Fly Fishing Information On The Millers, Swift, Middle, West and East Branches Of the Westfield River and the Ware, and Mill rivers. YOUR BEST SOURCE FOR MA. FLY FISHING INFORMATION, the top ranked fly fishing blog in Massachusetts! WHAT FLY FISHERS READ!!
FYI if you are fishing in either the Upper or Lower Fly Zones on the Salmon River in NY, you have to use fly line (no running/shooting/Euro lines) and no more than 15 feet of leader (as measured from the end of the fly line to your fly). The mono rig is perfectly legal on the rest of the river. Torrey from UpCountry. 4/19 (Sooo....maybe you can't use those rigs in the Fly Zones because it's not considered fly fishing.
There has been a lot of speculation regarding the effects of all this water in our rivers this Spring. There is talk of scoured stream bottoms and destroyed aquatic habitat. I say "Wait A Minute" because I recall events that were worse than this one.
In late August of 2011 Hurricane Irene flew in and dumped IN A VERY SHORT TIME about 20 inches of rain in Western New England in about one day. The Mill River behind my house went from about 30 cfs to 7500 CFS during that time with whole trees being uprooted and swept downstream. I thought very few fish could survive that beating but in 5 days the flow came back to normal and I saw hundreds of minnows feeding in the current. I caught a few trout too.
The worst event that can happen (IMO) is bulldozer effects of ice dams but the Ware survived a monster dam last year that tore up stream banks and dug out the river bottom. The Ware survived because its famous mayflies survived. The same with the Millers over the years.
I bet is that the Swift will do fine!!
I've spent too much time tying streamers and now want to fish large stoneflies. It's called stoneflies on the brain and I have it bad. I'm going to take the cure this afternoon on a smaller stream or two which are in my area.
The experts at Weather Underground are predicting only about a half inch of rain through Friday. That would be a relief!!!
The photos shown were taken on the Swift at about 7:30 Thursday (today) morning. This is what it looks like at a flow of 850 cfs. 4/27= 1460 cfs
The bench at the bottom of the "staircase"
Above the "pipe"
Where's the "pipe?
The Tree Pool
The word was used and that word is unfishable. I would not bother with this river until is becomes safer! Sure, you could do a balancing act on the rocks by the Y Pool but it really isn't worth it. Wait for the river to drop to a "placid" 500 cfs (haha). In the meantime find a small river to fish such as the Mill River in Northampton or maybe the Fort River in Amherst. The Ware is close to an all time high (820) so that's out of the question. Watch the flow on the EB!! It's at 855 and dropping and when it drops it really drops! It gets into fishing shape around the edges at 550-600.
When your weekend playing partner starts whining about how he isn't good at golf because he has bad equipment, remind him of this little factoid: The Golden Bear was using near-ancient clubs to win on the PGA Tour, including six Green Jackets.- Kyle Porter CBS May 27, 2015
As I write the Swift River is roaring along at 821 cfs and the Farmington below the Still River is around 1280. Now, how is that for a controlled flow!! You can hold only so much water back and with this constant rain we will see this current condition through the week. The freestones are ripping along too. BTW, it appears that someone is playing with the flow on the Ware because it's acting like a tailwater going full throttle and then down to a trickle. Now is the time to hit some of the smaller seasonal stocked streams or a favorite "thin blue line". If we get two weeks of dry weather the freestones will roll into shape. The Swift is another story. Quabbin is overflowing AND the major tribs are pumping more water in. The East Branch of the Swift is at 380. It's average flow for this date is 105. Get the picture??
I'm waiting for the "Bamboo Season", when the leaves are really beginning to sprout and the mayflies are on the wing. That time of year will find me on the Swift during the evening with my 71/2 ft 3wt rolling out my double taper on some of my favorite spots like Cady Lane. (Notice that I said "evening" because it's the best time to fly fish and it will always mystify me how so many bail out when the sun is at an angle.) I also make it a point NEVER to throw weighted flies with cane. That's what other materials are for. There's a story about how someone with no bamboo experience claimed that the rods are too heavy. The answer to that is yes and that's because the rod maker puts his whole soul into the rod. Try out a bamboo rod and really start fly fishing!!!
I find the quote at the top of the page applies not only to golf but to fly fishing also. The two sports are perfect for collecting toys and draining bank balances. We always need the newest thing and the sad part is that we actually believe that it will make us better flyfishers. "It's not the arrow but the archer" the old saying goes and it is right on!!! In the Tenkara world the wise saying is "A rod, a line and a fly" because that's all you need! I use the same rods year after year like Nicklaus used the same clubs!!!!
Even with this goofy weather I'm still booking trips with mid week booking quickly and Fridays still fairly open (very weird). Reserve your spot for May and June. 3 or 6 hour trips, 3 hour lessons, tenkara lessons and trips all on the best streams in central and western Ma.
The soft hackle fly above has no name but here's the recipe:
"Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery elements are made for the wise men to contemplate and for fools to pass by without consideration". Isaac Walton
Ok, here are the numbers:
Swift - 530
Millers - 2060
Ware - 635
\
EB - 902
WB - 332
No, that's not the number of fish I've caught this year but the cfs for these streams. Yes, there's high water out there but the margins can be fished slow and deep. Think sinking tips or better yet, full sinking lines with 5 feet of leader ending in 3x or 4x and a weighted fly. Offended by the above rig?? Then go fish the smaller streams that are in fairly good shape (you always said that you wanted to now here's your chance). I'll be on the Mill River, a neat little freestone that runs behind my house that I try to visit at least once a year.and at 162 cfs it should be in shape for a while.
A Million To One Chance I've been fishing the Swift for over 30 years and this was the first time this has happened: It's 9 am and I'm at the Y Pool with two clients and NOBODY else when a stocking truck pulls up and starts, well, stocking!! We fished for another hour before we saw our first flyfisher. It took a while for the trout to settle down but then the hits started. My clients didn't leave and ended up having a banner day!!!
Millers Stocking Yes, the Millers was stocked yesterday and the trout and the anglers will have to put up with a flow of over 2000 CFS. My advice is don't wade but look for spots on the shoe where you can roll cast from. Safe wading on that river starts at 600 cfs.
Nobody Asked But.... Will the camera carrying fly fishing community please stop with the "head shots" of trout and photos of your trout lying in a net that's on the ground. By head shots I mean photos that just show the mouth to the gills. They remind me of mug shots!!! Take your photo just before you land the fish, like the photo on the left, or while in the net gently cradle the trout with wet hands for a quick release.
Leave the "famous" places alone this week and fish the thin blue lines!!!
Ken
"If I fished only to capture fish my fishing trips would have ended long ago" - Zane Grey
We are coming up to the real start of this flyfishing season and that means gearing up for mayflies AND that starts of with two similar species - the Quill Gordon and the Hendrickson. The QG is a size smaller and a bit "squat" when compared to its larger cousin but they often cause confusion on the stream because the color is similar and they are found in the same riffle sections of
the water. Although the QG hatches on the BOTTOM and rises to the surface as a fully formed fly they look enough alike so ONE nymph will work for both insects.
Hook Size - size 12-14 wet or dry fly
Body - 140 thread with the color of "rusty brown". Layer this fly body a bit on the thick side
Rib - very fine copper wire
Thorax - a strand of peacock wrapped at the thorax position with the copper rib wrapped over the peacock
Tail - a few wisps of brown hen hackle
No hackle (legs) are needed due to the fact that the legs of the insect are forced against the body due to the swift choppy riffles where these guys are found.
They can be fished alone or as a trailer behind another, larger fly. When a trout hits the trailer you know that the insects are active.
The State Of The Rivers
The Ware went up and then dropped like a rock on Sunday. Someone is playing with the flow!! Now it's up again. The Swift is going to kiss the 500 cfs level today (Monday) and the Millers is a mess as are the Westfield Branches. All this will change!!!!! One dry week and we will wonder what we were worried about!! Book a trip for May or June!!!
Ken
"There Is No Greater Fan Of Fly Fishing Than The Worm" - Patrick McManus
No fly has been exalted and then vilified as much as the poor wet fly. The reason is simple: we like to dress flies that at least make an attempt at imitating the natural insect and not a cartoonish caricature of one. That's why your basic soft hackle is now held in high esteem and your Royal Coachman or Parmanchene Belle is considered to be skill test (quill slips are a bitch) of tying at best and a pointless exercise at worst, the final product best suited for the fly wallet as opposed to the end of a tippet.
Wet flies DO imitate natural insects if the right materials are used - soft, flowing NATURAL material and not the artificial day
glo chintz used in many modern attractor flies. Feathers like partridge, hen, starling and furs like rabbit, mink, possum, beaver
and simple colored thread make up my sample of wet fly material.
The above fly is a rather "busy" soft hackle and it works well over riffles during caddis time.
Hook - standard wet or dry sizes 12 through 16
Body - peacock, two strands
Rear Hackle - very soft hen hackle from the bend to the thorax of the fly
Front Hackle - Olive colored hen hackle (or any thing you want but make sure that it's darker than the rear hackle)
Yes, it can look like a mess but when it's wet and "swimming" in the current it is, as the old English writers would say, a "killing fly!!!
The State Of The Season
The first decade of fly fishing for me involved enduring the ritual of "Opening Day", a miserable time of high, cold water, rain, snow, icy guides and unbelievable crowds. I now have to remind myself that times are better now and that the old opening day was always on the third Saturday in April and we are not even there yet and we are catching some fish.
It has been a cold April so far and that has set things back a bit. I can remember Quill Gordons popping up on this date in the past. Not this year!!! It will be anyone's guess as to when the Swift will drop to its historical flow. My guess?? Late May!!!
The Millers will be full of racing canoes this weekend so stay clear of it.
The Ware River is rounding back into shape as the cfs has dropped below 300!!!
Better yet, fish a smaller stream that doesn't get much attention such as the Mill River in Williamsburg and Haydenville. The River Rd. section always produces!!
Book A Trip
The strangest thing is happening. Mid week trips have always booked slower than Friday trips. Not this year!! Tuesday and Wednesdays have been flying off the self but I have Friday openings. Contact me to grab one!!!
I live well within an hour of the following rivers: The Millers, the Swift,the Ware,the EB, WB and the MB of the Westfield. What does that mean? It means I'm a lucky guy who can pick a different river for almost every day of the week and sometimes I do. Sometimes I'll fish the same river 3 days in a week BUT I'll fish 3 different sections which can be like fishing 3 different rivers. The Bears Den and the Lower C/R of the Millers are almost like fishing different rivers. And please don't forget Bondsville on the Swift which IS a different river from what's above. The same is true of the MB of the Westfield. We realize this after a few years casting over the same water, we learn what it's like and we learn it's secrets. And most important of all we, if we love to fish freestones, usually have the place to ourselves. I'm beginning to think that freestone rivers, if they have a spirit to them, actually repel the "it's all about me" angler who must be seen AT and be able to talk ABOUT destination tailwaters like they are the only rivers that count! (Yes, I fish tailwaters but my BEST moments (and fish) have been on homely, old freestones).
This season one should take the path less traveled. Find a new spot or get reacquainted with an old one and try to learn its secrets.
River Reports
Yup, the trucks are rolling as is the Swift and the Millers - with water that is! Both rivers are flowing at full bank and that has been going on since early October. Don't pray for rain if you can help it!! What I would love is a normal Spring and Summer and not like the last 3 years (flood or drought). I think that it needs to warm up a bit to get the insects going (that's why we call it flyfishing.)
"My biggest worry is that when I'm dead and gone, my wife will sell my fishing gear for what I said I paid for it." -Koos Brandt
As some of you saw on this blog Ireland St, the road from Rt 143 in Chesterfield will be closed in April due to bridge construction. The construction will be on the bridge over West Branch Brook about a half mile from the intersection of Rt. 143 and Ireland St. This will mean a major detour for anyone coming from the east (rt. 143).
The best way to get to the Gorge will be:
Mass Pike to Rt 20 exit Huntington then take Rt 112N and then take a right onto Ireland St to a right onto River road.
From points east: take Rt 66W in Northampton to the above Rt 112 and then take the above directions to River Rd (Chesterfield Gorge.
I've emailed the DFW to see if they know of this situation and how it will effect their stocking plans.
If anyone knows of other alternatives please contact me.
Latest Stockings The Ware River has been stocked but it's flow is around 370cfs. Be careful
The West Branch (WB) of the Westfield River - At 316 cfs you can fish this beautiful stream. (I'll be there!!!)
The Millers River (Winchendon) - Downstream in Athol, Orange and Erving this river is blown out and with the canoe race on April 13 (water release) it will stay there BUT Winchendon is far upstream from that event and as I write is flowing at 258cfs which is GOOD. Where to fish? Find River Rd (rt 202) for a starting point.
Book A Trip Avoid the mad rush to find an open date for April, May and June. Reserve a date NOW!!!!
It's still Winter on the EB!!!
Plowed up snow blocks the top of the EB access road and the rest is a sheet of ice.
