The Overflow Arm in June 2009
If you noticed that the Swift flow is up you are not the keenest of observers, you are just right. A few weeks ago we were flowing along in the mid 50's and now, today, we are at 107 cfs as I write. What happened? First, let's look at what didn't happen. The DCR did not release more water through the bubbler. The water is coming from the OVERFLOW arm, pure and simple. It's a simple fact that the Quabbin watershed received a lot of water in the last month, enough to cause an overflow. Second, don't get your hopes up about salmon flying into the Swift from the Quabbin. That's an Autumn activity, period. It didn't happen in late June, early July of 2009 the last time we had an overflow outside of Autumn. Third, look for some great midge/dry fly activity in that overflow arm as long as there's an overflow. "Why" you may ask. That's because the water temperature in the overflow arm is warmer that the Swift water because its surface water from the lake and not from the 80 foot level of Quabbin. Insects will hatch sooner and trout actually like temperatures in the high 50's/low 60's than in the 40's. I had great surface activity using midges and winter caddis one May a few years ago. The Y Pool was so-so but the "Arm" was on fire.
This situation should be with us for most of May so make the most of it. Then I hope the flow drops to 55 cfs where it belongs!!!
The Other Rivers
The Millers is at 1290 and dropping
The EB is at 810 and dropping fast
The Ware is at 349 and dropping fast
The Swift is at 107 and going up
The WB is at 370 and UP (I don't get it)
All of this will change if we get heavy, steady rain. The Ware was dynamite until it broke 500. I don't want to miss those HATCHES!!!!!
Spring Time Generics
I hate tying to "pattern" simply because I love messing around with flies. I like flies that represent everything and nothing, flies that look like bugs that trout want to eat. The Spring gives us a good selection of insects of all sizes where as Fall gives us many insects but not a great selection of species.
The flies to the right work all Spring:
Hook - size 10 through 14 dry fly hook
Thread - brown 6/0
Body - non-lead wire underneath Australian Possum or Hare's Mask
Rib - very thin copper wire ( 32 gauge is too thick)
Tail - A few hen hackles
Hackle - Partridge ties sparse
These flies are mayflies and/or caddis. Take your pick
Book Me
We may be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel as far as this CO-Vid 19 thing is concerned. We have a lot of time this Spring and Summer to fish some new places. CONTACT ME!!!!
Tail -
19 comments:
I love those flies, Ken. As you know, I am a big fan of soft hackles and those would be confidence flies for me. Weather looks sketchy for tomorrow, but bad weather is my friend these days. If it doesn't look too bad I will head out after working. I have a virtual meeting at 3 PM. Man I hate those things, but that's the way it is now.
Best, Sam
Sam,
The Flies - there was an old pattern called called the "Near Enough". That would be a good name for that fly.
Virtual Meetings - they have been around for a while and will continue to grow even after this plague leaves us. The workplace will change for many of us.
Ken
Thanks as always for the updates Ken! Quick question — where do you get your flow values for the EB? Was wondering which gauge is the most accurate measure. Been chasing trout out here in metro west Boston when I can, but will probably make a trip out west in a couple of weeks when the weather warms up a bit and want to keep an eye on the flows.
Ken,
With the overflow happening as of last weekish, my experience so far has been that most of the dry fly action is still happening in the bubbler arm and the Y pool. I have gotten into some of the most impressive simulium hatches in those spots during the last couple of weeks - like nothing I have previously experienced on the Swift. While there are some chronmids mixed in, the bulk of the surface action has been trout rising to simuliums that are both dead drifting on the surface as well as zipping across the surface for short bursts/skates. It has been so cool to watch the bows occasionally get caught up in the pursuit of this little buggers. While it's probably not worth their energy exertion to chase too many of these flies, it is very fun to watch!
I'd be interested in hearing what patterns you and your readers like to use for dry fly patterns to imitate simuliums. I used a number of different patterns successfully after catching few of these flies and matching up size, color - generally black or dark gray and segmentation type stripes in the abdominal section. I haven't found any one fly that truly matches up to the body profile - a distinct front, so called mesothorax and a distinct thicker, tapered abdominal section. I know I should sound the nerd alert with this question, but it is driven by not having any one fly consistently work. Yesterday, I had 8 bows to the net and at least as many eats without successful hookups. These were caught on size 24 Griffith gnats, Dan Trela size #30 wicked pissah duns & floating nymph patterns and finally a #26 fly that had segmentation on the abdomen with CDC upfront to keep it in the film. All were essentially black in color.
All I can say.....is that this kind of dry fly action is addictive and to get it in mid-april is a real treat! I don't know how long it is going to last, but I've had 4 incredibly fun outings over the last couple of weeks. Get out there if you can!
Paul H.
John,
Google Westfield River Knightville and you will have it.
Paul H.
You may have seen some Winter Caddis running on the surface.
For imitating simuliums I use a simple thread midge. It works at the Pipe when they are hatching down there.
I feel that size and profile are more important than color especially with the tiny bugs. I've kind of given up trying to duplicate that "thicker, tapered abdominal section. It never looks right to me.
Ken
I have never heard of a simulium....then I googled it...blackfly...that I have heard of. Back in college on the Swift I used #22 -24 brown fur on a hook...floated or sunk mostly sight fished with my trusty Fenwick glass 8ft 6 wt. I had a gifted box of 24 mustad 94840 and a little bag of fine brown fur and a bobbin of black flymaster and thats all it was...maybe I was fishing the simulium hatch? I don't know but they were good days!
The PlanetTrout website features a page which details fly patterns for all stages of the Simulium life cycle; simply use search word 'simulium'.
Personally, I suspect the Griffith's Gnat and Ken's excellent thread midge patterns would work just as well as these more elaborate flies, but 'to each their own'.
-Mike
BobT,
If you fished the Bubbler Arm on the Swift while you were in college than you were fishing over black fly (Simulium) larvae. The 94840 - the granddaddy of all fly tying hooks!!
Anonymous 2:17
I'll check out the website. I'm in a midge tying mood anyway!!
Ken
The bubbler arm was rarely fished in those days from my observation(82-90)...but I did and I took some nice ones..There was a semi regular crew that congregated at the Ypool one guy who always seemed to be wearing a yellow rain jacket and guy who I knew to be a Vietnam vet and worked at Umass who kindly gave me a little patch of jungle cock nails to do some jassids-I still have a dozen nails from that patch! I think his name was Steve-I ran into him on the Swift and on the Deerfield frequently-we were often there at the crack of dawn. Most of my success with that brown fur on a hook came from the arm & Ypool down to the first set of riffles in particular where the cable car went across..its been awhile I don't know if its still there.
Sounds like my favorite kind of fishing on the Swift, Paul H! Unfortunately, due to work and family obligations (no childcare due to the pandemic), and my sense that traveling 2 hours to fish is probably not the best choice for public health right now, I don't think I'll get out there to enjoy it for a little while. I love hearing about it all from the rest of you who are getting in on the action, though, so thanks for all the posts and comments. I would add behavior (thanks to Datus Proper for opening my eyes to that aspect of fly design) to Ken's recommendation of size and profile. You need to imitate to way the fly looks to the trout on the water, not how it looks to you in your hand. That is why I think the Griffiths Gnat (or variations with different color bodies & hackle) is often effective during the simulium hatch... the bugs are often active on the surface, buzzing their wings and skating around, and the palmered grizzly hackle gives the impression of motion. I also like a pattern with a thread body tied a little fatter than usual (just to get the generally squat profile) with a CDC (or snowshoe rabbit's foot) wing lying over the back (like the wing on an EHC) instead of forward over the hook eye like on a chironomid pupa pattern (e.g. mole fly). I think the simuliums are easier to imitate than the typical chironomid on the Swift because of the fatter body... the natural chironomid bodies are often much thinner than the wire of the hook, making it impossible to imitate the profile accurately. I have used horse hair or moose hair (a single hair) to rib the body of my CDC flies to imitate the segmentation of the naturals... they look great to me, but I can't say I've noticed a difference with the fish. I've had some great days hooking 20+ fish on dries during simulium hatches, but I've almost never found one fly that works consistently... for me that challenge is what keeps it so addicting and fun... each fish is it's own unique puzzle. (So Paul H, if you find the one magic fly, don't tell me and spoil my fun, haha). When I get tired of changing flies on 8 or 9x tippet, I usually just put on the Griffiths Gnat because the aggressive rise to a skittering size 30 fly never ceases to amaze and excite.
BTW... I love the PlanetTrout blog Mike mentioned... great reading, beautiful pictures, TONS of fun fly patterns... but those CDC simulium patterns are much too complicated (at least for me) for the small sizes typically needed on the Swift.
Tight lines and stay healthy everyone!
BobT,
I was once gifted a jungle cock cape! I still have it but I don't tie streamers with cheeks and I haven't tied a jassid in years. Once in a while I just take out the cape and look at it.
Brendan,
Datus Proper passed too soon. "What The Trout Said" was a game changing book for me and for others.
Thanks for all the great comments - that's what makes your blog a gem Ken - I always learn something new. Ken, I'm not sure which thread midge patterns you are tying in small - #24 or smaller- dark colors, please let me know. When I looked at your fly offerings, nothing seemed to jump out in the size/color...maybe I missed it.
Brendan, thanks for the lengthy, informative note. Somehow I don't think I'm going to find the perfect fly, so you are safe on that front! You are right... that's one of the many things that makes it so addictive and fun! So, addictive, I might add, that I went back yesterday knowing it was going to be a brutal day - 30's to low forties with a constant W/NW wind blowing straight down the Y pool at 20mph + all day with gust over that. I felt like I was in the Artic Circle. Multiple times I had to wait for a 30 second break in the wind just to cast! I used all the same patterns and got fish, thank God, although it was bit more challenging than the day before. On a cautionary note, if it's that windy in the future, beware when walking by the stand of dead pines just upstream of the long "stepped hill". I heard a crack, looked up and literally had to fast walk to cover as one of those suckers came crashing down across the path 40-50 feet behind me.
I also agree with you "behavior" comment. I did get some nice hits/hookups when skating a Griffith gnat pattern. Just crazy to watch how that triggers them. Also, all the other flies I used had CDC as the wing material, but it was pulled forward on all. Finally, I hope you get out there soon, but in the meantime, good luck juggling what sounds like a pretty full slate of activity at home.
Paul H.
Paul H,
You tweaked my old memory on this fly or flies. Here's an old story:
Backcast to late April of 1974 when we had a major heat wave with the wind running out of the southwest and that meant a warm wind. I was still a beginner in fly fishing and went out to Lake Winnekeag in Ashburnham. The main lake was all white caps but the secluded spot by the dam (no longer fishable because of a fence) was totally sheltered from the wind and was LOADED with rising fish (freshly stocked). Black flies were everywhere and biting the shit out of everyone that was there but that's what the trout were rising for. I had tied some small, at the time, midges in size 20 and 22 that had a body of stripped peacock and a tiny bit of fluff (cdc wasn't discovered then). I took about 30 trout the first day and over 60 the next. A game warden came by the last day checking licenses and some bait fisher who was scoring a zero tried to turn me in because the dozens of fish I released wouldn't bite for him (too bad). I think that fly worked well because all I needed was a tiny bit of movement or none at all.
Funny, but I've never used that pattern again although it gave the impression of a dark segmented body. I didn't use it again because the black fly hatch was over by the next time I was there. Maybe on the Y Pool!!!!!
Ken
Ugh- thought I'd see how bad above rte 9 was yesterday and check out the midges or blackflies. It was worse then I thought. Almost impossible to fish. Now all the holes have people on both sides of the river fishing opposite each other. Most people fishing in tandem or 3's feverishly casting 100 times to the same beaten down trout. The bubbler arm is stripped of all vegetation and wood and now has giant rubber nets. On top of that most people not covered up or worse, excited to come ask if you've caught anything. Saw a guy fishing with bait right out in the open. Kids running around screaming. It's a pretty bad fishing experience. I hope all of these people stop coming forever after the plague or the Swift above rte 9 will die on the vine. It's really a shame. I am hoping for a deluge and run it up to 500+ for the rest of the lockdown.
Falsecast,
For the record - I went there today (Friday) at 6:45am and had nobody in the parking lot. Got into the Y Pool (yes, I wanted midging trout) at 7am and didn't see another angler until just before 9 when Gary from Westfield showed up. The second was old Bill R. who got there about 45 minutes later. I fished until 11 am and they were the only ones in the pool. (caught 5 and missed some others). The lesson - don't show up at mid day and even think you will have room to fish!
Did you approach the bait fisher about his violation of the law? I do it and I don't give a shit if he/she has there whole family there. I've done it. It works.
Maybe the lack of a crowd was due to the rainy forecast. Good!! Now I know when to fish it - early and in the rain!!!
Ken
You are SMART! I did go midday and experienced the crush, not smart. :) I usually do say something, but I must say I did not this time. Not for any particular reason, but I was surprised he was doing it right in front of everyone.
Falsecast,
There were a couple of brutes last year that fished above RT 9 with spinning rods and DARNED people to tell them to leave. They even threatened people. Best strategy = call DFW Law Enforcement.
Ken
Went up to y pool today around midday. Fished until about 3 until it got too cold after being rained on. Brought about 3 or 4 fish to the net on midges. Missed some takes on small gnat flys.
Jake,
Must of just missed you. I did the morning shift at the Y today
Ken
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