"Fly fishing is the most fun you can have standing up" - Arnold Gingrich
I'm not one to wave the pom-poms for "hot, new flies" or that creature known a a "guide fly". Flies are flies and we have seen them all before but every so often one DOES seem to make a difference. I wrote about the DSM Caddis and now I'll throw another into the mix - The Copper Grouse.
Thursday morning I'm on the Swift swinging a partridge and orange (always a good choice) and I am having some success with the brookies with about 4 to the net in an hour and a half. It seemed slow so I tied on a fly I had dreamed up that had a mess of subtle colors - orange, cooper and red made up the body with grouse or partridge on the hackles.
That's when all hell broke loose! 2 big bows slammed this fly followed by 6 brookies. The funny thing was I was fishing the same spot that resulted in slow action earlier AND all of those trout were caught in about 20 minutes. It had to be something with the fly that turned them on.
MOVE AROUND
The Fall results in more movement of fish in the Swift as the brookies are in search of spawning grounds and the bows and browns are in search of brookies yet it seems to be that the same old fishing haunts crowd up first and huge sections remain mostly empty. Yesterday I took a client, who was new to the Swift below Route 9, through the gauge run (caught a nice bow), went through the flats below (brookies), stopped at the Pipe for 10 minutes and then hooked and broke off a rising brown of about 18-20 inches on a size 22 olive emerger down by the horse farm. That brown will be stuck in his memory for a long time AND the only place where we saw anyone in the water was at the Pipe.
The Swift
It's been a good Fall and we have a month of it left. Some BIG, FAT browns have been seen and are being caught. Don't miss out!!!
Ken
18 comments:
A little copper is magic.
It certainly is!!
Ken
Good morning Ken and all, although I do enjoy using large steamers I believe they have a time and place, I truly consider my self a wet fly fisherman and my biggest qualm with the double articulated fad is that most rods are becoming more and more fast action and the line speeds are gained only at the cost of delicate presentation which also can be crucial for fishing steamers as well
Got to the EB at 10:30 left at 1:30 caught 3 nice bows, but lost 3, fooled all with a #14 nymph of my own design and a micro shot 6"s up the 5x tippet. I saw 4 other anglers including a spin guy, treble hooks on the C&R, I hate it. Also the folks from the Westfield River wild and scenic group cleanin the river, god bless them. No sun but a great Veterans Day.
Hey, the FF Industry has to make a living! Lord knows I have gotten sucked down the rabbit hole a few times based on looking into my closet. Trout haven't changed much over the years so a lot of the tried and true patterns still work! If I look at my flyboxes at the end of the year I see the same empty rows where my favorite patterns used to reside and now reside in fish or the bottom. Slowly but surely I am paring down to fewer and fewer patterns and focus more on technique. Only took me 50+ years to figure that out!
Ken,
Nothing doing lately in my usually productive zones in Bondsville. After reading your latest column, I believe the fish are elsewhere following the brookies. Only so far they can go being the last dam isn't that far upstream. This time of year it would most likely be time well spent fishing from the Bridge St. dam on down.
I did come across a few sipping rises in a slow deep zone, but got no hits with soft hackles, mine sized 14 or 16. After reading about the big brown your client connected with, I might have done better tying on something quite a bit smaller. Those rises were so subtle that you had to be in the river to see them.
Sam
Paul Fay,
I couldn't agree more!!!
Gary,
I'd like one, maybe two more trips to the EB this month if I can find the time.
Ken
Got to Cady Lane at 10:30 today, no other cars, everyone was parked up on rt 9. My son and I managed 3 large bows and 3 brookies on partridge and orange and egg patterns. It was a nice way to spend Veterans Day.
Semper Fi
Mike,
You really cannot beat a day like that. You will remember it forever and so will your son!
Sam,
About 10 years ago I went to a TU meeting where this guy told me about Bondsville and the great Fall brookie fishing just below that last dam (River St). I would think that all those downstream fish would be right up against that dam at this time of year. I've never seen anyone in that spot.
Ken
Sam I have always suspected that there is some back and forth movement from swift to ware, and there is also a certain trib down there (shouldn't be hard to deduce which one) that fish move into in the fall or any time there is enough water I suspect. The past few years I have spent a lot of time trying to track movement like this on a few streams and you would be surprised the places these fish end up!!
Just wondering your preferred leader setup for swinging the soft hackle flies? Seems to be lots of different theories on this; but most are for fishing much larger water, and certainly not gin clear 50 cfs that the Swift is. From the photos, it seems all of your flies are unweighted. Do you add split shot to the leader? If so how far away from the fly?
Sam
Got a couple brookies with soft hackles about 100 yards upstream from where you fish. I switched over to my elk hair caddis and first cast I missed hooking a nice brown... Slack line is my enemy.
Chubs were hitting my dry flies and landed 4 of those. Not what I'm fishing for but one was good size and was fun to bring in.
Paul,
I would be interested to hear about where fish end up in your experience, without giving up key spots and unnamed blue lines. I think it is fascinating how trout move around depending on time of year and conditions.
For example, a brook trout I read about recently that was electronically tagged in Maine and swam 72 miles downstream after spawning to spend the winter in a New Hampshire lake, then showed up the following fall to spawn again in its native head waters.
Fishing the Quaboag a few years ago I netted a brook trout that looked as native and colored up as could be. Hard to believe that trout could survive the summer in that river as warm as it gets, but there it was in December. Maybe a winter zone for brook trout, or at least that particular one.
Regards, Sam
Ken,
I certainly believe what you heard at the TU meeting about the fishing below that River St. dam. They want to get upstream, but that is far as they can go. I know one thing, the zones I have been fishing lately have been very quiet except for the couple of risers against the banks and wood piles on Monday afternoon. True to form I couldn't figure them out, but they were fun to cast to in hopes I would get a hit.
Best, Sam
Great variation. Love the copper and will tie up a few before reporting back. This week's cold is a good excuse to sit at the vise. Thanks for posting the suggestion.
Juice,
All my soft hackles are unweighted and that's the way they should be fished.
Ken
Don,
Glad to hear you got a hit from a nice brown. Those Bondsville browns are pretty wily and just getting one to hit is a good accomplishment and you know where that one hangs out. Not much fishing for me lately. Hope to see you on the river again one of these days.
Regards, Sam
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