hope they do something other than throwing them in at the pump house where they seem to stay in one place for weeks and get clobbered. I'd like to see them drive around and stock by the gauge. The fish will spread out in that quicker water.
Ken
Went to Swift River the other day 9/27. So I'm fishing near Cady lane with my brother. Here comes a guy and his wife in kayaks with his fishing rod in the kayak.... right f''k''n thru where we have our lines. He looks in the water w/o even looking at us and says to the wife " yea there are some but they look small" Fish were 14-16 inches it looked like . worst part is the wife looks straight at me and says "you catch anything" What the F'''k! So I say " not anymore". Are these people inconsiderate or brain dead.. Really. Sorry for the wording and the rant but I am getting sock of these kayaking asses.
Paul N - I've been there, but not really that often. Most of the time, they will ask and wait for an "ok" before going by, especially if they see my line across the water. I had 16 kayaks and 1 canoe pass by me going upstream over a 3 hour period (and then again going downstream) on a nice Friday back in the summer and they were all polite. But then, my favorite memory, I had a guy and his mother or wife or girlfriend (woof) head upstream by me without saying anything and making no effort to slow down to make sure I had my line out of the way. On their way back downstream, if she hadn't said something to him, he would have caught my line (if not me) as I had my back to them. I heard her and looked up and saw him paddling like mad and just barely got out of the way. I've hit a kayak with a back cast before when they came up behind me unannounced.
I have seen a guy and gal before in kayaks with him fishing off to the side and she more out in the open and doing nothing. I couldn't really see what he was doing. It was in the non-reg water downstream from Cady Lane. Only time I ever saw them.
In all honesty, I find the rudest people on the Swift to be other fishermen; especially those who get locked in on fishing just one spot. Thank God that those fish are everywhere.
Al
hello all, newbie here, to the blog and the sport. wondering where a good place to start fishing the westfield would be. never been there and its a couple hours away, would it be worth the trip this time of year? thinking of trying near chesterfield gorge. any input or advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
foxfish,
Chesterfield Gorge is the place to go. Drive down the dirt road (some big ruts) and start at a sign that says "Bliss State Park". You have miles of fishing ahead of you.
Ken
A coworker and I went to S. Royalston after work Friday (10/4) to fish the Millers for the first time. This was my coworker's first time fly fishing, period, and my first time fly fishing in New England after 10 years in Colorado.
The fall colors were absolutely amazing. We intended to hike down and start fishing at the C&R bridge, but we didn't even make it there since we settled into a nice run and between the two of us caught about a dozen 12-15" rainbows over a couple hours. Not a single brown, which surprised us - makes me wonder if these were stocked?
All in all we had a blast. And reading the comments, it sounds like this is a bad year on the Millers? Well, if this is an off year, then I would love to see when it is on.
Thank you Ken for bringing us here; we will be back.
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