"Angling is extremely time consuming. That's sort of the whole point." - Thomas McGuane
Upper Swift Brown
As I write this in the pre-dawn hours the first snow of the season has covered the neighborhood lawns. Years ago, before I discovered the Swift and the Farmie, my freestone season would grind to a halt with the first snow. That's not the case over the last 20+ years as the tailwaters provide the "fix" that we need to get us through this dark season. It has been a GREAT year on the Swift with some notable changes. Let's go over some of them.
First, I've seen more big browns this year than in the past. "Big" means in excess of 20 inches with many measured in pounds and not inches.
Second, the brookies have changed their habits. Some traditional spawning grounds were chock full of fish while others like across from the Gauge and the Duck Pond were empty. The Gauge stretch, which runs along the opposite bank for a couple of hundred feet, used to attract a hundred brook trout. Last year was a bust because of the high water but this year the flow was perfect but still nothing.
The riffles below the Duck Pond were prime spawning ground until 2017 when it was invaded with green algae which covered the spawning beds. The brookies went elsewhere. Then 2018 brought the flood but I expected a recovery this year.
There are still a lot of brook trout in the Swift and one season does not make a trend. The DFW should spend some time studying this instead of electroshocking clonebows, a truly artificial fish!!!!
Let me echo the words of frequent contributor "Falsecast": Stay off the gravel beds especially above Route 9. Much of the spawning is winding down and because you may not see trout doesn't mean the eggs are not there. Stay off the gravel until February.
A couple of bows
There are still plenty of fish in the Swift but you have to fish for them and that means trying out some "roads less traveled". Yes, I know that I sound like a broken record but fishing the same old place with the same old characters gets old very quickly. Why not fish Cady Lane and I mean DEEP into Cady Lane? Give Bondsville a try or maybe the 2nd pull off on River Road. What have you got to lose, a spot at the Pipe or the Y Pool????
Book Me
I know that you have some unused hours on that 2019 licence and you don't want to let them go stale, do you? Now's a chance to learn a new section of a river. Contact me.
Good to see you Saturday on the Swift Alex B. I wondered where you went!!!!!
Ken
8 comments:
I think falsecast is right. Gravel flats should be a "no wade" zone from October through March.
TL
Hello,
I am a longtime reader of this blog and really appreciate the information sharing.
Has anyone been to the Bears Den area on the Millers or Bliss Pool area of the Westfield? Any
activity? Thank you
Hello,
I am a longtime reader of this blog and really appreciate the information sharing.
Has anyone been to the Bears Den area on the Millers or Bliss Pool area of the Westfield? Any
activity? Thank you
tbooth,
The EB is a yes (fishing is ok) and I know nothing of the bears den. Be careful of the dirt road at the EB if it snows.
Ken
tbtooth,
I fished Bears Den area of the Millers this past Thursday upstream from the red house, up to the train bridge, and a ways downstream - past the corner and little island. There are definitely some nice runs and really fishing looking water, but I did not see/smell/hear a single fish of any kind in the 3-4 hours I was there. Not a single bump on nymphs or buggers or any hail marys.
Granted, it was my second time there so I'm far from an authority on that stretch. I did see one other angler who fished the first few runs and then left without hooking anything as well.
Cheers,
Lewis
Went to the Swift today, along with the biggest crowd I have ever seen there--22 cars at the Pipe parking lot, 18 all around the west side of the river on Route 9, with 5 more on the east side, along with random cars at every other pull off. Saw licenses from NY and every New England state except Maine, and people tromping all over the gravel areas above route 9. I saw one person catch a fish, and I caught a small brookie myself, after watching one rise and snatch a fluffy white insect off the surface; there was a hatch of some sort, and a small caddis proved successful. I did manage a few hits swinging a soft hackle, but nothing else produced any interest. Of course, on the warmest day we are likely to see until April of May, I can't complain too much.
Charles
Charles,
I was there for a while.
Ken
8 cars down at Cady Lane also. What's that about 60 total?
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