I love fishing the Swift through the Fall with its quiet,low flows and ample small fly hatches. Now, I know these conditions bother some anglers, especially those nymph anglers who must have ample current to dredge their heavy offerings but that's not my game. As you know I love soft hackles because they actually LOOK and ACT like a real INSECT instead of a piece of costume jewelry! All of the rivers that I fish see my offerings, most of the time, in sizes 12 through 16. Now is the time for sizes 18 and 20 for the Swift as we swing these dainty flies through 5 inch deep riffles like we did on Friday. These flies also work well on larger rivers like the Millers with 18 and 20 BWO Soft Hackles being a top choice on the Millers when that flow gets down around 200 cfs (hope that happens soon).
My favorite hackle for these smaller flies is starling. A typical starling cape is loaded with 18 and 20 size hackles but a word of caution. These hackles are extremely fragile and will make partridge hackle feel like you're wrapping wire around the hook!!
My usual setup to fish these flies on skinny water is an 8 1/2 foot 3 weight rod with a progressive action pared to a 3wt double taper or a Triangle taper in the same weight. Leaders are 12 feet long and lately have been 6x although 5x works just as fine. This is a Swift setup but when on the Millers or the EB (bigger water with more wind) I will go with a 5wt with the same leader.
There are some who may think that a 3wt is too heavy for the Swift with those flies. "You need a 1wt or smaller". Well, one can ride a tricycle from Boston to Springfield but I wouldn't recommend it. Take a car!!!
The Rivers
As I write the Millers is at 1620 cfs. Good news since it was over 3000 2 days ago. Wait a week to see what happens.
The EB left the 3000 range and is at a fishable, but maybe not a crossing stage as of yet. The flow is at 432 so take your chances. Fish were caught before the flow went up.
The Ware, at 389 is rounding into shape nicely.
Stocking is supposed to start next week (tomorrow maybe) and although I don't "follow the trucks" I know that it is the last hurrah
of the season for many so we will do our best to keep you informed.
Booking October
I still have choice openings for October so grab them up. My evening trips (5-8 and 4-7p) are now 3 to 6 or 2 to 5pm. In fact you can set your own hours for the 3 and 6 hour trips. October weather is usually in the high 50's to the 60's and is perfect for what we do. It will actually feel good to have a fleece vest on after the summer that we had!!!!
Ken
10 comments:
I recently picked up "What Trout Want," and it is really brilliant! One gets tired of "received wisdom" (well, the received part is true).
I think I've mentioned that I will be staying in Wendell about for several days beginning the end of this week. So I am obsessively watching the Millers flow! It's been coming down very steadily for a few days now. But it looks like there's rain in the forecast....
I'm looking forward to my fishing appointment with you next Monday, Ken, on the EB. Hopefully the EB will be in okay shape at that point, even if the Millers is high. If all else fails, there is always the Swift!
As a newbie tier I've been having enough trouble tying starling SHs in 14 and 16. Now you want me to tie them in 18 and 20! That's gonna be ugly!
Tight lines, everyone!
David
David,
You are right about the Wyatt book. It is a game changer just as Nemes "The Soft Hackled Fly" was 40 years ago.
Ken
Ken - I'm stealing that "tricycle from boston, nah take a car" line :)
I saw an Army Corps video on facebook from Royalston where they were letting out an ungodly flow to manage tully lake. How ungodly... If I recall, they noted "this much water could fill an olympic swimming pool in 14 seconds" WOW! Not sure if it's still going, that was late last week... But an impressive vid for sure.
Happy Fall
Will
Hi Ken,
could you tell me where in the backlogs I might find your Pinhead fly? Yours is the only site on the net, to my knowledge, that features this fly. It works great for me on the Swift.
Thanks, Herm
Got to the EB at 6:30 AM seemed like the water was warmer than the air. Walked far worked hard for a bow in one pool fooled with a #10 intruder, and a (as Ken would say) a nice butter colored brown, fooled with a #10 olive colored sculpin. No anglers,one jogger,two walkers, a great fall morning.
Will,
The lower Millers flow is up but so is the upper Millers too. The Tully River gauge is gone so we can't see if they started the lake draw down early because that would effect the Erving site.
Herm,
Go to the upper left hand side of this blogs' home page. You will find a search bar there. Type in the word you want and you'll see all the entries with that name.
Gary,
I guess that you were able to wade and cross in that flow. There are fish there and in a week or so maybe more!
Ken
Hi there Ken! I hope you are well! Did I see you in the bubbler arm today?? After my Montana trip around Labor Day I took a few weeks off. Just got out to the Swift today to catch up. It looks like the Brookie spawn hasn't started, but that doesn't surprise me as it was into Nov last year. The fish are nicely colored up though. I got a whole bunch of Brookies on size 16/18 Black Ant. I took one decent Brookie on a Parachute Hopper too, but I think it's finally time to put them away. The bows all looked and bailed. Fun day with wild fish in our back yard. We are very lucky to have them. We don't always have to travel for that experience. That said, the Hopper crushing 20 inchers in the Upper Madison is a whole other world I highly suggest:)
Andrew (Falsecast),
Yup, that was me on what ended up being a slow morning. A small brookie and a bow for three hours. It was a much better day last Friday!
The brook trout will start their spawning in early October. You're right about spawning holding off till November last year and that was because the water was too high for much of October.
Wild Fish - You are right we are lucky. Someone said that half the fish in the Farmington are wild which is B.S. In the Swift it is certainly over 50% because of the brookies. The explosion of BIG browns was caused by an ample supply of brookies to eat.
Hope to see you soon!
Ken
Looks like fall stocking started yesterday in Groton and Townsend.
https://www.mass.gov/service-details/trout-stocking-report
Looks like we're tying the same thing other than I have barbless hooks. I've been getting a lot of browns on lt lately.
Post a Comment