LL Salmon On An Egg
Which brings up a point. This blog reports on approximately 5 river systems and their conditions and recent fishing success. I know whats happening because I was there. I've also been the recipient of some great fishing reports by readers. They are not afraid to share reports on rivers AND of locations on rivers. This is something that you don't find much in the land of flyfishing blogs which may list many rivers but never report on them. In fact, this blog may be the only constant river report in Massachusetts. I know that it gets more page views by far than any other owner operated fly fishing blog in New England.
Now For The Rivers
5. The West and Middle branches of the Westfield River (22 trips, guiding and solo)
I'm lumping these two beautiful rivers together because they are close enough that a six hour trip will give you plenty of time to fish both. The topography of West Branch (WB) reminds me of a miniature
Deerfield without the float tube theme park scene. The Middle Branch is a tenkara playground and where it flows into Littleville Reservoir you may run into great dry fly fishing. Rainbows love the place.
4. The Ware River (26 trips, guiding and solo)
A very good Spring considering the ice jams of last January and what it did to the river. It's still my top spot to be in May for Quill Gordons and Hendricksons and it held up right through June. I was hoping for a banner Autumn but the flows killed that. BTW, the Ware river has a high percentage of dry fly caught trout in my experience. It's a dry fly river!
3. THE EB (East Branch of the Westfield river) 28 trips, guiding and solo)
The EB had a good Spring and a steady Summer and I was praying for enough rain to insure a Fall stocking. I prayed too hard but we still caught trout in heavy flows. Because of the conditions we had to WORK for our fish which is always more satisfying than catching 50 stockers in two hours. BTW, I've always seen big stoneflies in this river but not like this past August and September.
2. The Millers River (54 trips, guiding and solo)
Last years top river looked like it was going for a repeat and then Mother Nature destroyed it. The Millers hasn't been at 400 cfs since early September and has been over 3000 twice. Last years Autumn dry fly action was unbelievable. This year = Nothing. It would have been #1 but.......
1. The Swift - (62 trips and counting)
Ok, it's a tailwater and probably a bit unfair but what river offers trout habitat all summer every year? What river has a population of MONSTER BROWNS that are probably stream born and not swimming along with eye tags? What river has a stream born population of brook trout in outrageous numbers (this years numbers appear to be down but they are still higher than any stream in Southern New England. I've seen hundreds of brook trout in the past two weeks) and let's not forget our extra bonus of LL SALMON this Autumn. That's why this river has been written up in national fly fishing magazines and has become a destination for fly fishers from all over the country. That's why it's NUMBER 1!!!!
I wouldn't mind seeing a Trout Stamp purchased to fish this river and with the proceeds going into protecting this resource!
We got about 10 inches of wet snow last night. That will not stop us.
Put the Environmental Police number in your phone. (it's on the front page of this blog).
Ken
26 comments:
Ken,
If you actually saw this guy with the power bait, you probably don't want to blow your cover if you are trying to nail him. That said I saw a guy who just barely looked like he could handle a fly rod plucking fish out of the Y pool almost every cast about 2 weeks ago and I thought it was way to high a catch rate. Anyway, I got a good look at him in case you want to compare notes privately.
Nice salmon and river review!
Paul
FYI, I have caught some native "unmarked" Browns on the Farmington. Nothing wrong with CT's program to enhance their fishery. Wish MA would get their shit together for those streams that can maintain a good year round C&R fishery!
can we get some LL salmon reports please
I saw that exact guy, just before I hung it up for the Season this year. I parked in Catch & Release, to my shock and awe he was tailing me from the bushes. I’d wade and he’d come down demanding information and flaunting Power Bait Tube jigs. I was just enjoying my last trip and he was behaving strange to say the very least. Saw him do the same to other Fly Fishing Regulars, I have a photographic memory so I hope this helps the cause. He was wearing a white undershirt, Grey Sweatshirt, discussing owning a 20 ft. Ocean Vessel, bragging about escapades of oceanic Fishing, and his last line stuck in my Memory like glue. “I fish all over the Swift River wherever I want and whenever I want year round.” Finished by sticking the Green Powerbait Jig in my face and explaining that they “Stock Breeder Trout.” Demanded other info that was private and personal as well. Scared to say anything, just Fly Fished onwards.
Concerned Fly Fisherman
Andrew,
You already have them. Go fish!!!
Anonymous,
"I have caught some native "unmarked" browns on the Farmington".
Good for you but as Upcountry Fly Shop, along the Farmington, stated in June of 2016 this doesn't mean you caught a "native" brown because it was unmarked with tags. Most browns stocked in the Farmington are UNMARKED by the way. They are hatchery fish!!!!.
Great things are happening on the Swift without a lot of State scientists getting involved. I say that because they are not taking credit for this.
Anonymous,
Sounds like the same guy I reported to the Environmental Police and the Belchertown PD a week ago. That guy was reported to be performing some indecent acts above route 9 and we have witnesses. We want him out of here!!!
Ken
Readers,
There has been a male individual, in his 20's, who has been stalking anglers on the Swift over the last month. As I stated he has been reported to the police. His description is in the comments above along with a vehicle description. It appears that he is the same person who has been performing lewd acts near the river. Be careful and call the Belchertown police if you encounter him.
Ken
Got into some salmon yesterday. What unbelievably powerful fish. Hooked four and landed two using a 6wt! Never brought the 6 to the swift but glad I did.
Patrick,
Good for you!!! Landed one on Thursday with an egg pattern on a 5wt. Could of used a 6wt like you because it just wouldn't come in. About 22 inches and was surrounded by rainbows but he got the egg. A nice experience!
Ken
Ken
It's a shame that the Millers has been unfishable for two months. It's been great the last two Autumns!
GW
I know i’ve Pushed on this before, but we need to be precise in our terminology. There are no native brown trout in the Western Hemisphere. There are wild brown trout, though I’m think they are relatively rare in the northeast. Some stocked trout might breed - their offspring are, by definition, wild, but I don’t think we have many self-sustaining wild brown trout fisheries. Same goes for rainbows. Western rivers, like the Madison and Missouri do have self-sustaining wile populations of browns and rainbows, but i fear if the state fisheries agencies didn’t stock, we’d find our rivers would ultimately see a total absence of browns and rainbows. A population might survive for a few years, but probably not beyond that. There are native brook trout fisheries however - though i’m not sure if the brook trout in the Swift are native, or a wild population based on a historical stocked population. My understanding is that the native brook trout in southern New England were a rather small-sized trout, and western Maine was home to a larger native strain.
YellowstoneBound,
I really don't want to split these hairs again. There are reproducing brown trout populations in the Northeast. Not many but some. I know of 2 streams with reproducing rainbows in this state. Brook trout reproduce in the Swift and grow to large size due to the stable cool environment and an ample food source which was not available to the brook trout of yesteryear. As far as their origin is concerned (as you say "native" or a "wild population based on a historical population") WHO THE HELL CARES! They are there, they are reproducing and growing to respectable size. The Swift was stocked with hatchery brook trout years BEFORE Quabbin was created. Does that mean that the Swift is polluted with hatchery genes? Again, who cares.
Ken
Ken,
Not tryting to split hairs here, but proper resource management begins with a sound understanding of what constitutes the managed resource. That’s all. And yes, it does bother me when folks throw “native” around without truly understanding what that work really means!
Yellowstone,
I understand. New England had only brook trout, lake trout, the Sunapee Trout (maybe there is another archaic member)and Atlantic Salmon when the pilgrims landed. The Sunappe is gone and the salmon is heading in the same direction. I have NO PROBLEMS with introducing a non indigenous salmonid species that would fill a niche without being invasive. "Invasive" would be if you had a stream with stream born,native brook trout that were isolated by natural barriers from being invaded by downstream species and then you managed to stock on top of them. (we do that).
There is a place for browns and rainbows and it's here.
Ken
I am going to chime in at risk of getting my head bashed in. 1. trout size has more to do with food available and habitat than strain. 2. There is no biological difference between maine and ma brook trout. 3. native trout (brookies) have been pushed out due to pollution, dams and laissez faire fisheries management. 4. Browns and rainbows can and do reproduce in MA streams and in spite of fisheries management, pollution and encroaching development. 5. the available trout habitat has changed greatly over the course of our history, not for the better ...if browns were not introduced I can assure you that smallmouth bass or other fish would take over the available habitat, brookies would not fill the gap except in rare circumstances
non-native rainbows are somewhat hardier than brookies but non-native browns are by far the hardiest of the three species and fit the current ecology of many New England rivers best. Arguing native/wild is semantics and wont make or help brookies come back...the best thing we can do is support TU, Nature Conservancy or other conservation minded group...and play the hands we've been dealt...there is no unringing some of these ecological bells.
BobT,
Well said again. Thank you!
Ken
Ken,
I think you know I don't complain much, but why not make part of Bondsville catch and release? As I was suiting up for a brief time of fishing, a fellow was coming up the hill as I was getting ready to head down.
He was plenty happy with the 20" brown trout in tow. He was proud and I don't blame him, but I hate seeing trout like that taken out and would rather see them released. How that would be enforced is beyond me, but dang the lower Swift is pretty darned valuable and should have some C & R rules in place too.
Boy I sure hated to see that trout getting taken out of there. Pretty sure I have connected with that trout at least once this season.
Sam
YellowstoneBound said,
Ken - separate question — assuming no more rain this week (yeah, right), do you think they will start dropping the flow into the swift? Feeling the need for a day of fishing on Wednesday before family descends from all corners... on A Sad Sight And "Natural" Flies
Sam,
The WHOLE river should be fly fishing only, catch and release and nothing unenforceable like C&R sections or C&R for half the year!!!
Let's face it, the Swift has a large regional reputation as a FLYFISHING RIVER. We outnumber the powerbait boys and the lure slingers by a wide margin but we have to put up with their poaching and trash. Now they're bragging about their exploits.
Yellowstone,
The answer is no. The high flow is due to the overflow of Quabbin and not an intentional release. It's fishable, especially above RT 9, right now. I fished it yesterday at 300 cfs and took a salmon and a bow. Try the bubbler arm too!
Ken
Got a lot of weird looks yesterday for fishing, was using an articulated barely legal in olive and white, although I got no hookups I did got a couple of really big browns and 1 rainbow coming out of their hiding spot.
Right below the tree pool I had a brown that I would estimate at 26inches to grab the fly.
Rainbows were rising below the swift river boat ramp, hooked into a feisty 14inch on a dry parachute midge size 20.
Although the water is high it's very fishable still.
Bet the Lewd guy is the dude I saw skinny dipping just above the hemlocks late summer... Hope he gets the hook, so to speak...
There are a ton of wild brown trout rivers/streams in the north east. Ive caught par (like 4-6") browns on a few larger rivers (the millers in particular once in a while)... but more so, a lot of native brookie streams I fish, that flow into other waters, seem to have wild browns. Two streams here north of Worcester are good examples -the state has NEVER stocked any trout into them (I've checked extensively) and both have sustaining populations of native brookies and wild browns. Pretty cool.
There are others in the same boat.
Clearly those fish are offspring of stocked fish... but they are doing a great job of making it.
Rui - that had to be awesome!
Rui,
You will not forget those encounters anytime soon!!
Hibernation (Will),
A State fisheries biologist told me a few years ago that most tribs of major rivers have some reproducing browns. There's a 50 yard section of the Millers in the Bears Den where I can catch 5-6 inch browns on regular occasions. There's a trib on the lower Millers that has a bunch of them. I will never say where!!! The spots are too valuable!
Ken
Fished the Swift on Sunday above route 9. I tend to avoid that area of the river given the amount of other fisherman and the aquarium-like feel of the river.
Crazy amount of anglers around, no doubt due to the LLS and every other river being blown out.
Ton of fish in the river. Pretty cool that you can fish to four species ranging from 3" brookies to giant browns and lls. The "grand slam" is always in the back of my mind and there are only a handful of rivers in NE I can think of where it's possible.
I ended up in the bubbler arm nymphing to cruising bows and catching dink brookies. Overall a good time. Saw a couple older guys down from the Y nymphing with success. Outside of that I didn't see anyone doing much.
I agree with Rui - Late fall with large spawning fish and high flows, can't go wrong tossing a big streamer to see if anything moves.
I'm a little surprised the state doesn't shut the swift down in the late fall to protect the spawn. At least above route 9. Maybe they look at it as a draw to the area or an opportunity for late season action. I know when I lived in Maine most water closes September 30th and I'd travel extensively to get onto some fish in October and November.
As for wild populations - I've caught wild browns and bows in the 4-6" range in small/medium rivers mostly in central MA. I suspect there are more of these populations around then we know, especially browns. You just have to get off the beaten path.
Jon from Oxford
Ken -
They want to survive, and they are surprisingly good at it. I'm always amazed how some of my favorite wild / native brookie streams will literally become a string of puddles most years by September, and look like a soggy patch of fallen leaves by mid October... But next spring I'm in there catching 5-20 fish over an hour or two in the 3-12" range, never having been stocked.
They find the thermal refuge they need some where/some how (one area, MDFW electroshocking showed that they lived under floating bog mat's!) and figure it out. Amazing survivors.
I think the brown's do the same.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Jonathan,
The Swift above Rt 9 has never been shut down because the brookie population has continued to grow even with the fishing pressure that it has. High water this year seems to have cut down the brookie spawning but no reason to get really concerned. There are plenty of brrokies in that river.
Hibernation (Will),
Some people curse the beavers for slowing the flow on certain streams but it creates more refuge, summer and winter for trout and that is a good thing. Not the best for fishing but best for trout survival which is what we care about!
Ken
Ken,
I know of a few small blue lines, up near me that have both wild browns and brookies. The best part of it all never saw a single person fishing in here, only people are hikers. These are definitely secret spots!!!
Phil
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