The Millers Fly Fishers Guide, Screwy Millers Flows, And A Fishing Report

In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing. We lived at the junction of great trout rivers in western Montana, and our father was a Presbyterian minister and a flyfisherman who tied his own flies and taught others. He told us about Christ's disciples being fishermen, and we were left to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fishermen and that John, the favoite, was a dry-fly fisherman."-Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It.

It still amazes me how popular this book is after all these years. The first was sent out back in the Spring of 2008 and I've hit "send" a few thousand times since then. It's gone to most of the "trout" states in this country and as far away as Denmark and Australia. Frankly, it's introduced more people to trout fishing on the Millers than any other document or publication out there. My only regret, besides the few copycat documents out there, is the fact that I've sent this ebook to people who would NEVER tell anyone where they catch fish on this river. They benefit from the knowledge but would never share it!!!

So, thanks to my 40,000+ monthly readers and I will continue sending the Millers Guide to whomever wants it!

The Millers Flow - Well, it's happening again. Someone, most likely the operators of the dam in Orange, have sent the flows into a yo-yo pattern over the past week. Here is the flow pattern for Friday, November 4: 300cfs, 190cfs, 380cfs, 150cfs, 350cfs and all of this in a 24 hour period. The Bridge St. Pool was almost unfishable at 8:30 am yesterday but then dropped like a rock only to rise like a rocket a few hours later. None of this is good for the fish, period. We know that the Orange dam is ground zero for this mess because the flows up in the Bears Den, below Birch Hill, have been uneventful.

Now, electrical power has been generated by the facilities at the dam for years but they have always been a "run of the river" generation, no impounding of the flow to be released later. Maybe there's some temporary work being done at the dam and this will be over very soon. If anyone has any information on what's going on please email me.

How's The Fishing - Catch the Millers at a reasonable flow and it can be great. We caught fish even in the high flows but it can be a chore. Orcutt and the Kempfield Section had hits and fish. The water temperature hit 50 yesterday and if the sun hadn't been so bright we would of seen some BWO's for sure. We did see the occasional rising fish.

The Swift - I've been catching brook trout in the 12 inch range and not by fishing over visible fish on their redds but by fishing the deep holes and runs that are adjacent to the spawning areas. The redds are populated by 6 to 10 inch crowd but the big boys are holding back and are taking tiny nymphs (#18 pheasant tail, #18 bwo soft hackle, #16-18 half & halfs, ect) in the drift.

The rainbows are staging up in the riffles below spawning beds and some of these fish are HUGE! Where are they? THEY ARE EVERYWHERE that you find shallow water and clean gravel. Just make sure that you don't walk on the gravel!!!!

The browns are getting into the act. I lost a good one below the gauge last week and fish hawk Lenny landed a 20 incher (photo included)

The EB - Fished it in the late afternoon this past week and took 5 small browns which was fun and certainly worth the 15 minute drive from my house but it may be a stretch to travel longer for what's available. I have to say that I truly missed the place this year and the October fishing was a blessing. Hopefully next year we will get rain!

I still have some Guide openings available for November. Contact me if you are interested.

Tonight we start the "Dark Season" with the turning back of the clocks. I hate it because it kills evening fishing which won't return until March!

Ken