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:
Hook - 10 to 16 wet or dry
Tag - orange thread
Body - olive thread
Thorax - fiery brown ostrich
Hackle - sparse partridge
I like the way it looks
Ken
9 comments:
Ken,
Great timing with the bamboo topic. I'm thinking of springing for one of those Chinese cane rods that I've heard are not too bad and the price is right. Any experience with them?
GW
Hi Ken - for GW, I picked up one of those Chinese rods on the cheap (got a discount on the Evening Sun's frequent flyer program). Came with a spare tip - broke one of them I think the third day out, then the wrap on the stripping guide became unraveled, then the ferrule on the first section fell off and I broke the second tip section, maybe got a half dozen days of fishing out of it, total before it ended up in the garbage. You get what you pay for and not worth the (cheap) price IMHO.
Tough early season conditions - did manage a few small wild browns on a #18 parachute Adams from a New Jersey thin blue line on Easter Sunday.
Mike from Andover
Mike from Andover,
I have two of those rods and they worked for me. No wraps came undone BUT I fished one on a very cold December morning and the iced up tip broke. My mistake (remember that the BEST of the bamboo rods came with TWO tips. There's a reason for that.) and it will always be my warm weather rod going forward. It works on a 5 wt line but not so good on a 4 wt. (graphite is a lot more forgiving). I have six bamboo rods, have caught many trout with flies from 14 through mid 20's with them and they are soooo beautiful to work with that I CAN NEVER GIVE THEM UP. That's REAL flyfishing, something that seems to be lost among the newcomers.
My best bamboo rod was made by a local craftsman. A 4wt and perfect because it works a 3wt and a 5 wt without missing a beat. Yes, I nymph with this rod but prefer a longer rod when I do that BUT not with those wimpy tipped graphite rods that are all the craze.
Ken
I stopped into the swift today to take a look. Completely un-fishable. Ran into an old timer who said the last time he saw the water this high it didn’t get back to normal until late July.
Matt,
This 877 cfs may be the highest flow that I've seen for the Swift. BTW, the record for this date is 1460 cfs set in 1956. Now, this overflow condition MAY last into the early summer which will raise the water temperature of the Swift since the Swift will be receiving warmed up surface water from Quabbin.
Ken
I'm glad the swift is running so high. Gives those stockers time to settle in and spread out. That place gets pounded 365 days a year. They should consider closing it for spawning times. Also allows me to focus on local freestones instead of going to the fish club with the masses.
Pat,
Yes, it gets pounded but there's no reason to close it at spawning time since brook trout spawn VERY SUCCESSFULLY every year and it appears the browns do too. Spawning got screwed up this year because of the HIGH water and not due to fishing pressure! Bows don't spawn there successfully it appears. In fact, the high water has kept the fishing pressure down especially below Route 9.
Ken
Ken, I guess the only encouragement I get from all this rain is that stocked fish will get spread out which should make for fine dry fly fishing come June assuming flows moderate by then. I looked at the Swift River flow web site and the graph showed the flow at nearly 900 cfs again. I get concerned if the warmer Quabbin water is still coming over the dam come the hot months. Nothing we can do about that so hoping for the best with moderating rain fall in the near future.
Sam
Sam,
We need a dry Spring to lower the Quabbin level. It spilled over in 2009 in early July and it rose the Swift temperature to almost 70 degrees.
Ken
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