You certainly nailed that one Ken. I do a lot of small midge nymphing using Gamakatsu C12BM barbless midge large eye hooks. I fish them in sizes 26 to 30 and always use 5X tippet because I can with the large eye. It has never seemed to affect the amount of takes I get plus I can quickly bring the fish to net and get them released without exhausting them. Comment by reader regarding tippet size, July 2015
The Rivers
Let's start with the freestones. The Millers got a shot in the arm last week and is now running at 345 cfs. It's still an evening stream for the next month although Bill from Tully found eager browns feeding in high water (700+ cfs) last week. The EB is still producing at 70 cfs (read Gary's comments from the previous post. Some of the best dry fly action I have had has been on this river in late Summer and early Fall with a low flow. This is a great morning river!!! The Swift is down to below 40 cfs AND will be electro sampled AGAIN this week Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. There's some talk about doing this on a monthly basis which I think
is overkill ESPECIALLY if they sample during brookie spawning!!!!!!
I'm getting tired of people telling me that they see poaching but do not call the environmental police. The EP responds but they need something to respond to and that is a phone call!!! The number is: 800-632-8075. Now, put it in your phone. Take your time, I'll wait!!!
The WD 40 (I think)
Who knows what this fly is after a hundred variations have shot out of vises. There's even a WD 50 that someone is laying claim to but anyway you look at it there's only one WD 40 and it is a wonderfully basic mayfly nymph that gets better as it gets smaller (up to a point).
Hook - 18 to 24 emerger or scud
Tail (shuck)- short tag of olive thread or floss combed out with a dubbing brush
Body - Olive thread or floss
Thorax - grey or olive rabbit
Wing case - Olive or black thread
(no wood duck tail or wingcase. The thread or floss works fine.)
Keep this fly slim It is a great early hatch BWO fly!!
Booking August
We have lost about 2 minutes of sunlight per day since June 21, the longest day of the year and that means one thing: cooler weather is on its way. Things will begin to change in subtle ways: morning lawns will have a heavier dew and that old work shirt will begin to feel good early in the day. Soon we might not mind a bit of heat in the kitchen as we transition to REAL food (just my opinion). But the thing I look forward to is the earlier evening rise and the chill of an early morning river.
I am booking now for August and September. Don't get left out!!!
Ken
17 comments:
Good point about calling EPO's if one see's poaching. The river a gift to all, and poaching kills that. Have that number ready to go.
Hibernation,
All one has to do is call!!! It would be good if other fly fishing sites picked up the torch!
Ken
I reported a violation on the EB near 143 in chesterfield last year and the dispatcher told me she would get an officer out to that area, fast forward to this year I get checked by said game warden and I told him the story and that I reported it and he tells me he never knew anything about it and it was his district he worked... unfortunately some violations go unnoticed I guess
Anonymous 9:28
That is bad news!! Being a year ago maybe he forgot.
I hope for their sake that they are trying to respond.
Ken
Current EPO staffing levels are way down, maybe below 50%. No surprise that we get no response. If more officers aren't added then this situation will keep on reoccurring.
Just curious, with all this electro sampling going on is it even worth a trip to the Swift on a sampling day?
Anonymous 943,
From what I have heard, over the years, is that EP cops are patrolling the Connecticut River for drunken and/or speeding boaters on weekends and not on the other rivers working against game law violators. I've even seen the on Route 202 doing construction traffic a few years ago. That's not there job!!!
If the staffing levels are down we should report ALL violations so that a greater staffing level is needed.
mattk,
Only if your fishing a section that isn't being sampled that day.
Ken
Ken you are correct about the EP officers being on the Connecticut I got checked Memorial Day weekend and the officer that checked me after telling him about the violation that went unnoticed informed me he was on his way to the Connecticut river because it would be packed with boaters
Hey Ken,
As I remember from way back when, late 1970’s perhaps, when the WD-40 first found a place in my fly box it was tied with a Wood Duck barred lemon flank feather tail. Hence the “WD” in the name of the fly. We most commonly used it as either a pre hatch mayfly emerger or as a midge larva or pupa in either still or moving water. One of those inherently suggestive nymphs that works in many situations, obviously from coast to coast.
Sorry about the poaching problem you’re having. Not much different on the other side of the country except the fly fishermen are part of the problem too. They’ve had to amend the regs in Oregon to keep fly fishermen from snagging salmon in the Chetco and Winchuk rivers during low water years.
Yes, I’m still a faithful reader, and not quite out of comments.
Regards, Phil Foster
Ken most of the fly guys don't even know where catch an release starts a Cady Lane.I have been fishing there for forty years have many fly fishermen state to me that I'm breaking the law.When they don't even know the boundary line .Like that fly fishermen stated he didn't know where they came from.
Phil Foster,
I like the WD-40 because it looks like a natural nymph and yes, you can use it anywhere.
Snagging flyfishers??????? What next?
Keep commenting!!!!!
Ken
Well i did end up going not knowing where the sampling went on. Got a bow n a brown at the tree pool. Picky fish. Only taking super small and dark food off the top. Don't like going to midge patterns but i ysed a 24 black to get em.
Ken,
Unable to fish lately, I still keep track of the Swift Flow. I see it us up over 100 CFS again. Why the increased flow? I would not imagine water is coming over the dam again.
Best, Sam
Sam,
An unexpected flow increase on the Swift during the Summer will most likely be the result of a release to supplement a low flow in the Connecticut River. Seems that it happens every August. As soon as we get rain the Connecticut River will go up and the Swift will go down.
The fishing has been pretty good!!
Ken
Another nice bow from the EB this morning fooled with a #12 Iso parachute,he came up, slammed it and hooked himself,I like when that happens. Just me and a few bugs on the river.
Glad you and your clients have had good action, Ken. I will be out there again soon myself. I have been tying up a few soft hackles during my break in the action.
Kind of funny, I tied up a good number of Catskill dry flies last winter with plans in mind for them. I think I only fished them once, that being on the Ware one evening and the little browns in there at the time took them in good fashion. Beyond that, I have only been fishing soft hackles and nymphs. I imagine I'll fish those Catskill drys again, but don't think I need to tie up any more of them.
Appreciate what you do here and Best Regards, Sam
Gary,
Good Work!!
Sam,
Our dry fly season was late this year plus soft hackles can be fished like a dry.
Ken
Post a Comment