Massachusetts flyfishers are truly fortunate to have a gem like the Swift River. First, it's a tailwater. Second, it has a large native brook trout population. Third, it has a population of outsized brown trout and fourth, Quabbin sent us a gift in the form of LL Salmon via the spillway. Add the hatchery bows and one could say that we have it all!!!
Now, some may say that the brook trout numbers were down this year. I don't buy it. Sure, I was like everyone else spending the Summer down in Cady Lane looking for Salvelinus Fontinalis and like everyone else I was concerned but by November 1st there were hundreds of them! They just found a different place to hang out this past Summer. "But I don't see them on the redds like other years" is the lament and that may be because of the high water conditions. I found a bunch of them yesterday below Rt 9 and they were spawning. (I didn't fish for them).
The brookies have fed the expanding brown trout population to the point where 5 to 10lb browns are fairly commonplace. During the summer of 2017 the DFW sampled the river from Rt 9 to the Gauge and they were amazed at the number of BIG browns in that stretch.
In my not-so-humble-opinion we probably have the best self sustaining trout fishery in central/southern New England.
The Salmon
The salmon are at the very tail end of their spawning. Where just two weeks ago it seemed that all available spawning habitat had salmon now they have mostly moved on. I'd really like to know the survival numbers for these fish. They came over the spillway in 2011 and were gone in a year. In any event we should have good winter fishing. Small smelt streamers, soft hackles and venerable hares ear will work.
Be Careful
As I write the flow on the Swift is 587 cfs!! The only time that I can verify anything over 500 in this century was for the Fall of 2011 and early July of 2009. (that's right and I wrote in this blog about it on July 31, 2009) Needless to say you must watch your step out there! The one place that remains the same is the good old Bubbler!!!!
The Quote At The Top
What the author of that statement failed to mention is the real danger with jig hooks which are becoming all the rage lately. They almost always hook the trout in the roof of the mouth. Just nick that artery and that trout is a goner!!
Ken
16 comments:
Ken’s film and comments ring true. I’m from Grafton MA with a house in Dexter ME and we are in a golden triangle for flyfishing.
Hello Ken,
Thank you for your informative and enjoyable blog. You are making my job easy - I am sharing fly fishing with a new son-law that has not ever really fished at all.
I think I saw that you have created a book or booklet I would like to get a hold of one- please let em know how.
Thank you again for your entertaining and educational writing.
Best regards,
Ken Wolfe
Unknown and Ken,
Thank you guys for the nice words.
Ken
Hi Ken, found a dropped Magical Orange Soft Hackle that appears to be the tying work of your hands. Simply brilliant, taken and released three fish in the past two days. Will definitely be purchasing from you this upcoming Season. Matched these tiny subtle Midges, being slurped gently atop the waters surface. Your work is aces in my book!
Happy First and Second days of this Holiday Season,
Happiest Anonymous Trout Catch & Release Pursuit
Anonymous,
A lucky find for sure!
Ken
The Swift is 650 and still climbing, up another half a foot since last week. That should ease the fishing pressure.
TC
TC,
Don't count on it. I'll be there!!!
Ken
Counted 26 cars parked down at route 9 this am
650 cfs! 26 cars on a Monday! I guess the weather today was especially pleasant. Almost made the trip myself, but too much on my plate to get away. I'm glad that folks are out there enjoying Swift, and hope to join y'all soon!
Cheers,
David
And 1 drift boat headed down the run to the pipe with 3 anglers in it.
Gary,
I like seeing them try to float it when it's at 50 cfs. Real dumb!!
David,
I'll be braving the elements this week.
Ken
Ken,
I started at the Pipe area yesterday around 10:30 and there were only two other people. The water was completely over the Pipe. Unbelievable flow that makes it nearly impossible to wade out far enough to make a difference. Guys on pipe side had a nice little eddy area and were catching some rainbows on zebra midges dropped off scuds. I was on opposite bank even with the pipe and did not have any luck. I could only get 10, maybe 15 feet off the bank before the water level was just below the top of my waders - without a wading stick, I would not have even tried to step in the water. Had one then two AB split shot to get flies down!
Hit the bubbler arm in the afternoon - almost had the place to myself. The water is high, but the flow was a breeze compared to the Pipe. Had a bunch of brookies and three nice rainbows - all on a peach colored egg. Have fun this week, but I think you are going to need to bundle up and have some antifreeze waiting for you when you finish.
Paul
Paul,
The bubbler is the only civilized place to fish and there are fish up there. I fished today for 2.5 hours and took two bows and had a salmon swipe at my offering. Another "accomplished" angler hooked a 29 inch salmon. The fish are there but not when the river was at 350cfs. It's now at 670 cfs which changes everything. Cast above, drift through the holding area and cast again. I didn't really know what I should really be doing except what I did on the Moose River in Maine years ago and that was to drift a small streamer through the quick water and letting it swing into the drift. Salmon hit it!!
Let's face it, conditions are extreme and if you prefer these conditions you are kidding yourself. There are no Hendrecickson, no Quill Gordons, no sulphurs to speak of or any of the "premier" hatches that we dream of. We have the Winter caddis in a month or so and the tiny dark stones but these are the prelude for things to come. And these are the things that we want to see as flyfishers: Hendricksons, Quill Gordons" and Sulphers and caddis. Winter is a time of rest on freestones and that should be the case. And that is the case even for tailwaters regardless of how many fish are stocked except when the midges start to work.
Let's face it again. Many of us fish with "glitter bugs" - things that have a lot of glitter but not a lot "LIFE" They represent NOTHING alive in the stream.
Ken,
I agree with you on the bubbler being the only civilized place to fish on the Swift right now. I did notice a couple of decent entry points between the Y pool and the hemlocks, but you are pretty much locked in place once there, unless you're walking through redds. It really is amazing just how completely swollen the entire river is right now. Not nearly as much fun to be had with this high water. The river just looks so completely non descript in all the usual places where you can usually have fun picking out holding spots and casting to fish. That said, it is still a much more beautiful place to be than indoors in an office!
While the bubbler is probably one of your best choices right now, I will say that I'm a fan of it year round. I always find fish there and while it does have a canal like look, the various downed trees have created a little more character/fish holds. As you say, I think the main difference with this high water is that the lower third of the arm around the bridge will hold more fish and they may not be so easily spooked. The upper 2/3 seems to hold fish year round.
I have yet to fish a streamer on that section of the river. I'm usually using nymphs/soft hackles and during the gypsy moth hatch Chubby Chernobyls generated some awesome surface action. So, when you're fishing a streamer in that section, I assume you are weighting it down with split shot 6 inches above the fly when you drift it through a run? Are you trying to get right down to the stream bed? Do you only use smelt patterns or have you found other patterns that work?
Glad you had productive day yesterday.
Best,
Paul
Paul,
As far as streamers are concerned I vary the technique quite a bit to suit conditions.
Yesterday I fished a weighted streamer on a full sinking line. I've also fished a unweighted streamer on a floating line and did well in heavy water. I like smelt patterns when chasing salmon in the Swift because smelt in the Quabbin are a main food source. In the winter of 2011-2012 we saw smelt that got washed over from Quabbin.
The only time I fish streamers on the Swift is during the overflow!
Ken
Thanks very much for the info Ken. I'm going to have to break out my full sinking line and work on my streamer techniques with all this high water.
Paul
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