It was maybe 30 years ago when I met my friend Rick for an evening on the Deerfield. I was doing well with a combination of dries and weighted nymphs but Rick was vacuuming the trout out of the river with one particular fly. Forward cast to 2016 when Lenny and I were working over some fat Swift river bows below the Duck Pond that were patrolling the brookie beds. I caught one on a Partridge and Orange but Lenny took close to a dozen on "that caddis of yours". I've highlighted that fly on occasion over the past 10 years and here it is again - The Simple Caddis!
I used to tie this fly using a body material of synthetic grey dubbing that had a metallic sheen to it. I lost that supply, tried other material that worked so-so but then actually found my material in the back of a long lost box of fly tying stuff. I'm back in business!!!!!
How To Tie The Simple Caddis
Hook - Standard wet or dry, 12 to 16. (I prefer dry because this fly is best in the film and not deep in the water column)
Body - That above mentioned stuff. The buggier the better
Wing - a few strands of brown partridge
Collar - black of dark brown ostrich
Ma. Trout
Over the last ten years I have had more and more flyfishers from out of state compliment our State for the SIZE of the rainbow trout that are being stocked. People from NH,Vt,and NY say they want to chase Ma trout instead of trout in their home waters. "You have BIG trout" is the steady refrain. I just did a presentation this past Wednesday for the Capital District Fly Fishers, a NY group and the story is the same - they love our trout!!! BTW, if you live in eastern NY or the Berkshires I would join this group. It appears that they are active all Summer long which is not like other groups.
Skinny Trout
I've seen some recent photos (past six months) of trout taken from the Farmington that looked awfully skinny and I'm not the only one to observe this. One fellow said that the trout that he saw looked more like an eel!!!! I wonder what the story is? I've seen Swift River browns that were the same length but had some fat on them unlike the Farmington browns and the Swift browns were either stream born or holdovers just like the Farmington. Any clues??
Ponds in Ma are being stocked with rivers coming soon. Do not pray for rain!!!!
Ken
11 comments:
Glad you found your dubbing. Can't tell you how many duplicate items I have bought over the year's due to "lost" tying materials!
Anonymous duplicate comment is hilarious to me. I have about 30 packs (exaggerating) of size 16 dry fly hooks - I'm always convinced I'm out as I use them for nymphs, wets, flymphs, dries etc...
I like that little caddis Ken!
We do have big stockers here. I'm always amazed how many 15-19" fish one can catch in our trout stocked waters.
Anonymous and Hibernation,
I'm sure that I have other "stuff" that I was saving and then forgot about. I think I am low on certain hooks,thread only to find a hidden mother lode of the stuff somewhere I thought I would not forget about them. I forget about them!!!
Our bows are bigger than most other States. Out-of-staters are amazed what we fish over!!!
Ken
Hey Ken,
Have you had a chance to fish the swift this week much? I’m up in Kittery Maine and was planning to make a trip this Sunday but wasn’t sure if it was worth it or not with the water levels. A few weeks ago I was there and water levels were ridiculously high as the river, other than a few spots, was just short of unmanageable.
Thanks for the awesome blog and words really enjoy following along.
Glad to have people chase government issue trout while I go after the real thing ... never really understood the attraction for pellet fed fish but if it clears out waters with self sustaining populations that's ok by me.
I agree Ken that we get some darned nice rainbows stocked in our waters. There was a particular batch stocked in the fall of 2017 that it seemed like every one I hooked was in the 16 to 18" range. Boy they would fight like crazy too with high flying leaps some of which resulted in long distance release. My idea of fun.
Best, Sam
Sam,
That was a good Fall especially the Millers.
Doug,
Sometimes government issue trout are the only game in town.
Anonymous,
The Swift has come down but it's still above average as far as the flow goes.
Ken
Yes it really a blessing how great our hatchery staff personal is. Not easy raising our trout to the beautiful size we get use to year in and year out. Between weather predation keeping idea water temp. feeding cycle its really a great tribute to the personal which gets this done from eggs to the great fish we receive and plenty of them through the state.
I thank them all and believe our license fees are the best bang for the buck.. When you think of golf skiing movies etc. We get sporting license for 365 days a year.
One additional thing if anyone is discarding old pillows cut them open near a wooded field and check for good cdc feathers grouse and other and discard the rest so our birds this spring can find easy nesting materials. I do this and you would not believe what some are stuffed with and also the feathers in my back yard fields disappear quickly.
Tincup,
Great idea on the pillows and just the right time of year to mention it.
Now, if we can get more browns!!!
Ken
Today I caught a government issued trout in the Westfield River! Practice catch-and-release and you can catch healthy government issued trout after they survive the winter!
Jim,
Occasionally that will happen before the stocking trucks arrive and that's a good thing. In 2010 we had a mild,dry winter and were catching browns on the Millers that were rising in late March. The problem was that the mild, dry winter turned into a hot, dry summer which hurt the fishing and probably the trout. In any event you had a good experience!!
Ken
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