When I got into the car it was 89 degrees. A few miles west from downtown Northampton it had dropped to 87. By the time I bottomed out at the end of the hill from Chesterfield the temperature was 68!! That's the "Hidden Hills" for you. Big,dark clouds hid the strong sun from just a few miles to the east. Suddenly it was what May should be.
I wasn't looking for the Gorge but for another place. A Tenkara rod helped me bushwack through through an understory of unbroken fir twigs. "I don't think that anyone has been here" I thought as I did my best not to leave a trail. I didn't.
This part of the EB looked beautiful. A rainbow that hit the olive soft hackle made it look even better.
Then came the dark clouds that began to bring rain (a welcome event) and a hint of thunder. That drove me off after a slim 45 minutes.
I may keep this place in my back pocket, maybe not. It's a nice place. Maybe some local or the most adventurous of others may recognize the place. It may be best to keep it under wraps even with chances being slim that anyone will explore it with the CR not being so far away.
Loose lips.......
Ken
10 comments:
Ken, the Swift blows...
Suckers, suckers, suckers and I only took only 1 fish at the pipe stripping buggers at the end. No fish in the bubbler arm, Y Pool was dead, zero fish at cable pool and run.....I should have known better from reading this blog. I am going back to the Housy and those bruisers I was catching last week thought it's getting low too.
Good luck!
Ken,
I went to the EB on Monday. I can confirm what one of your previous posters commented earlier, the place is loaded with brook trout, I caught 18. Entering my 3rd year as a fly fisher, I find myself in spring and in fall (around stocking times) starting to long for something more. I realized while standing in the river that catching these added trout seems to compromise my experience. I ended up leaving early and hitting a small stream on the way home to catch native brook trout. They were equally easy to coax into a bite on the fly however much more satisfying that they were the real deal. Do you ever get that feeling, or any of your followers of the blog? I've been catching shad on the fly the last few days and that has been quite a blast.
Falsecast,
Calm down buddy. You've been on this blog too long to say that any river blows. Maybe the management of it does (read my past posts) but the river doesn't. Suckers?? They have been in the Swift every spring forever. The Housy is full of them as is every major river. Actually I've done well at the Pipe this Spring fishing the 18-22 size range. Not record breaking fish-swimming-between-your-boots kind of fishing but ok.
I bet the Swift will get better if the DFW knows what's good for them. In the meantime fish the Housy, the EB, the Millers or anywhere else. It will be fun. Chill, you're a good guy!
Ken
Fished the millers today bearden middle section. Fished it as your guide suggested. Got my millers grand slam a big 10inch millers red fin shiner several browns a few rainbows and brookies of all sizes some must have native. moby dick was hot for a while then the soft hackles. tough wind but kept the black flys at bay. Only other creature was a female moose came in for a drink 100 yds below me.
..back to big browns and one nice wild brookie at the Housatonic. Green caddis pupa was the major bug, trailed behind BH PT. The Hendrickson's never really got going I guess. Water was mid sixties today and it's not even Mem Day.
I was just joking about the Swift. It's love hate and I am a junkie to it like everyone else :) It was a frustrating day and to see such a great river not managed correctly sometimes gets under my skin. Didn't mean to spout off! You're right about the other rivers too!
Terry,
I hear you. After 40 years of fly fishing for trout I can't wait till after Memorial Day and summer trout fishing. Freshly stocked trout don't turn me on although I bitched about the Swift this year when I knew Jamaica Pond in Boston would get a thousand trout while the Swift stood there with an empty cup. I like a stream that empties out of anglers and I get to fish basically alone. My favorite time is the witching hour of dusk when the browns of the Millers come out to play and when the EB comes alive. Those trout have found their genes and begin to act like the trout that we dream about all winter. I fish the Swift but I can usually find a quite corner.
Tincup,
It's funny how those red fin shiners are not found in the lower CR. Bob Roleau, a great long time Millers fly fisher now deceased, talked about a BIG chub that was common on the river but not after the 1938 hurricane, the worst storm on record in the watershed.
Falsecast,
I'm with you brother!!!
Ken
Fished the Swift couple of days ago. Fishing was pretty good, streamers and ants did the trick for me. Around 6 pm, I heard very loud and rhythmic foot steps crunching the leaves and the dead grass behind me. I didn't think much of it, thinking it was a few fishermen walking down the trail and kept concentrating on a couple of fish I was watching. When the noise got pretty close, I turned over my right shoulder and 30 feet from me was a moose. I think it must have been around 7feet at the shoulder and over 8 feet at the eyes. After a half of minute of staring contest, I lowered my head and moved few feet down stream. When I turned around again, he was rambling into the woods. It was a great sight. I also was within 30 feet of three buffalos while I was fishing the Fire Hole. You see some wonderful wildlife flyfishing.
If you love the Swift, please go to the Mass. Fish and Wildlife Facebook page and comment on the moron who killed the 26" brown from the Swift because it may be a "catch and keep" record. Nice job Mass, keep celebrating the idiots who kill fish to earn a pin.
CPL23,
You are sooo right. The DFW promotes a catch and kill fishing derby. I wonder, how many "pin" type fish are caught and released by people who love the sport and want the large breeding stock to continue to do what they do. Who cares about a damn pin anyway!!!!
Ken
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