I'm old enough so when I say "years ago" I mean decades and not a handful of years. In short, that insurance commercial with the saying "we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two"fits this blog perfectly! So, back to the time machine for this 1970's era event.
Years ago the Squannacook River was my home river and I met a lot of local fish hawks on those waters. One of those characters was an old gent who only fished nymphs and only BLACK NYMPHS. It didn't matter what insect was hatching or what stage of life cycle the insect was going through, black was the color! All his sunken flies were black and his fly box looked surreal. One thing was for sure and that was the fact that he caught tons of trout, period!!!
Years ago the Squannacook River was my home river and I met a lot of local fish hawks on those waters. One of those characters was an old gent who only fished nymphs and only BLACK NYMPHS. It didn't matter what insect was hatching or what stage of life cycle the insect was going through, black was the color! All his sunken flies were black and his fly box looked surreal. One thing was for sure and that was the fact that he caught tons of trout, period!!!
Now, why did this color work for him? First, he had enough skill to catch trout and could of done it probably with any fly. I think that black worked because its profile STANDS OUT in the water better than flies of multiple colors. Now, I never tested out this theory but I never forgot about it either. Last November I put it to a test on the Swift.
The black soft hackle looked ok with its black floss body, ultra thin copper rib and black starling hackles. (note: starling is very fragile so it pays to tie the feather in by the tip which causes fewer break offs. Do this with all soft hackles) Both size 14 and 16 took fish on that cold day. A better fly? Too early to tell but I like the idea of simplifying my fly selection. Black starling beats ALL other soft hackles when You want to create a black emerging fly. CDC doesn't cut it because it doesn't hold up, period!
The black soft hackle looked ok with its black floss body, ultra thin copper rib and black starling hackles. (note: starling is very fragile so it pays to tie the feather in by the tip which causes fewer break offs. Do this with all soft hackles) Both size 14 and 16 took fish on that cold day. A better fly? Too early to tell but I like the idea of simplifying my fly selection. Black starling beats ALL other soft hackles when You want to create a black emerging fly. CDC doesn't cut it because it doesn't hold up, period!
Things I'd like to see
I'd like to see fly fishing only on the list of MAJOR rivers as listed by the DFW. The future of fishing on these rivers is Fly Fishing. 10 or so years ago I conducted a survey on these blog from mid March through June. I asked readers to count the number of anglers they saw on a fishing trip and asked them to determine if the anglers that they encountered were fly fishing or using another method on flowing water. (Rivers) I excluded any C&R or fly only sections and small brooks that were stocked. In March the flyfishing percentage was around 40% and other methods around 60%. Forward cast to April and the reverse was true" 60% were fly fishing and 40% were other methods. Double Haul into May and it was 80% flyfishing, 20% other methods. June was ALL FLYFISHING!!! Numbers of anglers INCREASED in April through June. What does that tell us. It tells us that spin and bait folks don't show up as the season progresses, they decrease in numbers because the chance of filling a limit decreases as the season goes on BUT FLY FISHERS CONTINUE TO FISH RIGHT THROUGH THE SUMMER. Fly fishers practice defacto C&R because they WANT the fishing to continue. What's wrong with that??
I've guided and encountered many flyfishers from all over the eastern states who have heard of the Swift and the Deerfield and the Millers who can't believe that we allow catch & keep on what are becoming destination rivers.
Time for a change!!!
Things I Don't Want To See
Articulated Streamers have become a fad in these parts. They can be essential in other fisheries but when your average BIG trout is +or - 20 inches are they really needed? I've seen BIG fish taken (6lb browns and 30 inch salmon) taken out of the Swift on everything from size 20 to size 30 flies, that's REAL FLYFISHING) to know that you don't need to be throwing beefsteak when something more manageable will do.
What really bothers me about articulated streamers is that some cowboys have stuck on plastic wiggle tails to these flies. The Bass Pro group must be having a field day knowing that they have "soiled our linen" so to speak. If you use these ungodly appendages you have crossed from fly fishing to the Dark Side . Yup, my opinion!
Another Thing(s) I Don't Want To See
Competition flyfishing - Who invented this monster. I have heard that chosen rivers get the shit stocked out of them before the event. What does that prove?
Stomach Pumping - This seems to be on the wane and that's a good thing. Gastric lavage is pointless because we already have a good sense of that the trout is feeding on.
The Super Bowl
The Super Bowl
Jimmy G. is the Patriots connection to this Super Bowl. I want the 49'ers to win. (Really - they won't)
Ken
.
24 comments:
Ken,
I agree with everything you say. People come from everywhere to fish the Swift and other Ma rivers. They are fly fishermen and they are catch and release. You would think that the State would try to promote what they have by making it all catch and release but they don't. They seem to want to protect an shrinking minority but the $$ spent comes from us.
Joe B.
I think you are spot on with more FF on major rivers. I'd like to see more C&R too. MA has very good fishing for a state this size. Exceptionally good at times and there is potential to improve it in every section of the state.
I went through the big streamer articulated streamer thing some time ago. It has a time and place but truthfully not much from my experience. If you are giant hunting during the day ...ok it might make sense. Its more effective and a heck of a lot more fun to throw "normal size" streamers most of the time however. I use small to regular size streamers most of the time I fish them..but I am usually only using them at 0'dark thirty to 6:30AM and again during certain weather events...rising river ,blown out river ,or pre runoff spring conditions. The Gartside soft hackle, traditional bucktail(Mickey Finn and Black Nosed dace) and a muddler/zoo cougar style are my only true streamers now. The wooley bugger is also in the mix as an all purpose fly. The "Godfather" of the modern streamer movement has a new book out ...quite revised and updated from the first and quite readable. He has some interesting things to say especially about where big fish are found...I sense he does not fish the big uglies as much as you would think based on some of his you-tube videos and commentary in the book. I'll go out there in April and pick his brain...he is an open book if you ever are out there. Currently reorganizing some boxes...I have a disgusting amount of flies lol
Bob T,
Always good to hear from you. Monster streamers make sense in the salt (sometimes)or for fish that have just come into fresh water from the salt. I have caught stripers in the 15lb range on 6 inch flies but most were on much smaller stuff.
BTW, who is the "Godfather" of modern streamers?
Ken
I met a fly fisherman on the salt that preached to me that all that was needed, was all white flies or all black flies and one could have great success. Now I read a couple studies on how different colors change according to depth that did seem to make sense of his claim but I think it would take a lot of fun out of tying. All rivers in the state should be C&R. Sat through a presentation at the show given by one of the coaches of the youth US fly fishing team, I didn't know there was one. Oh a streamer with 4 or 5 joints must move nice in the water but take a while to ty? I still love to throw a bugger across the river and drag it across every once and awhile, especially in March and April.
Kelly Galloup might be the godfather of modern streamers
Gary,
Good to hear from you!
I believe,that with flies, it's simple is best. There's a law of diminishing returns when it comes to anything, including fly tying.
Craig,
Thanks
Ken
I'm going to disagree with you on the flys only on major rives that are stocked. The non fly guys pay for government issue fish just as fly fisherman do so I don't see why they should be excluded from having access to fish that they too paid for.
Now, if you want to talk about fisheries that are supported by and large by wild trout then I think it makes sense to limit the types of tackle that are utilized but stocked fisheries are a dime a dozen and don't need to exclude anybody.
I say that as someone that has not used anything but a fly rod since 1977.
Anonymous 10:26,
First of all the "non fly guys pay for government issue fish just as fly fishermen do" is a bogus statement. We, flyfishers, pay a lot more in excise tax on fishing equipment than hardware people do in this State. Plus, as I said, you guys are gone from the rivers by early June while flyfishers continue through the Summer and Fall and that is after you've taken your creel limits. Fly fishers are almost exclusively Catch & Release.
Notice that I said "Rivers" in this post and on the previous post. You want to keep trout then fish lakes and ponds or brooks that are stocked.Our major rivers are flyfishing destinations and are too valuable to be fished out.
Ken
the Godfather is Kelly Galloup.. as well as authoring a few books he has a lot of youtube videos mostly on tying I have visited his shop several times and he is a good guy...very helpful -
link to his youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeiQJ7VQq8g54_ZS5lkbx1w
Ken - Not looking to be argumentative but I think you need to define "Rivers". As an example the Quinapoxit River is basically a catch and keep river due to the flow less than 10cfs and water temp 70-80 degrees in the summer. Also haven't there been studies in ponds where if you don't remove fish from the system than you reduce the overall size of the fish, essentially stunting the growth of the fish due to competition for food.
Anonymous 1:13
By "Rivers" I mean the "Major Rivers" as designated by the DFW. Look it up.
BobT,
Yes, I've seen him on youtube and he's all right.
Ken
Quinapoxet River, which I fish regularly, is a tail water river. The slow, sunny sections do get up into the 70s in the summer, and the flow can be slow. But browns thrive in it, growing to 20 inches. Stocked rainbows hold over (if they can avoid the worm fishers), and develop colors more like wild trout. The upper region is full of native brook trout. This could be a great trout stream if two things happened: (1) the dam is finally removed, so spawning salmon could once again make their way up the river and (2) the section from the River Street pool down to the reservoir was made fly fish only, catch-and-release. BTW, the gage station is above the River Street pool in slow water; from the pool to the reservoir is through deep woods and the temps are considerably cooler. The Quinapoxet Trout Unlimited chapter has been lobbying for those two changes for years.
Charles
Charles,
Thank you for your comment.
I am very familiar with the Quinapoxet having spent years fishing it and where it flows into Wachusett. With that said let's address the "tailwater" designation that you placed on this river.
Tailwaters, as far as trout chasers are concerned, originate from the bottoms of very deep impoundments were the water is cold year round. Just having a dam on the river doesn't make it an tailwater. Tailwater characteristics don't show up until the Quabbin aqueduct enters the picture as the Quinnie slips into Quabbin. As you mentioned, most of the Quinnie can suffer from low/warm water during the summer. That'a why it's not a tailwater.
From what I understand the TU Chapter for that area is the Central Ma Chapter, not the Quinapoxet Chapter unless things have really changed in a year.
Ken
"you guys are gone from the rivers by early June while flyfishers continue through the Summer and Fall and that is after you've taken your creel limits. Fly fishers are almost exclusively Catch & Release."
Best not to make assumptions Ken. This guy has been fly fishing exclusively for 43 years. Practicing no kill the whole time for a simple reason - I don't like fish.
Stocked fish are reared for one simple reason: to be caught. The vast majority of any years stocking is going to be gone at the end of the season. They are not raised for survival (the Ct program on the Farmington and Housatonic being possible exceptions). NYS DEC even has a mathematical formula to estimate the die off of stocked fish over the course of the season. They will be restructuring their stocking program in recognition of what they have learned - not the least of which is that robust stocking programs have become equally robust merganser feeding programs (sorry to go off topic).
In circumstances such as this there is no biological reason to exclude a degree of harvest or exclude anglers that have paid their license fees just like you and me from access to these waters.
Two good books for you: Lost in the Driftless: Trout Fishing on the Cultural Divide. An excellent example of the no kill mantra going horribly awry. An Entirely Synthetic Fish: How Rainbow Trout Beguiled America and Overran the World. A great work on how the stocking culture has messed with our fisheries.
Thanks for the clarifications; yes--Central MA Chapter, no name change. And while the river originates at Quinapoxet Reservoir at 802 feet elevation, the water apparently goes into the river--warm--from the top of an overflow dam, rather than out the bottom. For sure, where I fish it, the Quinnie is a free-stone river. It still would be nice to have a section of CR and FF, as well as seasonal salmon.
Best,
Charles
Anonymous 10:20,
First, let me start with "A trout is too valuable to be caught only once" by Lee Wulff. If you've been fly fishing for 43 years (it's 50 years for me) you should know who he is.
Second, rainbow propagation and stocking is a joke in most waters. Browns are survivors and the freestone river surveys by the DFW in Ma that I've been involved with showed brown survival and little rainbow survival.
Maybe you should correct yourself and say that "Stocked fish are reared for one simple reason, to be caught and RELEASED!!!!!" The DFW is not in the business of stocking freezers or supplementing family diets. It's to provide recreation and that providing that recreation gets more expensive each year with fewer licenses being sold. If you want trout go to the fish market!!
Ken
Charles,
Anglers catch a good number of smaller browns in the Quinnie and that's a good thing!
Ken
Ken,
While on the millers I love olive and peacock... sometimes brown and black together for a simple craw fish fly... but overall, if I could only pick one color on that river, black is it.
Heck, I used to tell folks the only fly you need there was a bushy, big, black, fly. The key being it's black.
Black works great with trad gear a lot of the time as well for many species.
I think, in the end, it's just a great color and fish see it well given they are generally working up from the bottom and thus seeing silhouettes.
Just my theory, but that little black soft hackle, I love it!
I am thinking Mr. Wulff was thinking about stream bred fish when he talked about a gamefish being too valuable to be caught only once. My fish camp has a Wulff themed room with a no trespassing sign from his property, a box of his "Form A Fly" materials, a fly tied by him and a bunch of pics. I know who he is.
There is always a stocked fish ready in the pipeline when the most recent stocking class fade (rapidly) away.
I saw a very interesting presentation by the states wild trout biologist (Adam K - I will butcher his last name) last night. He spent a good bit of time on your Swift River. You probably know this but there is zero reproduction of brown and rainbow trout but what was most interesting was that densities of these two species after initial stocking is quite low - an average of 31 browns per mile and 82 rainbows per mile. Yes there are a few pellet pigs that have been spawned out and released into the river and even manage to survive. But they are a curiosity at best. Fun to know they are there but not exactly a fishery.
Brook trout density is off the charts - mostly small young of year fish as would be expected but on the order of 4000 per mile. These are relatively short lived fish 2 - 3 yrs with some outliers reaching age 4 and yes some very impressive brook trout though they are outliers.
Most interesting was the rapid disappearance of rainbows in the upper portion of river that receives 1000 - 1500 trout per year. Adam detailed data that shows a 30 % decline in rainbows out of that section of river in just one week, a 90 % decline after a month and 95 % decline after 3 months. Those fish you cherish for C&R die off at a rapid rate. This is not news, however. Biologists typically report that the rate of return of stocked fish averages between 25 - 35 %. So the majority of the money being spent on these fish never even return to you to be released to be caught again. And this is done every single year.
Yet you have an intriguing brook trout fishery. Why not save those precious dollars being spent on the lather / rinse / repeat stocking process and really maximize the brook trout fishery with habitat enhancement and regulations that maintain a robust WILD fishery.
No kill is a valuable tool depending on the nature of the fishery. I fish a river that does not receive stocking and when no kill was instituted and habitat improvements were made the number of age classes broadened considerably and annual electrofishing surveys turn up 5 + age classes of fish. It would never have happened without C & R AND habitat work.
The Deerfield, by the way, is carrying somewhere between 500 - 800 WILD brown trout per mile below Fife Brook Dam. That's a fishery worth keeping an eye on.
Hmm.....90% reduction of the 1000-1500 trout stocked per year in the upper river after a month and that's in a C&R section?? I believe they (trout) moved downstream. The Swift had plenty of trout last year.
Wulff could apply his "saying" to holdovers also. during his prime most streams were stocked.
Ken
The shocking studies do not support that Ken because the density per mile is far too low to indicate that the rainbows are sorting themselves out to create some sort of balance throughout the river. Reach out to Adam and ask for the data.
The stocked trout as a holdover is a myth. Are there exceptions? Of course, but the vast majority of stocked trout have washed out of the rivers through a variety of means by seasons end, and usually well before that. The data doesn't lie and it's not unique to the Swift at all. Stocked trout are not being raised for survival in the wild. Some do adapt but most simply don't.
And if you think about it if there was a high percentage of holdovers from one year to the next then within a couple years the river would be over-saturated with stocked fish.
You post frequently about awaiting the fall stocking. Why is that? Because the fish stocked in the spring are gone. And for the typical run of the mill river that cannot support a wild population that is fine. For a river that supports a significant and impressive population of Eastern Brook Trout - our native cold water char - it is criminal to stock over these populations.
Anonymous 10:54,
"The stocked trout as a holdover is a myth" you say. Interesting! If there is "zero reproduction of Browns" as you stated then where do the outsized browns come from? Hatchery browns don't have, as far as I know, the genetic predisposition to make it into the double digits in weight and neither do their offspring regardless of their food supply over a number of generations. Stock a brown, our any trout, that has a lineage of not getting above 15 inches you will not have offspring reaching 6 pounds plus unless the population is undisturbed for many generations. Where did these big browns come from? Natural reproduction????
The rainbow example is a joke since, as far as I know, these fish are engineered not to reproduce. All of the above refers to the Swift and a rainbow a fish created for recreation and nothing more.
What is a holdover? As far as I'm concerned it's a trout that makes it from its release from a hatchery to the next season which means it survived the WINTER months which, according to Robert Behnke, is the major reason for trout mortality in a freestone environment.
I've caught rising browns in the Millers River in late March, after a fairly mild winter, over one month before the Millers was stocked with browns. Where did these trout come from? Holdovers? I think so!!
"Where do the trout go" seems to be the question. About one month after the July 1st stocking I witnessed the electroshocking of the upper Swift. An army of shockers ascended the upper Swift ending at a net blocking the river around the hemlocks just before the Y Pool. I heard one shocker say "we have over 200 fish here". There were probably more and the Y Pool and the Bubbler arm had not been sampled. Many more fish? I think so.
We have lots of fish in the Swift but they are not swimming between your boots. We have to fish for them.
Ken
Ken,
With reference to anonymous up above and zero brown trout reproduction per Adam, considering the quality of water the Swift provides why would brown trout not reproduce to some degree? I have caught some very silvery small browns that looked different than the typical ones that are stocked. If they were stocked, they certainly were the smallest stocked browns I have ever seen in the Swift at 6 or 7".
Sam
Sam,
I remember you telling me about those silvery browns down in Bondsville. Years ago the DFW told me of a trib of the Millers that had a good reproducing population of small browns.
There are more than they think!!
Ken
Post a Comment