Years ago the Squannacook River was my home river and I met a lot of local fish hawks on those waters. One of those characters was an old gent who only fished nymphs and only BLACK NYMPHS. It didn't matter what insect was hatching or what stage of life cycle the insect was going through, black was the color! All his sunken flies were black and his fly box looked surreal. One thing was for sure and that was the fact that he caught tons of trout, period!!!
The black soft hackle looked ok with its black floss body, ultra thin copper rib and black starling hackles. (note: starling is very fragile so it pays to tie the feather in by the tip which causes fewer break offs. Do this with all soft hackles) Both size 14 and 16 took fish on that cold day. A better fly? Too early to tell but I like the idea of simplifying my fly selection. Now for a black streamer!!!!
First Day Out
T.S. Elliot said that "April is the cruelest month". That bit of prose certainly applies to the trout fishing scene here is central Massachusetts where we have been bitten by high cold flows and trout with a case of lockjaw. It reminds me of 2015 which had even higher flows along with cold temperatures.
I braved the 23 degree temperature and high wind to hit the WB of the Westfield. I was forced to take some detours due to trees on the roads. The WB was roaring away at just below 600 cfs and in my two hours there I got no runs, no hits and no errors. As I write the flow is down into the mid 300 range which is nearing perfect for this stream.
All the streams are being stocked and I think it's a bit earlier than last year. Pick a river, tie on something heavy and go shake the rust off. In a month we will be starting the dry fly season and I'm not talking about midges but good old traditional mayflies. That's what we wait all winter for, right???
11 comments:
Ken- this week has been a bust for me. According to the " Trout Stocking Report" the West River was stocked on Monday and so I went out and gave it a shot on Tuesday morning. By the time I found my fishing gear - the last time I had everything
together was October, 2017 when I made my last trip of the year to Pittsburg so it was 2 hours of scrounging around to find my reel with the sinking tip line, get my license and find my long johns - at one point I thought I left my reel at Lopstick Lodge.
Got to the river at about 10 and was fishing by 11 - it's a 1 mile walk to get to the spot where there are usually some fish and NO fisherman. The water level was good
and I fished 3 different spots: no fish, no sign of fish and no fisherman. All I got was cold !
Yesterday I gave it another try with the same result only the wind was howling from the NW and my net was frozen when I finally gave up. I did meet a guy fishing bait who said he had got a couple, he was carrying one of those orange Home Depot 5 gallon buckets and did not seem the type to have loaded the bucket but you never know.
Gonna give it another try this AM before it starts snowing and will make sure I use something black - I think I have a wooly bugger that is black.
Hockey Dad,
That seems to be the case for this early April: reports of fished stocked but no fish AND bitter cold and wind. As I write it's snowing in Northampton (home) and that will be the case for most of Ma. I saw NO fisherman of any kind yesterday. So.....be patient and wait for better weather which is, I know, hard to do. I don't think that a trout caught yesterday would of made a difference. We want SPRING and what that does for our rivers: trout on the feed instead of lethargic fish.
Ken
Was driving by a river in the northeast yesterday, saw the stocking truck, it had just got there. 1 they put in two net full of fish (maybe 10) 2: They said your here to fish them out??? I told them didn't even have a rod in truck. They then told me the following. They need to get the fish out. Need room for next year fish. Fish have been fed good for a two or three day cycle in their perfect water temp. The fish will not eat and be very lethargic for up to a week to get use the water temperature change. They claim its better because they are harder to fish out and more likely spread out. So maybe its better and the fish looked beautiful, and fat. Also snowing here just hope they do spread out.
tincup (Bob),
I don't really mind because I don't like fishing over fresh stockers anyway. I fished yesterday and it was miserable out there. Things will warm up, insects will hatch and we will be happy!!!
Ken
Conditions have been tough! I had this week off from work, but didn't manage to get out on the water, since the weather seemed so grim. Those stockies should be feeling their oats by the time things warm up, though, and they won't be fished out!
Ken,
Those are a couple of pretty ties. How long does the starling hold up after being mauled by a hungry rainbow?
Bob
Bob O,
Good to hear from you!
The starling holds up fairly well although I think that the solid black body is really the trigger point for hits. That older guy that I mentioned in the blog post didn't have soft hackles as I remember but just traditional nymphs with wing pads over black hackle.
Ken
Hi Ken, I was referred to you by a gentleman named John at Orvis in Peabody. He told me about your Millers River Guide. I have a friend who asked me to go fish the Millers this spring and John said I should ask you for this. I’d really appreciate if you could send me a copy.
Thanks!
Best,
Harry
I truly think as a fly fisherman you could survive on black, white and yellow. Yellow seems to be a hot color for browns, white for rainbows and black works in dark water....purely anecdotal but if someone asked me to pick one or two or three colors for flys...those would be the one's
Bob T,
Well said!!!
Ken
Hi Ken - It's been a long winter and got the dust off and went to the Qunnepoxet today. It was very cold and a bit high, but very fishable, and frankly my favorite flow. It was recently stocked and the fish were being very tough, but as you mentioned spreading out. I managed an unusually large Rainbow and felt satisfied. Happy Spring!
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