There are three species of trout that live in the Swift. I love all of them but not to the same degree. Let me rank them from worst to first. (I hate saying something is "worst" but it rhymes in a nice way). Number 3 is my least favorite and number 1 is the best.
"Wow, I just caught a 20 inch rainbow!" We have all heard that statement but what does it mean? I'll tell you what it means. If you are in Massachusetts or in most of the streams in the eastern U.S. you have caught a hatchery raised rainbow trout. The river that you caught it in probably doesn't have a ghost of a chance of "raising" a bow of that size let alone one of them holding over through the winter into the next season. The vast majority of rainbows in this country (except the Rockies and Alaska) are the product our hatchery system(s). Massachusetts raises some very big bows and I have clients from New Hampshire who fish this state because "the rainbows are bigger". It's not that our rivers are any better it's just that the hatcheries are and there lies the problem. One day the trout are few but the next day they're swimming between our legs! There is an artificiality to this reliance on rainbow trout which is a trout that is fairly easy to grow and and grows large but does not reproduce in most Ma. waters.
I'd like to see fewer of them.
Number 2 - The Brook Trout
We are the luckiest anglers in New England. The Swift carries a mother lode of Brook Trout that is hard to duplicate in the northeast. Where else can you catch 8 to 10 inch brookies as a common occurrence? I took 16 this morning. Where else can you have a good chance to nail a 15 inch brook trout without travelling North for 8 hours? 20 inch brookies are caught every year!
Now some may thumb their nose at an 8 to 10 inch brookie and that is too bad for them. I for one would rather catch a 10 inch brook trout than a 15 inch bow ANY DAY. Why?? BECAUSE IT'S WILD and catching them on a 7 foot 3wt bamboo rod just can't be beat.
Number 1 - The Brown Trout
This is truly the Ghost of the Swift. They are there and in fairly good numbers but they play it safe by hiding next to logs and under cut banks AND avoiding full sunlight.
Our browns can thank the huge brook trout population for their monster size and there is not a brook trout in the Swift that would be safe from the 22 pounder sampled by the DFW last year. I've seen them over 10 pounds and have caught one about 5 pounds a few years ago.
It appears that reproduction is low and I'm wondering if some additional browns stocked instead of the clonebows would help.
Just thinking!
Crowds
If you are fishing crowded water and feel that you are being squeezed by other anglers then you have nobody to blame but yourself. Crowded water will always bring out the worst in many people so why be part of the problem. I know that many really relish the "herd mentality" and probably feel safe with people around. I look to avoid them. That's easy on the Millers and the EB and is actually easy on the Swift except for the kayaks. EXPLORE, EXPLORE, EXPLORE!!!!!
Ken
15 comments:
It seems to me there a few major rivers and numerous smaller rivers and streams in MA that can self sustain browns and brookies.Trout should not be stocked in those streams. The Swift is on the list, the fishery would be far stronger if they made brown and brook trout strictly catch and release for a period of 5 years-then evaluate what happened. Catch all the bows you want but don't stock them where browns and brookies are known to exist on their own. Rumor has it their may be some rainbow reproduction on the Deerfield-they are reproducing browns there. I would make that entire stream c&r for the five year period I think the signs are there that it could be amazing-despite the tubers. Increased enforcement could be paid for by the hatchery savings.
BobT,
I agree. less reliance on rainbows and more reliance on Browns which have proven to survive.
Ken
Less Rainbows will never happen with all the bitching I always hear about stocking each spring. The primary trout angler this state caters to is the casual spring fling fisherman. Right or wrong it's a fact!
BobT for the win. Good stuff man!
I tend to agree with you about the rainbows, Ken. I ventured above rt 9 yesterday to fish the bubbler arm. It was still a blast catching big rainbows on dries (size 14 DHE and a size 16 Adams), but I'll keep to myself below the bridge for the foreseeable future. Those brookies and a shot at one of those big browns are too good to pass up
Joe S,
Got into a half dozen big rainbows today in the flats below Route 9 on emergers. Big fish but pound for pound the brookies fight harder.
Anonymous 6:24
Sad to say but you are right.
Ken
Hi Ken - This is a favorite topic of mine, but I must say many don’t agree. I feel they should stop stocking rainbows in the swift. I believe the best fishery the swift can be is a Brook Trout factory. Right now, we are experiencing a blessed event in that the Brook trout are consistently spawning. This should be the top priority. I also feel that the fall spawn, and fishing above rte 9 should be closed from Nov - Jan. If they stopped all stocking for 3 years, i believe they would give the Brook trout a chance to proliferate even more. After establishing is Browns really are reproducing in the river at a sustainable level or not, begin to stock a lot of fingerling browns (or slightly larger). IMHO, the river would be functioning at it’s best as a prolific Brook Trout stream with big browns feeding on them. I know many disagree with this and I respect their opinions, of course.
For what it’s worth, I have heard rumors of fall closure above rte 9. I would greatly support this. Great topic, Ken1.
Falsecast,
I want to see the healthiest brook trout and brown trout populations in the Swift but I have some concerns.
I don't want to see the Swift brook trout "loved to death" by over protection. That might bring on "beaver pond syndrome" (my title) where the population grows and becomes a race of dinks.
We know that the brookies are reproducing very well in the Swift. Closing above route 9 in the Fall/Winter may not make a damn bit of difference. There's a lot of spawning going on below route 9.
I'd like more browns in the system especially in river like the Millers and the EB. Yes, I know that they grow slower than rainbows and are generally not as large as rainbows but they are better survivors in our freestone rivers than rainbows.
The main goal of the hatchery folks is not to develop a self sustaining trout fishery. They would be putting themselves in the unemployment line. Their goal is to see how many pounds of trout can be raised on X amount of pounds of feed. Think of them as farmers and ranchers.
Ken
We need an apex predator like browns to keep them in check.
Pretty much everyone here is on the same page...just slightly different flavoring. I think social media makes it seem the needle is moving to more of a C&R ethos among fishermen but unfortunately most of the fisherman overall are probably catch and keep...maybe some better slot or size limits would help overall. I'd think hatcheries would still be pumping out bows for 60% of the streams and most of the lakes/ponds so I can't see their jobs really all that affected-perhaps I am wrong. There are some great natural resources in the state that could benefit greatly by a little better management.
BobT,
I believe that the vast majority of fly fishers are CR advocates. The Ma Major Rivers List is a trout river list and I'll bet the vast majority of anglers there are fly fishers who practice CR. We, flyfishers, OWN the trout streams in this state. We outnumber all other forms of angling on moving water and spend more money than other anglers.
I did a survey about 10 years ago on types of angling on Ma rivers with fly fishing only waters excluded. This 3 month survey recorded that about 70% of the anglers flyfished yet it seems that the DFW is more concerned with the "hook & bullet" crowd and sportsmen clubs which are more concerned with quantity than quality.
Ken
I have given this a lot of thought and I believe the addition of a “Trout Stamp”, for additional $, would help with management on the relatively few streams in MA that need trout-specific management. This would also get away from the ‘everybody buys a license” argument often used when restricting tackle is discussed (Like C&R or single hook ALO). In my opinion, wild trout would get the first priority, the second would be a TMA on stocked streams and better size and distribution monitoring. Just growing big fish shouldn’t be what Mass fish and Wildlife aspire to. I think the work on the Farmington with survivor strains is very interesting. The Swift becoming a Brook Trout first stream, with wild and/or put and grown Browns getting huge would be wonderful.
Anonymous has a good point with the spring stocking complainers and truck chasers. While Ken’s data shows mostly fly anglers are on the waters, they don’t have as loud a voice on policy. Plenty of ponds for the big rainbows, i just think they may have run their course at the Swift.
Anyone know when those raft barriers are coming out of the bubbler arm?
I can hear it now: A trout stamp! A Pheasant stamp! OMG I can't afford that expense! (spoken while coming out of convenience store with an armful of garbage, or flexing a $500 flyrod (take your pick))
Anonymous 8:02,
I have always agreed with a trout stamp and more aggressively than a $5 dollar stamp that Falsecast recommended. I'd like a $30 stamp and ENFORCED to keep the freezer stuffers away. We don't stock trout to supplement a grocery bill!!! If you really like to catch trout than catch them and release them for another day on rivers like the Swift.
Just what I'm thinking!
Ken
I’d agree with a Trout Stamp, it’s required for archery along with the regular fee, BTW this past year archers outscored the shotgunners. No complaints from them.
Penn requires a trout stamp, it would be interesting to know what they use those funds for, possibly to raise those 660K browns they stock.
Mike
Mike,
660K browns????? They're lucky to raise 660k trout in total!!
I forgot all about the archery stamps I used to buy!
Ken
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