Summer is almost on us although the temperature tonight and tomorrow may make you think of early Spring. Our Spring just seemed too short this year but we will move on from that and think of Summer.
The rivers - we need some rain but the water temperatures are cool and there's still depth in the runs and pools to swing a fly through. At 9am today the water at the EB was only 56 degrees. At 2pm it nudged 60. That is perfect. The Millers is going strong and I'll be there this weekend hopefully fishing some out of the way places. The Swift - been above and below the PIPE and doing well but have not been above RT 9 in three weeks. I'm afraid of what I'll find. Time to check it out.
If you can fish this long weekend that is great. If you can't you can pray for rain!!
Also, I'd like to hear how people are during on the EB since the TU weekend. No exact locations just general terms.
Ken
20 comments:
Hi Ken - Save your time on above rte 9. I stopped by there this afternoon. Just me and one other guy. I took 1 fish about 300 yds above the bridge. No fish between Y pool and there. None in bubbler arm. The website said they stocked this week? I walked down to Cady lane and didn't see any fish at that bend either. 3 people at the Pipe so I skipped it, but there were the usual fish there.
I am going to take your advice and hit the Millers at some point this weekend for the first time. Probably Kempfield at the Wendall Depot. That is easiest for me driving from Boston. How is that section fishing? I imagine the dusk "witching hour" has been pretty good. Caddis or Cahills?
Happy Memorial Day to all!
Falsecast,
I've been fishing above route 9 for 30 years and have never seen it like this. I'd like to know how the other CR sections are doing in this State. This has to be addressed.
One CR section that is doing well is the Millers. Check it out.
Ken
Thursday I fished the Y pool area for four hours and picked up eight fish. You have to work for them but they can be had.
Saturday I woke up at 4:30 am and decided to switch from my shad fishing to trout. I've been fishing most every day for shad using an 11' 4wt. switch rod. We've been having some cool weather here in New England; it was 38 degrees this morning, so I put on my fleece and windproof jacket when I headed out.
It was at least calm when I hiked up to the Y pool on the Swift. At 5:30 I was the only one there. My trusty 10' 2 wt. Greys set up for Czech nymphing felt nice in my hand. I used a size 16 caddis nymph for my point fly and a size 20 baetis nymph on the tag above.
Within minutes I was into fish. The first two took the caddis. Then the next two took the baetis. To my surprise one of them was a brown. Since the Swift is mostly a rainbow water so I was surprised and delighted.
Around 6:30 I heard other people coming up the river. They were loud and dropping the F bombs every other word. When they got to the Y pool they stepped into the water and I looked over. They both had heavy spinning rods. I hollered over to them and said " you realize your one mile into the fly fishing only/C&R section of the river". They said they didn't know, yea with signs all along the bank and in the parking area. I mentioned that with it being a holiday weekend the DNR would be out in force. That got them and they got out of the water and left. And we wonder where all the trout go.
Anyway, after that I just went back to fishing. I fished for another hour switching up my fly combo to small scuds and pheasant tails and continued to land fish. The base seam of my net is 16" and all the fish caught on my 2 wt. were 16" or over except for the brown. They also had good shoulders on them.
Thirteen fish in two hours with a couple of LDR's added up to a great two hours on the water. When I got back to the van it had warmed up to a balmy 40 degrees and the wind was starting to pick up. Maybe I'll go shad fishing later this afternoon.
Ok folks, take your pick of opinions and observations. Now, I know falsecast - total fly fisher who has graced this site for years. Anonymous - who are you?? Sounds like a good trip but also sounds like you may have a blog/site out there somewhere. Just my opinion. I'd like some more opinions contrary to Falsecast before he loses status BECAUSE some very good fly fishers agree with him.
Ken
Ken, My name is Joe. No I do not have a blog/site. Don't even have a cell phone since I retired. I thought I had put it at the end of my overly long dissertation. I've been fly fishing for 60 years, not new at this. I'm not saying it is easy to catch fish but I do get my share. I'm sure we must have met on the Swift at some time. I tend to fish above the Rt.9 bridge and most often wear a western style hat. I also know and talk with all the guys; Bill, Bob B, Dan, Gary, George etc.
I tend to primarily fish nymphs using Czech style and small flies. I am also the anonymous that asked where all the fish went in early Feb. as I fish right through the winter and this year was the first year where the fish just disappeared completely.
I am not saying there is an enormous amount of fish above the bridge, my walk in nets me maybe sighting two or three fish where there used to be a lot. Even the Y pool area has much fewer fish. I have just been fortunate enough to entice them to take my offering.
I did not in any way intend to challenge Falsecast or anyone else and apologize to all if it came across that way.
Joe C.
Thank you for coming forward and I apologize for my comments. I have to deal with many fish stories and authors that are questionable.
I believe that I have seen you working the upper Swift and the often seen guy with the "western hat" catches fish, period!
So far we have two opinions and I value both of them. Above Route 9 has been a major disappointment so far this year. We all know this. The question is why. Even with lots of trout they are hard to catch. With far fewer trout it becomes very difficult.
Why are there fewer trout? That's the question.
Ken
I fished the Y pool up until 1 o'clock on Thursday and the only people I saw land Fish were Bill and myself. I assume the eight fish must have been caught after that.
Mike
Hmmm...seems like there's fish in the Y Pool area. The Yea's lead the Nay's (so far).
Ken
Just wanted to drop my 2 cents. It does seem that the fishing is way off this year. I have been to the Swift, Deerfield, and the Westfield and it is no where near what the fishing has been in past years. Not sure why but I agree this needs to be addressed.
Mike
I am the guy that caught the 8 fish on Thursday. I got there at 6:30 am and fished until 10:30. The only other person I saw was George. He came, stayed for a short time then said he was going down to the pipe. Other than him there was nobody else around, which I am not complaining about.
Joe
Ok, I am not trying to call you out on this however I was at the Y pool by 6:00 a.m. Thursday and did not see another person until Bill showed up after 8. As I wrote earlier I did not see another fish caught by anyone other than Bill and myself. The only thing I can think of is you have the wrong day that you were there. I am 100% certain of my timeframe. I am done debating this. Mike
I fished the EB the Friday before the TU weekend. I had 8 fish in the net by 7am. Seven brookies, smallest one was 12in, mostly around the 14in mark. I had one brown out of that pool too, also 14in. I took two further upstream also. Great morning.
Fished the EB Monday morning. Hit a number of spots just down from the Gorge. Overcast and muggy. Fishing was very good. Saw/spoke with others who had good mornings as well. Caught a number of rainbows on both streamers and nymphs. Also caught a good number of brookies, including one probably 14" and fat, all on BH princes. Only saw about 6-8 other fishermen, so not getting pressured too much.
Marty
Hi Ken, Met you on the EB last week....thought I'd share a few thoughts on the Swift - I fished it today. Met Ken at the Y pool about 7 am. He had been there since 5:30. Showed me some nice pictures of fish and demonstrate on how to catch a few more. (Think he landed 8 in total- the man knows how to nymph!!!) I like dry flies, so that what I fished. Landed one on a midge. Funny on my way in all I saw was two trout. I very slowly fished my way out and landed eight on the way out: 3 brook trout, 3 rainbows and two really nice browns. All fish were on dry flies: midges, Hendrickson, or size 22 floating nymph. All the fish were either in the roots, under logs, in the brush or under the banks. The days of counting 15 or 20 trout walking to the Y pool seem to be over.
(Maybe they are learning lessons from the Mergansers and Otters) Spent from 3pm - 5pm at the pipe fishing a midge hatch and picked up three more. Great day - lost at least as many as I caught. There are fish in the Swift, not as many as previous years....but there is also a heck of a lot less people. Ironically your site mentioned the EB as a place of solitude - this weekend it was packed. The Swift, however was a place of solitude. Nice day and yes there are fish in the Swift - you do have to work for them, however. Bill
With regard to how shy the fish seem to be these days might it have to do with the genetic makeup of whatever strain(s) they are stocking? Back when I fished it several times per week there seemed to be fish in the hidden spots but they'd also be spread out. 90% rainbows back then with some brookies , I do not recall much in the way of browns but there were some I suppose. Its a shame they have to stock it so much but its always been like that and I am sure it gets poached like crazy.
Speaking to whether there are fish in the Swift - I had the pleasure of floating the river last week below Cady Lane, it was kind of like fishing a mangrove swamp with all of the wood in the water! I was amazed - I've never seen so many fish in a river, would love to know the trout per mile count, has to be in the thousands. Saw a couple huge bows and browns in the 24" class, and dozens of wild brookies better than 15" - I got one around 17-18", lost another the same size. There were huge schools of brook trout in some of the deeper pools. It was 50 fish day for me and my buddy Charlie. As we were taking out two spin guys in a canoe were leaving with 3 huge browns and a brookie (18-20" class) in a bucket. There are plenty of fish in the Swift - the river is alive and well and literally teeming with fish. If they put ever some regulations with some teeth into effect it would be a remarkable fishery.
I was at the Swift yesterday morning and fished the "down tree pool" to the tail out of that area. Did see some 'bows and some smaller trout, brookies and/or browns, and lots of suckers. It's their time.
From the gage station on downstream, I think the fish will move more out into midstream when the weed cover grows back. I did see some otters down by the "bend pool" (the Cady Lane marker) 2-3 years ago, but not since. I googled their food preference and found that they go after the slow ones, most apt to be suckers if available.
A question for anybody who knows (I don't): how big of a fish will a merganser go after?
Al
Al,
Depends on the size of the merganser!
I saw one swallow a smallie around 6 inches and on that took a trout about 8 inches.
Bob T,
I really doubt that there's any genetic shyness in any trout that's raised in a hatchery outside of normal defensive behavior. Browns are the trout that may be considered "shy" and are the trout that are considered to be the most nocturnal. They process available light better than bows and brookies. A bright sunny day will turn them off instead of the other trout.
Ken
Ken,
I fished the Chesterfield Gorge on Saturday, May 23rd and hooked into about 6 - 8 fish but landed only 4 of them, all brookies. All that action took place in the course of about 2 hours. I began fishing at 9am and called it a day at 8pm. Never have I seen the gate open, so I ventured down there. Water looked very fishable but I didn't hook into anything. By the time I made my way back to the gate, it was 12 noon. I got back into the familiar sections and fished the big rock in the Bliss Pool area. There I landed 2 brookies. Then a pool or two above the big rock, I landed another brookie. Then finally, another pool or two above the previous pool I caught another brookie. The last one in particular was beautiful. Biggest out of the four, I think I really found the prime lie in the pool. Those two hours were fun but the rest of the morning and evening I did not get a single bite, very slow.
-Ted
Ted,
There seems to be far too many brookies and fewer rainbows this year on the EB. Brookies are not going to last through the summer.
Overall, I think that this stocking program is mismanaged.
Ken
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