Don't worry too much about the heat because Mother Nature gave us a gift last week and that was a few inches of rain throughout New England. As I've seen through the decades heat AND drought are very tough on freestone trout but if we get rain the adverse effect can be minimal. As I write most rivers are over their daily average flows and that is good. Your freestone may show a high hand held temperature BUT the feeder tributaries are running and the aquifer has been recharged. Trout will find these cool spots, reduce their feeding and just weather it out. Your freestone fishing will be in the very early morning (4 to 7am) or in the evening from 8pm onward. Hope for rain on a weekly basis and things will be fine. Having no long heat waves will make it even better!
Or You Can Fish the Tailwaters
The Swift is loaded with trout. Now, try to visit some out of the way spots instead of going to the same old spots like the Y Pool or the Pipe/Tree Pool section. You can do it, I know you can!!! I know four spots where I'll have a good stretch all to myself.
I fished the Deerfield early Monday morning after a 25 year hiatus and was greeted with 68 degree water at 6:30 am. We still caught trout under that low water condition with dries which is my favorite style of fly fishing. I'll be back later this season.
This is the season where my soft hackle inventory goes up in quantity and down in size. These are the flies that I use for rivers like the Swift and will be with me when I spend a few days on the Farmington in August. Size 16 is the largest and then down to size 20 and they are scaled down with trim bodies and many without a thorax. Try them out with natural starling or the smallest of partridge hackle.
Have a happy 4th of July!!
Ken
8 comments:
Hi Ken - happy 4th! Agreed on the heat. That dousing rain last week was a big help. Toss in a few thunder boomers the next few days and Friday's boomers and that should get us well into July. Could be an epic august if things dont bottom out.
Great to hear the swift is not a fish ghost town any more. Saddly I dont think I can get there to fish it for a month :(... Oh well, at least it will be hopper season solidly by then!
Hibernation,
I remember the Summer of 2006. Brutal heat But plenty of rain at least on the Millers watershed. High 90's but a flow of between 200 - 300 cfs evened it out. Last Summer the heat was high but the browns on the Ware made it through the Summer and were 50% of the catches in the Fall. Note: the DFW only stocked bows that Fall which said that the Spring stocked browns made it through a dry Summer. I love brown trout!!!
Ken
Hey ken writing you from Moosehead Lake and letting you know I had a great outing on the Kennebec River caught brook trout and salmon on dries, wets (soft hackles in particular) streamers and nymphs the biggest salmon I caught came on a natural colored stone fly around 20 inches with an air show as well 3 times he came out of the water atleast 6 feet beautiful brook trout also came to the net going to be a regular trip when I come up also experienced my first trip down class 3 rapids an enjoyable experience and one I won’t forget Happy Fourth!
Happy 4th Ken! Cool to hear you tried the Deerfield-its not THAT bad...the h20 management could be better but in some respects its kind of like a freestone in its variability. I fished it three weeks ago with my brother after a year or more hiatus. We floated it and was thoroughly impressed with the the fishing throughout the upper river. Most of the fishing we did was outside of the C&R area. There are some tremendous spots not easily accessed on foot but...if you walk the tracks there are some very lightly fished spots that have some impressive fish that may be wild. I know we got some wild browns and perhaps a rainbow. The kayaks were out in force but it was totally managable and they are generally skilled enough not to get in your way and the rafters know to stay as far away as safely possible. The fish are used to them and didn't care much. I guess they call it the hardest working river for a reason! These are the dog days...fish the riffles or the darkness! Heading to Yellowstone NP, the Madison and the Henrys Fork next week and tying up a storm.
On the EB at 6:30 Sunday morning off at 8:30, 2 hours of intense technical fly fishing, so, fast water leading into a long pool let's start with a #16 frenchie fished on the swing with some movement around submerged boulders, 1 nice brown and a huge rainbow were fooled by this method. Changed to a #12 carrot nymph (the large bow inspired me so I put on a large fly) it fooled a nice average bow, but the fish were starting to come up. So I changed to a #14 hi float orange winged caddis and walked down river to where the water wasn't moving as fast, well they must have moved nothing, hey something coming up across the river. 40 to 50 foot cast with an 11ft 5x mono leader, nice drift, bang fooled another nice bow but on top this time. 4 fish in 2 hours had the place to myself, life is good, but its getting hot. Walking out I saw only 1 other fly fisher.
Dalton,
Thanks for the write up on the Kennebec.
Gary,
Getting it done on the EB in this weather means arrive early or stay late. I've also seen very few anglers there this year.
Bobt,
Went to an old haunt on the Deerfield on Monday. It was the same as it was 30 years ago EXCEPT FOR THE EMPTY PLASTIC WATER BOTTLES. "The rafters like to stop here" my fellow angler said.
Ken
Harris brothers...by any chance....lol
Anonymous,
HaHa but I think not. How about the theme park, thrill seeking crowd and the entities that cater to them or just the kayak/inner tube crowd. That's where the garbage comes from!!!
Ken
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