The BROOKIES Are Back!!

"A very nice read and guide to the Millers, thank you. Of course I have my favorite spots, many that coincide with yours. I am sure that I will re read your guide several times. The most important thing for me is, how to fish the spots, not necessarily where the spots are".- Reader comments about the Millers Guide  and the MAIN reason why I guide on the Millers which is SOMETIMES YOU NEED A GUIDE!!!

                                                                                                 

THEY'RE BACK and they came back with a vengeance. The wave of brookies are leaving their summer homes and are heading upstream. I took a beautiful 12 inch male in the gauge run and saw several others along with the browns. I have heard that the BT are scarce above RT 9 but that should change soon. So tie up some eggs, tie up some Partridge and Orange SH and get at it. Remember, don't walk on spawning grounds and that is everywhere you find clean gravel. Walk on weeds,leaves,sand or any debris to reach your location.

For the record - according to this blog the brook trout began their upstream march in 2017 on 10/22. It was earlier the year before and a week later this year.

Autumn On The EB

How are the other rivers doing? Well, here are the current flows for them as of 5:30 am on 10/29:

Millers - 949 and rising.  I may have to write this river off for the season. Even with no rain for November the seasonal draw down from Lake Tully will fix that. (Thank you Bill from Tully for the info)

Ware - 167 and dropping. It's hard to believe that the flow is excellent here after all this rain.  FISH THIS RIVER

The EB - 563 and dropping. And it will drop a lot with every dry day that we get. I'm looking at a flow of below 500 to hit some areas and a flow below 400 to hit most of the river. That will happen by mid week hopefully.

Book a November Trip

We have fished the EB well into November over the years and have had excellent catches.  I remember client Van tossing a stimulator into the run on the right and having it smashed by a large hungry bow! Want to get in on the action on the Swift?  Book me for a 3 or 6 hour trip.  Want to explore the Ware? Same answer as above.




Ken

Looking For Browns

(g) Swift River: From the Windsor Dam to the Rte. 9 bridge crossing. In addition to the provisions of 321 CMR 4.01(2)(a), fly fishing only is permitted on the Swift River between Windsor Dam and the Rte. 9 crossing. All anglers must use a conventional fly rod and fly line. -  Ma. DFW Regulations: Tenkara and tight line nymphers beware!!!   

                                                               Can You See Him?

The Rainbows of the Pipe and the Y Pool swim in wide open areas  during broad daylight. They will let you break the current for them and have been known to swim between your boots. In short, they are accustomed to us. They provide sport which is important.  Browns are different. Browns don't trust us! They like to hide next to logs and weeds and undercut banks. A bright sunny day will just turn them off.  Clouds and drizzle work fine and night is even better. They are my favorite trout.

They saved trout fishing in the Eastern U.S. 130 years ago when transplanted from Scotland and Germany by filling the void left by our brook trout and in fact populated rivers or sections of rivers that had never or seldom had trout. (The Millers may have been one of these). They established themselves nicely in their new home and grew bigger and faster than the brookies did. They were also blamed for preying on brook trout populations, a fact that we tend to celebrate on the Swift today.

I think it is safe to say that the browns have established themselves in more streams and rivers than the rainbow has, at least in Massachusetts. Two thirds of the trout that are stocked in this State are rainbows but they don't reproduce well (sterile females?). Every once and awhile we get a few 5 inch bows over a short period of time in the Swift but they are always 5 inches not 3 to 6 inches which would be evidence of some year classes (like the brookies) and not just escapees from the same tank.  It's a different story with the browns. I've caught them from 3 inches to 6 inches in the Swift and in the Millers.  Not a lot but enough to prove a point.

Browns like places that a lot of nymphing fly fishers don't like to fish - slow current, lots of trout cover, (weeds and wood), undercut banks (as in the photo) and overhanging trees. All of this will make your garden variety tightline nympher head for the hills or the nearest safe and civilized riffle. Fans of brown trout search these wild places out.  I have fished this one section of the Millers that is a pile of rocks and logs and brown trout AND HAVE NEVER SEEN ANOTHER ANGLER THERE. I don't think I ever will!!!


Last, but not least, the brown is wired to feeding on the surface. Sure, you can bounce a rainbow warrior off it's nose and he might snap at it but the real fun is to take a sub #18 dry and follow that slow deliberate rise to that magic moment.  As friend Matt said after releasing an 18 inch brown from a size 18 dry "Sure you can fish a subsurface fly but why would you?"

Browns are magic!  They make you work for them.  Browns are my favorite trout!  I like brook trout too but.......

Blue Wing Olives

It has been a great Autumn for this mayfly on the Swift.  I've heard tales of size 30 and 32 BWO but size 22 and 24 emerger flies have done very well.  The fly?? A BWO emerger tied like a Wyatt's DHE but with snowshoe hair or slate grey post wing material for the wing.  The rear of the body sinks but the wing keeps it in the surface film. It is a killer!  If the Millers comes down it will be my fly like it was last Autumn but the Millers has to come down for that dainty morsel to be used.

Ken

The Millers, The Swift And Book Me

"There is a lot of room for good lures in our trout fly boxes, as the purpose for them will exist as long as there are trout. And designs meant to be swung (as opposed to dangled under a bobber) will always fill a sporty niche."  The Soft Hackle Journal - Trout Spey And The Art Of The Swing

At 660 CFS one would have an outside chance of catching something so off to the the reliable Bridge Street Pool of the Millers on Tuesday morning. The flow was manageable if I didn't wade too far out and the hunch paid off with two browns coming to the net within an hour. It's a big difference from the last two years where low flows kept the trout schooled up and double digit numbers were easy. This year you have to hunt for them. As it turned out the flow increased overnight and is now running over 700 cfs. I'll keep the faith and hope that November will be good on this river. It always has.

Big Browns - Browns are not like rainbows. They will not be found  swimming around in the open especially in broad daylight. Instead they seek the  cover of brush piles, logs and undercut banks. If you are not seeing big browns you are looking in the wrong places.  Also, the rise form is discreet, almost dainty and one would think that a tiny brook trout was at play until 18 inches or more of brown trout explodes across the pool.

Book Me - We still have a good month of good conditions. The Swift, EB and Ware all have great flows and have been stocked so what's stopping you?  Contact me!                                                   

Since Monday we have spied browns on the Swift that were in the 4lb range and have hooked and or landed browns in excess of 18 inches and all of them rose to size 20 to 24 BWO!!!

Ken

 

The Big Fish Of The Swift

Above all, observe the fish. Better yet, observe the trout  as if you were a predator that needs to catch it, not just a participant in a game. Edited-for-action fly fishing videos, especially ones with hard-rock soundtracks and rambunctious high fives, won't really prepare you for approaching big, spooky trout.  Watching your pet cat will give you a better idea of how a predator moves when stalking its prey" - Bob Wyatt, What Trout Want: The Educated Trout And Other Myths

Last Years Brown - They're bigger now

Saturday my client and I cast over an 8lb male brown and his 6lb girlfriend while fishing the Swift.  I then got a copy of a video of a hooked 10 lb Swift River Brown clearing the water twice. Then I saw a DFW photo of a 26 inch Brook Trout taken by the DFW from the Swift.  Match that up against the 10 lb brute I saw last Fall or the brown of the same size that ran the length of the Tree Pool before escaping.

Something has happened to this river over the last 10 years.  A brook trout population explosion has resulted in a forage base for browns, big brook trout AND outsized rainbows ( 5+ pounders).  It's also caused an increase in the dreaded mergansers, a flock of which will sweep a stream and take everything from 1 inch to 6 inches.  What ever has happened we can say with certainty that the placid Swift may be the top trout fishery in the State or New England for that matter.

What makes the Swift interesting is the fact this population explosion of big fish has been done by Mother Nature and not a State agency!  Maybe Massachusetts developed a "survivor program" by not doing anything!!!!


The Swift has a good reputation for its rainbows and deservedly so BUT that's not what's important here.  The WILD brookies and WILD browns take top billing on the Swift.  And unlike the 'bows they're not going to jump in your net. You have to hunt for them!!  "Where are they" you may ask?  THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!!!


Brook Trout

They are starting to stage up downstream and now we are starting to see them upstream of the Pipe.  It will be interesting to observe the numbers this year.  A word of caution: watch where you step above Rt 9. It is a prime spawning area with it's almost endless gravel stretches.  If you must fish it walk on the weeds and leaf debris and not on clean gravel.

FISH NOW!!!

The Ware is at a placid 162 cfs as I write

The EB is at a PERFECT 154 cfs!!!

The Millers has come down to 749 cfs and is still dropping. Orcutt is one of the first places (below the bridge) that becomes fishable at that flow.  We have next to no rain in the forecast until Sunday so this river should get below 500 cfs by mid week.

Mergansers 

I got an email from someone who said that we shouldn't worry about mergansers since they will fly south soon.  Fat chance of that.  They will stay as long as they have open water and the Swift doesn't freeze. Neither does the Quabbin.  And they are not new to the scene. I've seen them below the Pipe and in Cady Lane for two decades!

Ken

The Rivers, Swift River Brookies And Book Me!

"Fishing in a place is a meditation on the rhythm of a tide, a season, the arc of a year, and the seasons of life" - Carl Safina

FINALLY, it appears that the rain has stopped and the rivers are coming down. As I write this morning the numbers are in: The Ware = 230 cfs, the EB = 407 cfs, The Millers = 982 cfs! All of these numbers are trending DOWN with the only real high water being the Millers. The Ware and the EB are fine AND there is NO RAIN IN SIGHT until a week from Saturday.

That means we will be on the Ware, EB and Millers this weekend for sure.

BOOK ME - There's been a lot of pent up demand to hit the other rivers and I think that I'm going to get some guiding requests for the next two weeks. If you want a day or a half day on the river EMAIL ME with a few dates that will work for you. This weather has been great with temperatures reaching the high 40's and low 50's just like in April!!

Swift River Brookies
I saw my first surge of brook trout rounding the bend down in Cady Lane this week. There were more of them on Tuesday then I've seen in months with a story of one of 14 inches being caught "above the Pipe". This is what we've been waiting for!!!  Keep them coming!!!

The Y Pool continues to produce in the strangest ways. One fellow lands a trout on a size 24 and another on a size 8 stripped through the water like a demon. My merganser fly and even the lowly wooley bugger got into the act. Also, check any rainbows in the Swift for clipped fins and mark the location. They want to know where these guys disappear too.

Note - All of the photos of trout caught on this post were taken by clients just this week. Get in on the action and book me!!!

A New Fly And The Millers River Fly Fishing Guide

"If I fished only to catch fish, my fishing trips would of ended a long time ago." - Zane Grey

I had just about had it! I like the Swift and I appreciate its steady flows and challenging trout BUT I am tired of throwing the tiny stuff all of the time. The EB and the Ware were a godsend last week where we cast #10 and #12 size flies but I needed more of that. Fridays rain made a mess of things again so big flies were in store for the Swift.

I call the above fly a Merganser after that dreaded bird that stirs up trout streams. The mallard wing with a brown soft hackle collar matches the color of the bird and it killed those Y Pool trout, new fish and old fish alike. I kind of like kicking conventional wisdom to the curb every now and then and getting those picky trout to attack a size 8 fly was fun!!!

I tie this weighted and unweighted with the latter working best in deep places like the Y Pool. Just cast it out and strip like hell!!!!


The FlyFishers Guide To The Millers

This is the tenth year for the Fly Fishers Guide To The Millers and it's still as popular as ever. I've sent thousands out over the past decade and still get requests. Other so-called "guides" name places like the bears den, Orcutt Brook and Wendell Depot but tell you next to NOTHING about them. I cover 19 of the best locations on this river in total detail so you will know what to expect when you get out there.

I've been asked if this guide hurts my guiding business. The answer is No, it actually promotes it. Many anglers who  have fished the Millers away from the usual stocking points mentioned in the guide and come up empty. That's where I come in. It's a big river and some of the best places are seldom fished.  Start your journey by ordering the Millers Guide (the Guide is FREE) and then contacting me for a trip!

Ken

EB Musings And A River Update.

"And never fall into that statistical macho trap that's so prevalent in fly fishing these days. If you keep score you can be beaten, but if you refuse to compete you can leave the impression that you have long since risen above that kind of crap" - John Gierach 

The Ware and the Millers in Royalston/Winchendon were stocked on 10/11.

The Quinapoxet River was stocked 10/12.

Well, it's about time! The EB has pulled off an imitation of the Millers by holding on to its water FOREVER! On Monday 10/8 we worked our way through a flow of 505 cfs and then on Tuesday we still had to deal with a 475 flow. The latter number allowed us to get across the Bliss Pool which is the best way to fish that lovely piece of water. Clients on both days caught fish.

Now, last Fall this river did not receive a stocking because someone in the DFW thought the flow was too low (it wasn't). This year the stocking occurred with a flow over 1000 and that moved the trout around instead of being all balled up at stocking points. We caught trout everywhere and in numbers that didn't make us look like we were fishing a trout hatchery. Bliss, Chronicle, The Bend and Les's Pool all produced.

We tossed heavy metal at those guys in the form of cone and bead buggers and a size 8 beadhead breadcrust. Having sink tips also helped. Now we are going to get some rain tomorrow so watch the flow if you intend to fish there. Under 600 cfs is a cautious "go", over 600 is a "no go".

River Update

The Ware finally got its Fall share of trout and its flow is perfect right now. Last year we caught a mixed bag of bows and browns with the browns being a bonus because browns were only stocked in the Spring. The Swift is fishing well. Remember to check for clipped adipose fins and mark the spot where you caught them and then email me the info. The Millers continues to misbehave with a flow of 800 as I write. One reader mentioned that he saw rising trout in the Second Run below Rezendes up in the Bears Den. As the flow goes down the first place to fish will be Orcutt which can be carefully waded at 700 cfs below the bridge.

Book Me

I still have some good dates in October and November is only half full (it will be 80% booked by Halloween). Contact me !!!!!!!


Ken

Stocking Update, River Update AND Book Me

Adipose fin clipped trout were stocked  by the Y Pool last week.  Make a note of any caught anywhere on the Swift and then email me.  - Ken

"For the moment at least, we fall into that class of fishermen who fancy themselves to be poet/philosophers, and from that vantage point we manage to pull of one of the neatest tricks in all of sport: the fewer fish we catch the more superior we feel"
- John Gierach

Conventional wisdom would say that the DFW would not stock the Millers with this high flow but they would be dead wrong. As in the past (I have a lot of experience here) the DFW NEEDS to stock trout and they generally have a two week window to do this and they will do it come hell or high water during this Fall season. This has happened before. As I write the Millers is chugging along at 1250 cfs which is not safe for wading but the flow is trending down and barring rain it will continue to drop. 700 cfs will get you into the Millers below Holtshire bridge but be carefull.

The EB

At a flow of 574 cfs at 6am today this river can be carefully waded but not CROSSED!!Wait until the flow is below 350. As with the Millers the EB has been running high during the stocking and that will spread the fish out WHICH IS A VERY GOOD THING!!! Over the last three years we have had very low autumn flows which yielded big catches but far from pleasurable fishing. (like shooting fish in a barrel).

Fly Selection

You know the drill here. Freshly stocked trout = any fly works especially if it's weighted.

The Swift

This river has been the only river to wade safely over the past three weeks. The number of Connecticut plates in the parking areas was proof of that. It was stocked from Ware to Palmer with a decent number of trout.

You will have crowds as you already know so spread out. Try Cady Lane if you haven't already and keep an eye out for brook trout. They seem pretty scarce this year.  In fact, email me if you catch any!!!




Book Me

My calendar is filling up but I still have choice slots available.


Ken

What Is Fly Fishing And Book Me

Note: The EB has been stocked as has the Swift. The Squannie and the Nissie were stocked last week = old news.  Ditto for the Upper Deerfield. 

The blob is the latest joke to be added to what used to be a fur and feather sport.Will someone please come up with a name other than flyfishermen for those who use these type of things.They denigrate the sport. - DanT, comment from This Blog on 10/10/18

DanT says it all!!!

I agree with DanT. This sports' definition, a definition that has existed for a 100 or more years, has been run through the weeds to encompass a growing style of slinging weighted flies, flies that have very little resemblance to natural stream organisms for the sole purpose of causing trout to strike outside of a feeding purpose! Trout see hundreds of insect prey every day that are represented by flies that are of the natural color/form/shape found in a trout stream. To fool a trout with a natural looking insect is the epitome of fly fishing. To get it to strike a Blob, a bright green Mop or a glowing Rainbow Warrior or  something like that is a lesser version of fly fishing. Maybe it's not fly fishing at all.

A blog post of mine back in early August mentioned a "fisher" on the Farmington.  I watched him catch trout after trout but after a short while I wasn't fooled by his 9ft limber road or the fact that he was casting fluorocarbon line but by the fact that his 9 ft rod was rigged with a spinning reel and the fluor was 3X! He was fishing with meal worms (legal where he was). I wanted to introduce him to flies but I seemed to have gotten the fact that he had been approached before. I showed him a fly that looked like his meal worm and there was some interest but he said that his trout were never deep hooked and he released all of them.

Now, what is the difference between what this guy ( a gentleman if there was one) and a tightline nymph fisher? Answer = NOTHING!!!  Change the lightweight spinning reel to a fly reel  AND IT'S THE SAME. He was casting the same 20 to 25 feet of fluor as your typical, I HATE FLY LINE, nympher does.

I asked him what he would do in shallower water seeing that he had lightweight split shot a foot above the fly.  "Take the shot off"  he said. DUH!! I should of known. That's easier to do than  changing a weighted fly and that's easier and makes a lot more sense then looking for a water flow (faster) that suits nymphing. (can't believe I saw that on the internet!!!!)

In short, there are degrees or levels of fly fishing. If your game is to catch as many fish as possible with costume jewlery you must realize that after a few dozen you are working over freshly stocked trout which includes the Farmington. If your intention is to fool trout with something that looks and acts like a natural insect then you are in the zone, you are FLYFISHING!!!

The Rivers

They are coming down slowly but surely. Look for 300 on the EB, 250 on the Ware and 500 cfs on the Millers.

Guided Trips

Book me NOW!! October and November are great months that can be warmer than May and April.  These are my favorite months!!!!

Ken

Snowshoe BWO Emerger, The Flows And Book October

"It takes repeated encounters with a specific prey item for the trout to get into a feeding groove, key exclusively on it, and narrow its search image to such a degree that it ignores all other food. Even so, this is only our interpretation of what's going on, although most of the time what's really being masked is the quality of our presentation" - Bob Wyatt from What Trout Want: The Educated Trout And Other Myths

Sylvester Nemes changed my fly fishing decades ago with his book The Soft Hackled Fly and Bob Wyatt did the same thing with What Trout Want:The Educated Trout And Other Myths. The Nemes book is appealing because it reduces fly fishing to an elemental form where equipment takes a backseat to presentation while the Wyatt book explodes the BS about the dogma that has enveloped our sport. You don't need the hottest new rod and 10x to catch a fish that will just as soon hit a Blob Fly (don't get me going on this!!)

Wyatt observed something in a rise form that changed everything and that is that trout don't prefer the adult dry but will almost always take the stuck-in-the-film emerger. We've seen it many times: the air is full of mayflies that are in the dun stage and there is a steady parade of hatched mayflies floating downstream BUT we see rises to what appears to be nothing. That's because it is easier for a rising trout to pick off a hapless emerger than a dun because duns can suddenly fly away.

Wyatt developed the SHE (snowshoe hare emerger) to mimic this stage of development. There is no tail on this fly and it uses a Klinkhamer style hook that allows the fly body to ride below the surface while the snowshoe hair floats the front of the fly. The fly above is a Wyatt SHE tied as a size 20. BTW, snowshoe hair floats better than deer hair and floats better and is more durable than CDC. Also you can skip the dainty parachute hackle and just dust this with floatant.

I'll have plenty of these in sizes 18 and 20 when I hit the Millers and the EB this Fall (BWO season!)

The Flows

The Millers is at 1510 as I write which is down about a 1000 cfs in the last 48 hours. Still too high but watch the gauge and watch the forecast which predicts about .8 inches of rain through Wednesday.

The EB has dropped a lot in the last 48 hours from 1200 to 534 cfs and I'm itching to get out there. The predicted rain may not be enough to ruin this river and next weekend should be perfect especially if it gets a Fall stocking as planned.

The Ware is up at 438 cfs and I'd like to see 250 or lower. That may not be out of the question by Thursday.

The Swift - The number of Connecticut plates parked at the Swift this weekend told the tale of what happened to the Farmie. 1200 cfs drove some of those tailwater addicts to the Swift for something resembling "fine and far off" fly fishing. The Swift was true to form at a placid 51 cfs.

Book October

It seems that I book trips about two or so weeks in advance. There will always be some who will book two to three weeks ahead and they always get their day. Others wait until a few days before and seldom get their day. I have good slots open in October. Contact me for a trip!!

An Extra Thought

I have heard that the Blob Fly, which looks like salmon spawn from Saturn, has been banned from fly fishing competitions. I have a better idea. Don't ban the poor dumb fly but instead ban competitive fly fishing!!!!!

Ken