- John Gierach
Soft Hackle Sulphur
July was great on the Swift or maybe it was the pent up frustration of having that river spill its banks from November to mid May to the point of being unfishable except for the Y Pool area which got B O R I N G by December. Hell, I actually got used to fishing at 150 cfs instead of the historical 55!!!
I've noticed that some folks took my advice and have spread out and are doing some "far and fine" jungle fishing and from what I've heard (and experienced) those are the anglers who are running into browns!!! I've taken browns in skinny, bank side water that I thought were tiny brook trout by the size of the rise form.
The chunkbows are still getting it done and it appears that the brook trout are everywhere. In short, we are lucky to have this river in our backyards.
August Bookings
The days are getting shorter and will get cooler and the EB and the Millers will be entertaining us again. Regulars like Gary on the EB and Bill on the Millers never left their home rivers this Summer and did well. This is a good time to really get to know these rivers and not just the popular stocking spots. Email me and we will set up a time.
Your Comments
Thank you for your great comments about local conditions and experiences. I have called the Comments Section the "blog within a blog" and for good reason. Keep it coming!!!
Ken
7 comments:
Ken-
A great post as always. Just thought I'd let you know that the folks at Tall Timber in Pittsburg, NH gave the Swift a 'shout-out' as one of the tailwater fisheries in New England that produces consistently. I have copied the link below for anyone that wants to read about the conditions further North. And if one is looking for a change in scenery, The upper Connecticut is a great trip w/ great fishing!
https://www.talltimberfishing.com/wp/2019/07/fortunate/
Good points Ken, on the rivers and fishing. In my "perfect" world, August will be a bit cooler, with similar precip... just enough, but not to much.
The chunk's on the swift are fat indeed...
It will be interesting to see how the shocking study relates to brookie spawning. I wonder if that's part of the rationale for the frequent sampling, to better understand movement of those amazing fish in the river over the fall? Hopefully that data will be available when they complete the study.
Will,
We were told that the sampling has to do with rainbow movements. We were also told that they may not sample at BT spawning time because they don't want to disturb the redds.
Ken
I talked to the survey crew as they were setting up upstream of rt 9 Thursday morning and was told that they did selective pools from reds landing to the guage earlier in the week, including all of cady Lane to guage, and surveyed 12 rainbows in 4 hours of river time with a dozen workers. We watched them working a few pools going upstream during the morning and they seemed to be counting most of the fish that have been in those pools during the last few weeks. I would have liked to have seen what they did at the y pool - can any witnesses comment on how they did it and with what results?
mw,
"and surveyed 12 rainbows in 4 hours of river time with a dozen workers."
I think it was more than 12 based on what they told me.
Ken
Hi Ken - I was up there when they were sampling the Y pool and saw them get 4 Rainbows in about 4 minutes. I did not ask what they were testing, but I certainly hope all the data becomes available.
I was up in Pittsburg, NH last weekend and camped at Lake Francis SP. I was not there for fishing, I was hiking with my wife, though I brought my gear and it was hard not to wet a line.
I did, however, walk up the dam and met a few people. One of them, a local from the area, immediately asked about the Swift and also knew the Nissitissit and Sqauannakook. It was odd. Now that I realize Tall Timber gave it a shout out, I understand. That said, I don't want any more shout outs to the Swift. It already has a serious crowding problem that is getting worse and not better. This report from the electro shocking could make things worse.
Also, I prefer the 150 cfs flow to the 55, but it is great the river is back in shape. The BT spawn and fishing should be better.
Falsecast,
I don't know what Tall Timbers interest is in the Swift although I have an idea.
If you go to the Y Pool area you will have crowds. If you go to the Pipe you will have crowds. The truth is that the rest of the river is sparsely populated.
Ken
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