"It is a gorgeous gambling game in which one stakes the certainty of long hours of faceless fumbling, nerve-racking starts, frights, falls, and fishless hours against the off-chance of hooking into - not landing necessarily or even probably, but hooking into - a fish as long and heavy as a railroad tie and as unmanageable as a runaway submarine" - A few words on night fishing, Catskill Rivers by Austin M. Francis
Note: 5:30 A. M. 8/4 - The Swift dropped overnight down to 48 cfs! We may get into a Yo-Yo pattern which has happened in the past. Ken
The Swift is certainly fishable and I know many who prefer 110 cfs instead of something in the sub 50 range. I like the change of pace and the fact that it will move some fish around. Besides, it's a temporary thing anyway!
The Millers - the big storm of last night that went north of Erving must have dumped rain somewhere because the Millers went up about 40 cfs overnight. We played with some bows/browns down on the Kempfield section but fishing was slow. One good storm will fix that!
Fish the freestones in the evenings, fish the Swift anytime!
Ken
15 comments:
Best wishes for long and healthy retirement. Fished swift a few afternoons ago during a t-storm and caught brooks a brown and a bow on a beetle. Fished the farmingtom last weekend and did the same there but on prince nymph. Cheers!
Hey Ken, I think I know what's going on with the Connecticut. I've been keeping tabs on all the flow rates in the north country. They are releasing the river like a tailwater near the Lebanon and Walpole NH dams. The flows are wicked low in the mornings and normal in the evenings. That may be factoring into the Swift's release schedule
Stopped by an upper EB spot today to check the water levels and the fish were looking spunky! Not stagnant like they have been may try an early morning or evening this weekend!
I use the WB and MB for sring training, but return during the rest of the season from time to time. There is one spot on the MB that I like to go the morning after a rain storm, so Thursday morning I was there but the flow and water level was still very low so I almost went somewhere else, when I saw a rise 100yds up river, the next 3 hours I spent chasing rises using dries,wets,nymphs,and a few feet of tippet. Finally with just about 4 1/2 feet of leader left I just put on a mini bugger and dragged it across the river till a nice bow took it but threw the hook about 3' from the net, great morning. Well I was back there this morning armed with a #18 Snowshoe emerger variant (tip from a friend) the rises had already started, 1st a sniff and rejection then after a long drift bang a feisty bow was on, jumps, good fight he was in the net,redemption. There are a lot of fish here, but they spook easy low water,no other fisherman.
Ashutosh,
They do that almost every day of the year. Those are hydro power dams where the release isn't really noticed during high water but noticed now. The Connecticut River goes up and down almost every day to generate power and you can see it on the flow charts. The law says that Quabbin must release water when the flow on the CT. River at Montaque hits a certain daily low. Welcome to the Connecticut River Valley!
Ken
Francesco,
Thank you and hope to see you soon on the Swift!
Dalton,
DO IT!!!! (LOL)! Hope for some more rain also.
Gary,
Very good to hear that because I was on the Swift this morning and killed then with #18 and 20 shoeshoe emergers. You also got me hooked on beetles so I tied up a few deerhair creations and took another 1/2 dozen right at the Pipe. Brooks and Bows. They'll be on my next post.
It's a good life!
Ken
Caught a four inch rainbow in the Swift the other day, does that suggest rainbow reproduction in the river or since it was below the hatchery is it more likely that it was an escapee? Just curious.
-Erik
Erik,
It's an escapee. From what I've heard the rainbow stock in the hatchery are sterile.
Ken
Ken with the snowshoe hair emegers do you fish those in the surface film half in half out so to speak and does that go for any emerger? Still learning emerger flies and how to fish them
Photo #2 of the EB or MB is a gem!
Dalton,
"in the surface film, half in and half out". That's an emerger!
Ken
Thanks ken!
Hi Ken- had some good luck on the EB on Friday. Parked just down from the Gilbert Forest sign and fished downstream from there. First cast had one on using an ant pattern but was not able to land the fish. It was about 6:40 and it seemed like the fish were active also it was cloudy and not too hot moved downstream and put on another ant pattern with a little orange parachute on top. That fly worked as a nice Brown immediately hit it. The fish gave me a good fight but I was able to get this one to the net. It was a beauty, the best one I've gotten at the EB by far. Not bad for August 4th !
hockey Dad,
Very good report. From your other comments I think you like ANTS!!!
Ken
Ken- you are right on that one. This is the first year I have kept at this late in the summer and had a sense I could get some some fish. The ants and the amount of rain we have had are big factors. I also have to include getting up at 3:30 to get out to the EB early as a factor too. If you're gonna play you gotta pay!
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