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
Above the "pipe"
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.
More rain in the forecast they say!!!!!
Ken
17 comments:
Thanks for the pictures and updates they also stocked that water will move the fish around
On the EB at 7 this morning,air temp 35 water temp 46 to 48 degrees. Caught 2 nice bows,both fooled with #10 Gartside soft hackle minnow. As the morning went on it became spring and the best the weather I've had on the water this April. Out of there at 12,drivin out I counted 9 fisherman, some that I spoke to were swift fisherman avoiding the torrent, The EB was quick but fishable in spots,and was dropping while I was there.
Thanks for the photo review. I've been steering clear of the Swift and will stay away till it recedes significantly. It is too dangerous to even risk. The good news is that the trout will be well broken in by the time we can again get out to fish for them.
Gary,
That's good news!!!
Ken
Ken I was talking to a couple folks at a fly shop the other day. We were noting how the swift, when it's gone over the spillway in the past, stayed up for say a couple months max. And no where near this high. It's been going over since October I think, and given the current rate, if it stops raining maybe late May it will stop- that would be something like 8 months. You have a longer memory that I, can you recall it ever going over for that long?
It's not the magnitude of the rain's we have been getting or the snow... it's the consistency / frequency. forecast for next week has showers almost every day... If this keeps up maybe we will have more salmon coming over this fall :), who knows, maybe a few goofy smallies will explore the spillway and come on down this summer. Who's up for throwing Dahlberg Divers with me - in the Y pool :) ha ha ha!
Agreed on the little waters - enjoy em!
Swift rising still at 1170! Make it stop! I hope to see zero weeds this fall with all this water. Wonder what new pockets and channels will have formed.
Great pictures, Ken. Hard to believe all the rain we have received since late July of 2018. More rain today and more coming tonight. It has to be tough being a fly fishing guide in this weather pattern. Hopefully the weather will improve for all of us who like to fish streams.
Sam
Hibernation,
Todays flow of 1460 cfs tops the record for this date. The old record was from the 1950's!
NO SMALLIES PLEASE!!!! There is a good chance that Quabbin will be spilling over in May and June and that will be warm surface water which may have smallmouth. I saw a smallmouth in the Y years ago. They would love to feast on the brookies.
Eye,
This is crazy!!!!!!!!!!
Sam,
time to fish blue lines!!!
Ken
Ken,
I'll second the thank you for keeping us pictorial updated on the Swift's status. While it may be unfishable, I'm keen to check out this historic flow in person over the next week.
For those of us not lucky enough to live in central mass, it's a little more difficult to "efficiently" bounce around trying different thin blue lines within easy day trip drives from the Boston area....and have a reasonable chance of finding non jungle type fishing in a tranquil, natural setting. So, I would appreciate any input on whether streams like the east branch or the west branch of the Swift are fishable right now and if so, any general advice on the best sections to access would be greatly appreciated! Any other stream recommendations in the general quabbin watershed area - or short drives around the quabbin watershed area would also be appreciated.
Thanks,
Paul
Paul,
I can only cover so many streams with in-person trips and with reports that come in from anglers. It would be EASY for someone to check out the Ma DFW stocking report to find out where trout have been planted. I think of Willard Brook in Ashby which was a favorite spot of mine years ago and is just a beautiful stream. Many smaller waters exist in Eastern Ma although many flyfishers pass them up to get to bigger waters in central/Western Ma. That's why I write about them.
Try the Quinapoxet River or the Assabet or try the Parker River on the North Shore or the Shawsheen River or head a bit west to the Squannacook and the Nissitissit River. There are many and you should acquaint yourself with them.
That should hold you for a while.
Ken
Paul,
The EB of the Swift is good in the 75-110 range. It's fishable below that certainly... But right now at 1000~ ish it's not enjoyable for darn sure. Sections, like the couple of ponds (Browns and Connors) could be fished. And some spots on the river, some of the bigger pools. If this weeks predicted showers are mostly drizzle, you should be good to go in a week there... but if it's more of the weather weve been having... It will be a while.
Good news is that being a smaller watershed, it goes down reasonably quickly to fishable levels...
Ken
Reference your readers comment on central mass streams I use an app called Stream Map to check flows and of course Mass Stocking Report. Yesterday I fished Parker Brook in Oakham and East Branch Swift in Petersham as they looked like my best bet to get close to the water. Both I'm sure are useless this weekend at we had over 2" of rain here in Spencer and they had over 3" in Hardwick overnight. More rain is in the forecast.JW
Jim W.,
Are you talking about the USGS Flow site. That's what I use.
Will,
The EB of the Swift has been flowing over its average rate for a few months now. It has been WET out there.
Ken
Fished some blue lines in the Millers watershed today. Found some fishable water and pulled a couple of native brookies out, using a size 12 bead head nymph on my 2 wt. 42 degrees, but a good day. Quinapoxet is great, but needs to drop off to under 200 cfs to be worthwhile; otherwise, it is best for kayaking, since unweighted flies just bounce off the flow. Wish it was catch and release. If anyone teases a 20-inch brown to the net, please release it. They are there, but there are not many. Ken...is the Fort River worth a trip? Fished it when I was a Umass grad student in the late 70s. Lots of trout, but it was also choking with suckers. Of course, not being a species-ist, I would welcome a 16 inch sucker on my 3 wt.
Charles,
Even the Swift has it's Spring run of suckers and the MB of the Westfield is loaded with them and yes, they put up a bulldog fight.
The Fort River - some swear by it, some swear at it! BTW, it was stocked this past week.
Ken
Ken,
I took a ride with my wife today to witness the historic flow. All I can say is it is unreal. Below the last dam in Bondsville it is a rushing torrent. Those old dams in Bondsville must be pretty well made to hold up to this kind of water pressure. The industrial park area where the water spreads out some in places is roaring like crazy, but I can see zones against banks where trout might be holding, but wading at least for me is out of the question. It will be darned interesting to see what the Swift is like after this high water event ends. New holding channels, new undercut banks, not to mention what is getting washed over the Quabbin dam right now. Interesting times we live in.
Sam
Thanks for all the suggestions from the crew on both eastern MA streams as well as the detailed info on the east branch of the swift and some other central mass streams. Based on this feedback and the fact that some of the eastern MA streams that I have visited have to much of a suburban feel for my liking I ventured off to explore the west branch of the swift with my friends Ricky Bobby and Ricky Bobby Jr.
While we were more focused on being in a beautiful setting where we had a shot at catching some native brookies, our prospects for catching fish looked good based on recent stocking in three sections of the stream. We decided to focus on the upper reaches of the west branch and accessed the stream where it flows under Jennison road (dirt road). FYI, we had planned to get there by following Moosehorn road off 202 to Jennison, but .... the first section of the road was closed since a bridge had washed out!!
We parked by the yellow gate that closes off the northern section of Cooleyville road( at the intersection with Jennison Rd or Rockwell Hill road) which is a nice grass service road which runs parallel to the stream for a healthy stretch. According to the MA. stocking report, this upper reach had been stocked 4/17. The flow was quite reasonable with pocket water mixed in with lots of really great looking smaller pools and runs. We fished most of the more promising water- about .75-1 mile or so down stream and pretty much stopped just above the section where the stream hits a small pond and where you will see lots of recent beaver activity. While it was an absolutely beautiful walk through the woods in what felt like a classic brook trout stream we did not see or connect in the slightest way with any fish - zip, zero, nada. I'm not sure if things improve as you continue to move downstream, but that will have to wait for another time.
We then decided to do a "fly by" of the Osgood brook/Miller river intersection just below the power transfer station. Wow, there is a sh*#load of water running through the Millers. When I checked the flow, it was only 20cfs below record for 4/28 which was back in 1969. It will be interesting to see how long it takes the Millers to get back down into a comfortable fishing range.
Best,
Paul
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