Shit, another day gets wiped out because of the high flows EVERYWHERE. As a wading guide I take safety first and 400+ in the Bears Den and 1000+ in Erving means I am not guiding the Millers this weekend. I was up at 3:30 am Friday morning to check flows and make decisions and then I had a LONG day ahead. No lawn mowing (thank you rain god) and the Tomatoes will wait a few days. I began working up a good breakfast and then started tying flies to fill the holes in my boxes.
By 8:30 I was getting anxious. Maybe the local or maybe some western rill would not be running bank to bank. My backyard river, the Mill, was in flood stage. Head west, middle age man, head west!!!
The Middle Branch (MB) of the Westfield was high but CLEAR and that was a good sign as I headed down to Littlefield. It's a totally different river than what you see along River Road. Some choppy riffles, deep runs, slow glides and Gary.
Gary is the Dean of the Middle Branch and the Dean of the West Branch and hell, he knows more about the Westfield River system than most people put together. He's fished it all of his life and he is very generous with his knowledge unlike others who sometime name rivers but will never name locations even on heavily fished rivers. He even gave me a select section of a run where I then managed to drop two trout! I'll let YOU ask HIM where the good spots are and you can't miss him because he's always working the MB and he may be the only one there (maybe me too).
Because of high water and the need to work weighted flies I brought my 6 weight (found a 6 wt line last night) to make it easy. Gary did too. Decades before a 6 six weight was standard trout gear and it can still be. The weighted flies cast like a dream. Very easy casting. It was a definite old school experience!
Gary took two healthy bows and then I hooked up and landed a good bow in some skinny (what passed for skinny) riffles and then I went upstream.
Up stream is a place I call Twin Bridges (you'll know it when you see it). My fly was a concoction I call the little Marabou Ghost. I took 5 bows(the prettiest bows this year) in a short while and then went home to shop, vacuum, laundry, stuff like that.
Watch the River Flows on this blog. Small streams will come down quickly. For you Eastern Ma. flyfishers who don't mind smaller streams Willard Brook in Ashby is pretty and full of trout. So is the Fort River in Amherst, So is the Mill Rivers in Amherst/Hadley, so is EVERY stream in this state and it's all on their website.!!!
Little Marabou Ghost = a size 10 SCUD hook
body - = olive floss or anything you want
under wing = 4 or 5 peacock strands
mid wing = grey marabou
Top wing = olive marabou or your choice
A bead if you need it. No bead if you don't.
9 comments:
Hi Ken- I know you wrote about the Middle Branch of the Westfield above. Is the West Branch just down from B&G Sports fishable at this point ? I was going to head out there tomorrow.
Thanks
Took your advice on small waters and tried the East branch swift river today after work,in petersham near the Connor pond area. Only had about an hour but I managed 1 brookie 1 rainbow and 1 brown. Missed countless fish. Rainbow was gorgeous only about 11-12 inches but very colorful. Definitely a place to spend more time on a sunny day.
Hey Ken,
I stopped at Willard for a bit today, it is absolutely ripping now. Went there yesterday after striking out at the s. Branch ashuelot river and caught 3 native brookies and a shiner in just 30 mins. before I had to leave. It is a nice stream but probably won't come down until Sunday it Monday.
Ashu
Hockey Dad,
The WB drops like a rock but it will still be high today. Be careful. I'll be there Sunday.
Ashu,
Glad that you made it to Willard Brook! Also, I've heard stories about the S. Branch of the Ashuelot being a good brown trout fishery. Any truth to that?
Ryan,
Congratulations on the Triple Crown!!! The EB of the Swift would be the place to do it.
Ken
Hey Ken,
Not completely sure since I didn't do too great but I did see a nice brown in a deep pool under an iron bridge in the power line section (you'll know it when you see it). Other than that, nothing really. There is a lot of good water so if I search long enough or get a hot tip from a local, I may find them. A lot of these mountain streams seem utterly devoid of life in some sections but are absolutely bursting with fish in others. According to the stocking report, only the lower part of the river (in Swanzey) has been stocked so I'm not sure if that affected the fishing.
Ashu
Tried the West Branch of the Westfield this afternoon and found it high but fishable. I didn't see any fisherman out there in the morning so fished the middle branch without any success. I do think the West Branch will be down enough by tomorrow for good fishing.
hockey_dad,
I'll be there today. The river is dropping!\
Ken
Good day on the Westfield today. I was hanging on to my wading staff for the whole day but it paid off because there were no crowds and fish biting for the whole 6 hours I was there. The water was high but certainly washable and had though I had a tough time landing fish there were plenty of opportunities and no competition. You can't beat that!
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