I was exactly where I wanted to be at - on the West Branch of the Westfield and that was by design. On this first day of a holiday weekend I didn't want to negotiate the crowds of swimmers, dog walkers, mountain bikers and even fly fishermen etc that would make the EB something less than what it is. I needed a quiet place where few would be. I went to the WB.
Chester sits on the eastern spine of the Berkshires and is a fitting place for a stream to grow into a river. That river, at 6:30 in the morning, had a temperature of only 55 degrees and that was after a day where the mercury nudged 90. That river flowed smooth and glassy at Wildcat and my #16 Starling and Black, attached to a 12 foot leader, went to work.
Seven bows and brookies were fooled by that presentation and everyone of them but the last took the fly IN the surface film. Sometimes I just swung the fly downstream waiting for the hit. Soft hackles are great emerger patterns!!
I then spent the rest of the morning hopscotching downstream picking up trout at each stop. I saw one other fisherman over the few miles that I traveled. A flyfisher can fish alone but he is never lonely!!
June On Our Rivers
June is a transition month for New England Freestones. You will still be able to hit a river in the early morning and have good fishing until early afternoon, all day if it is cool and cloudy. For me, June means the start of the EVENING RISE season which is my favorite season. If you like sunsets, whip-poor-wills and rising trout then it should be your favorite season too.
Mini Drought?
One week ago the Millers was flowing at 500 cfs. Now it's at half that. That is perfect for the present but it deserves some watching. We don't need any back breaking droughts like in 2016 and 2010, just a good weekly rain.
Have a safe holiday weekend!
Ken
20 comments:
Ken, I always loved those words written by Vincent Marinaro. Fishing Bondsville yesterday I saw a nice one rising in one of the quiet zones, dorsal fin only coming out as it circled whatever it was feeding on, clearly not quite on top. I tied on a snowshoe hair emerger that drifted just beneath the surface and I saw the flash of silver when the fly was in the fish's zone which signaled me to lift up. Had the nice one on briefly, but it quickly was off. I didn't feel bad being I figured it out and connected.
Sam
Sam,
You did all that you could do and you did the important part according to Marinaro!
Ken
Witnessed some nice surface action on the Millers yesterday in the early afternoon. Also saw a bald eagle. Can't complain about that!
Its always a good thing to follow a fly fisherman to a pool that he has fished recently, because you know the fish will be there in good shape and ready to play even though they might be harder to fool. On the water (WB) at 7 this morning,air temp 49 degrees, water temp 47, fooled 6 fish, 4 with a #14 black spider, 2 with a #14 partridge & pheasant, off the water at 9. I saw no one where I was, on the drive down river there was a car or truck in half of the usual turnouts,
Johnson,
Always a good place to be!!!
Ken
went to the millers today caught 17 lots of rainbows a brown and a couple smallies. the arch street section had the most fish and the surfacing of fish was unreal in this area this morning they were rising like crazy
I haven't fished the western part of the state nearly enough, beyond the Swift a few times, so Ken's Guide offered some insight into the Millers. Despite following his recommendations, and a nice trek down to Thousand Acre, with dreams of the river being full of browns, I only ran into 7-8 creek chubs on the end of my line. They kept me from being skunked, but not the trout I had been hoping for. Ran into another fly fisher who also read the guide, who was equally as frustrated on this day. We both walked back saying, guess we'll need to hire Ken to show us the ropes!
Tried hitting the Nissitissit on the way back home, and found the flows to be terribly slow, even after the rain the night before. I hope it's not a predictor of the summer to come...
Matt L
Salt report for those who care... Freezing cold 20 to 30 northeast wind plenty of fish but with wind couldn't punch a 9 wt from shore. Got spinning rig got several shorts before a nice fat plump 30 in fish for the grill. Left fish because I was freezing. Another note fished the shawsheen in andover water level and temp great and nobody in sight. Got several brookies and rainbows from a early stocking so don't give up on this river yet plenty of fish and no pressure. Fish on pheasant tail and the new black spider. All released except my grill striper tonight.
tincup,
89 on Saturday and 51 on Sunday not counting the wind chill. Things will get better.
Matt L,
Read bigmster's comment just before yours. There's also another comment floating around about being skunked at Thousand Acre. I would fish where the fish are.
bigmster 127,
Arch Street has finally come down!!!!
Ken
Fooled a few trout on the WB yesterday morning haven’t fished that river since I was a kid and it was good to get back there... saw one other fisherman just using bait it was a good day to fish!
Ken,
Hit the Quinnie on Saturday. Fished three different sections of the river, only saw two others fly fishing. Tons of rising fish in some of the out of the way pools off of the beaten path. Landed a dozen browns and a few brookies. The best flies were a size 18 quill body snowshoe emerger and size 20 Missing Link. The browns were really aggressive striking the emergers in runs, and were gently sipping the Missing Links. The 3wt definitely got a workout!
Phil
Finally got out this weekend for the first time this year.
Saturday afternoon I hit the Quinapoxet a bit off the beaten path and landed a brown and a bow on a bugger. Water was average to a bit low but cold.
Sunday a friend and I headed to the Bearsden section and managed 3 browns and a bow between us in the morning. Bow was the largest I've caught on the Millers. Didn't tape it but certainly in the 18-20" range. Worked from the parking area down to the Lower Gorge. Overall very few bugs with only a handful of sporadic rises. Buggers dead drifted or deep on the swing, black stone, PT did the trick. Lost several fish and the wind definitely was a factor. Overall saw 4 other fisherman and witnessed a couple of fish landed. Water temp of 62.
Jon from Oxford.
Dalton,
The WB is a gem!!! Glad you went back!
Jon,
Temperatures were cool Sunday but the wind was a mess! Good to see that you did well on the Millers!
Phil,
Good to hear from you. I've got to get to the Quinnie some day. It's been years.
Ken
I'll be back in a few days for some troutskies. Weather pendind...In Florida... Im after the silver king post storm Alberto. Let the sun shine!
Hi Ken: My son and I fished the Millers on Memorial Day off of Arch Street. We cayght rainbow trout, , brown trout, a perch and a very large small mouth bass. It was quite the day and were surprised to catch the large bass. Is it unusual for those fish to be in that part of the river? He put up quite a fight.
Dan W.
Dan W.
The biggest smallies are taken in late May and June in the Millers. The theory is that they come up from the CT River to spawn.
Ken
Ken - the BD section of the millers was alive with slashing trout from "the first run" down stream last night. Best, was that they eagerly took swung soft hackles... AND I got a few on a mouse worked cross current... THAT, was frigging awesome fun! All brownies.
Dan, Ill ditto Ken. From the CT River up to the dam in Orange, it's amazing the species that will find their way into the millers. The biggest smallies definitely are this time of year... I caught a walleye one year just below the orange waste water treatment facility... Definitely some of the fun of fishing that section!
Will
I'm sure you are getting good top water action, Ken, but a heads up that there is also good action on the Farmington right now. I took a vacation day yesterday and fished it. Many caddis flying around and the browns were all over them. Not constant activity, but enough to make it darn interesting and fun drifting flies to the rises.
Taking a rest for a bit sitting on the bank, I saw a nice one rising 20' upstream. I didn't know how nice it was until it hit the elk hair caddis then realized this fish is more than I had bargained for. It was off to the races with amazing speed and power. Thought I had it under control, but the barbless hook let loose to accomplish the long distance release not far away from the net.
Best, Sam
Will,
The DFW claims that shad will run up the Millers! Twelve years ago, at noon on a hot September day, I took browns in the "1st Run" while testing out a restored bamboo rod. Sometimes that place is hot!!
Sam,
I used to fish the Farmie a lot and consider it a very good river that gets loved to death. I'll be there for 3 weekdays in August. Fewer crowds then.
Ken
Ken,
Week days is the only time I will fish there for reasons you state. In the zone I was fishing I only saw one other angler all day and he was 50 yards upstream of me and didn't bother me. He soon disappeared and I had dry fly heaven to myself all day long.
Sam
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