Thursday nights rains pelted Western Massachusetts and much of central Massachusetts too. The Millers is at 1000cfs and the EB is at 1080. The latter will drop quickly and should be in good form this Sunday. The Millers?????? I say two weeks of reasonable dry weather will get this flow down to enjoyable fly fishing levels. Some may suggest that these high flows can be fished but there is enough online evidence about how this river is a bear to wade even when it seems tame. In 2009 someone fell in and drowned in similar flows. I don't guide in water like this. We can wait or maybe it's time to check out the smaller flows that you always wanted to hit. Go do it!
Good comments and emails on the "Conventional Wisdom" post. We will keep this going along with the usual river reports.
Away to Plum Island for a week starting tomorrow to play with stipers and blues. By Wednesday I'll be thinking about trout and writing about them too.
Lobsters and Beer!!!
Ken
P.S. Lenny smokes another Swift bow in the photo above
8 comments:
Ken,
I enjoyed reading your conventional wisdom post and the subsequent responses. When making subsurface presentations I generally agree. I am someone who loves fishing 5x and only ties on 6x when I feel my hand is forced. In my personal experience I find that the difference between the two sizes when dry fly fishing can be night and day. Most recently I have been doing a lot of brookie fishing on small streams, fairly high clarity. Starting with 5x will bring cold to luke warm results many times. I'll get skunked in a particular pool or run and switch to 6x. The takes immediately start to come. This may be my presentations etc in certain cases but results like these happen so often I cant help but think that sizing down can be a game changer. If nothing else I can see 5x tippet lying on the water with my own eyes. With 6x it is much more difficult for me to see. I have to think this effect is magnified by 100x for the trout. Just my two cents. Enjoy your blog very much and the discussions. Cheers
-Dave
Dave,
Thank you for your comment.
That's a topic for another blog post- dry flies!!
Ken
Dave - try some fluorocarbon 5x tippet. It does not float on the surface and makes it less visible. It is also stronger than regular tippet material and I think it lasts longer.
Al
"Being more dense than water, it is correct that Fluoro' essentially does not absorb water. While on paper it would seem that Fluoro' would then sink, this effect is negligible and in reality not quickly enough or with sufficient force to be of much use to fly anglers.
Cast out flat and relatively straight Fluorocarbon usually does not fully break the waters surface tension. If pulled under by the weight of a fly, it will sink - very slowly, but not to have any appreciable effect on the sink rate of the fly. A Fluoro leader does not “pull” a weighted fly down into the water column by any appreciable measure."
The above quote is from an online post from the Epic Fly Fishing company (or something like that). Fluoro DOES FLOAT on the surface and you have to be prepared for that when dry fly fishing.
Seems like this is headed to a Mono/Flouro debate...Flouro takes like 15,000 years to break down in the environment vs 500-600 for mono or something like that...I hate knowing that I could be leaving something around for that long...we will all be dead but if we keep thinking it doesn't matter then humanity is doomed. I will not use Flouro. I catch plenty of fish on mono. I personally think the flourocarbon argument is BS. Anyhow..I try to collect my used mono and dispose of it with my recycling. Its not always possible as you can lose a rig here and there but I think trying to collect and recycle it is a small thing we can do to protect wildlife.
Every fly shop or tackle shop should have a monofilament recycling program available-
Bob T,
You're right about life span of flouro. They don't tell you that when you buy it.
The sink rate is turning out to be a marketing half truth too. Resistance to abrasion??? Sure, if I'm fishing coral reefs or if I decided to join the bass masters tour. Fishing a pheasant tail?? NFW!!!!
I was @ the EB on Sunday morning, the flow was at the high end of fishable but the water level is still very high compared to how it's been throughout May & June. I checked my usual spots and didn't have any luck so I was out of there pretty quick, traditionally calmer riffles had white caps and the slower runs were fast and deep over-spilling the banks. Hoping the water level drops some this week as the river drains out in time for next weekend, I feel like we've been spoiled throughout late May and the month of June when the fishing and river conditions were spectacular. O' well, back to the swift!
Just out of curiosity, anyone land a few at the EB this weekend?
Ken, enjoy the saltwater.
6x fluoro tippet has been my choice for a while. For the diameter it is stronger than mono, which helps quickly gather the Swift's chunkbows. I seldom get a breakoff except due to operator error, being inattentive to a compromised knot, or from line weakness at the split shot. Breaking the surface tension can be expedited if one wipes a mud of some type over the tippet to reduce any film - though I don't find this necessary as the fluoro seems to sink acceptably (prob due to dinsmore shot). I use the rule of 3 for leader sizing - hook size / 3 = tippet, ex: 16/3 = 5x or 6x. I have often thought that the additional suppleness of 7x may provide additional fly movement and attraction. Perhaps I have convinced myself that this is so and the success I've encountered is simply from confidence. Just some additional subjective fodder for the mill. BTW - it's been lots of fun on the Swift lately.
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