Ok,2:30 Friday afternoon and the Swift has not received any of OUR trout YTD. There's a bunch on locations of flowing water out in the Berkshires that are getting their share BUT NOT THE SWIFT which has more casts per season than any of these other locations. I don't get it. The Swift is the PLACE. Why will you not stock it?? Do you have a problem with Swift River Fly Fishers? Do you have a problem with the ONLY wade accessible 12 month trout fishery that brings in god knows how many out of state anglers every year??
Answer Us. I have thousands of page views a month and you are not responding or doing anything. I can't answer for you. Respond to this Blog and give the reasons. And don't say that you can't get into the CR section when you know you can stock below RT 9.
We are waiting.
Ken
23 comments:
Hi Ken,
I have heard from multiple people that the person in charge of stocking the swift has a grudge against some of the local anglers who fish the river every day. apparently he got into a fight with some of them and is refusing to put any fish into the swift in retaliation. If this is the case i hope it gets resolved but i have heard he is refusing to do anything
Hmmm... Wish you had a name attached to this comment.
I can't think of any Swift River regular who would have done/said something to keep them stocking the Swift. Any response from "local anglers" would be after the Swift slid down the stocking list and doesn't deserve retaliation like this. Short answer: I don't think it's true.
Ken
Well Ken, you will be glad to know that my local river the Shawsheen got its first load of fish, and the hook and cook crowd are lined up under the Essex St. bridge here in Andover soaking Powerbait. It shows where the priorities of MAF&G are I guess. Do you think it would do any good for us to write and/or call, or is it a lost cause? Thinking of taking a long drive down to the Farmington on Sunday, heard that there are fish to be caught there.
The Valley District Stocking Schedule is still blank. Saying they will begin to stock in the 3rd week of April. Very hard to believe no water in the Valley will get fish till next week. Just doesn't make sense to me.
What seems strange is that ALL the other districts are stocking trout..
Hi Ken,
First off I would like to thank you for having this blog.....its fun to read and share info with others who share my passion.
Im from Belchertown and have been fishing the Swift for the last 25-30 years. Its always been strange to me why they take so long to stock the Swift......it seems every year regardless of the snow pack march and April are always a crap shoot. I have never understood it, especially when the river is literally in the McLaughlin Hatchery's back yard !
On a side note I took your advice and hit a small stream a few weeks ago and was rewarded with a small wild brown which whacked the olive wooly bugger I was working. Felt very rewarding to work hard for a fish and let him swim back to the little run he was in !
Again thanks for the blog
Ryan
May I suggest the taking of a deep breath?
She will get stocked.
fyi check the waterline. for the last month the deerfield has had daily flows at 130cfs for a good part of the day. the max has been 1200cfs. please get your info correct before you criticize.
Mike i live in the same area if and when the river out west get productive if you want to share a ride or lies about fishing let me know. I try to get out there 5/10 times a yr. Do fish river you said but only after the truck followers are gone. Sorry about the swift not being stocked but i saw the east branched got some. Sorry to use this as a possible connection Ken. Just a long ride out to heaven.
Anonymous (How come it's always "Anonymous"?),
What Deerfield are you looking at??
Chris,
I took a deep breath two weeks ago.
The Charles River gets stocked but we don't.
Ken
I spoke with dcr yesterday... the swift will be stocked next week, which means we will all be going to the zoo next saturday! see ya on rt 9.
Are there any rivers in the area that don't depend on the hatchery trucks? Other than the little ones with brookies. It seems like it's not just the powerbait guys but everyone that desperately waits for the stocking trucks.
Peter,
The DCR doesn't stock fish but may control access to the upper CR. They shouldn't have anything to do with stocking down by the Pipe.
Ken
@Ken, color me dumb, but do you they really stock the Charles river?
I have been hitting as many smallish streams as I can. One I particularly like is Dunbar brook above the Deerfield. I read a story a while back about a fella who fished upstream to the source. I followed in his footsteps and must say...it was a small piece of heaven that day.
Having grown up as a lot of us had with "opening day" in late April. I still don't get too excited about stocking trucks running late. I just search that much harder for hold overs and/or natives. Tougher than fishing stocked but more enjoyable in the long run.
Stalked it yesterday afternoon into evening. Gave it some intense scrutiny and nymphing along the way but I didn't see a single holdover from the Y pool all the way back beyond Rt9.
Chris From Warwick,
Yes, the Charles River is stocked west of Boston in a few places. It's on the DFW website. I don't think you'll see a write up in Eastern Flyfishing Magazine.
I remember Opening Day. Not something we want to go back to.
Chris Wyse,
Kind of unbelievable, isn't it!!
Ken
Do you lump in spin fishermen who use artificial lures with the bait guys? You often say that rivers should be fly fishing catch and release only but why not artificial lures and flies only. Just don't see how a small chunk of metal is different than a small chunk of hair. Treble hooks? Those can be changed out too. I'd love to hear your reasoning behind your stanc. I have been given a hard time on the swift for using my spinners by fly fishermen.
George C.
I don't like bait or catch & keep on managed trout streams.
I don't want to go down this road again. Maybe on another post.
Ken
Can definitely confirm one of those metro-west spots on the Charles has been stocked. Right around the corner from my house and usually my first stop of the Spring season to wet a line and shake off some of the rust. But man -- the Charles is running way high and fast. Went out yesterday and can only wade in about 5 feet before the water level is above the waders. Totally surprised they stocked with the water cooking as much as it is. And with regulated flows on the Swift, one would imagine that would be a first stop. Soon me hopes. But then again I've grown partial to the EB these days and am looking forward to hiking those banks.
George, spin fisherman who fish artificials automatically seem to get a bad rap there. Everyone simply assumes they keep the fish, partly because spin fisherman are really the only ones who keep fish there. But not all do. Artificial lure guys and bait guys are not the same!
I only fish with flies, but I always give spin fisherman the benefit of the doubt. If they do start throwing trout on a stringer, well, then I start to get a bit annoyed.
Troy
I think the major rivers should be strictly catch and release, and if people want to take them then they can just go to stocked ponds or the reservoirs. That's where I'll do my spin fishing taking a few here and there but even in the reservoirs I release them. When I fish with my dad that's when we will take them, but that's what got me into fly fishing is being able to release them, whenever I go with him now I just fly fish. Don't really like taking them anymore. I have no problem with spin fishing, and like Troy said when people take them it does get a bit annoying.
-Lenny
Ken,
Regarding your comment " I don't like bait or catch & keep on managed trout streams."
Just an observation.. but aren't all the streams and rivers that get stocked trout considered "managed" streams? Seems to go against your comment about managed streams
anonymous,
NO, "all" streams are not managed because they receive stocked trout. "Managed" streams have special regulations such as CR or seasonal CR or reduced creel limits. I feel that they are not managed well when bait is used. A bait caught trout is usually a dead trout in the majority of cases. Bait shouldn't be used in the Swift below RT 9 because the vast majority of anglers there FLYFISH and practice CR.
Ken
I think that anywhere trout will survive and maybe even reproduce, minus the big fisheries like the quabbin, it should be purely catch and release. I just wish that spin fishermen weren't harassed on the swift and I wish we could fish side by side. I do fly fish as well, but I prefer spin fishing because I catch more fish. With spinning gear I never harm trout.
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