Reader Hunter has the knack, the skill AND the patience to haul leviathans out of the Swift. This was caught and released this past Sunday with a fly rod, two nymphs and a kayak plus the attributes listed above.
People would give me that "strange look" when I would mention monster brookies in the Swift the size of what you would fish for in Labrador. Here's the proof.
Hopefully we can add some LLS to the mix.
On another note the Swift rose from 45 to 110 cfs yesterday. That may be with us for a while since no rain is in the forecast.
Book Me
Let's beat the heat on the Swift in August. My stream thermometer seems to be stuck at 58 degrees which is perfect and the fish are willing!
Ken
12 comments:
That's a great one. Couple years ago I got one that was about 19" based on my rod, looked very similar. That river, if it continues as is, all of a sudden is going to have a lot of very big fish (it has many now, I'm saying that if it continues, 5 years from now... WOW).
An amazing fontinalis!
Will,
We may be there now but we also may need CR for the entire river or the meat hunters will flog the river.
Ken
It is a shame that Massachusettes does not have more C&R rivers, or expanded sections, as many other states do. There is a reason the western rivers of the country hold such high numbers of fish and besides habitat it is largely attributed to the mindset of the anglers practicing C&R.
I am not ignorant of the fact that a lot of people buy fishing licenses with the intent to harvest fish and that this revenue is used to stock fish. I will say that I would gladly pay slightly more for a license (already cheap) for the trade off of more C&R sections.
Congrats to Hunter. He's having a heck of a year. He was featured on mass wildlife instagram holding a gigantic brown he got this year as well.
Hi Ken -- Congratulations to Hunter! That is some impressive angling and fish. I was actually there, in the bubbler arm, when they raised the water. It shut the fishing down there pretty quickly. I did get some good sulphur action and Ants below rte 9.
That said, the crowds and the crowding is also bigger then it's ever been. I again urge people not let backsliding behavior occur. I am the last person to be confrontational on the water, but I hope people don't feel they can share a pool with me like they do with others. They wont be able to. The Y pool is a 3 person max pool, most others are one. I saw 7 people at the Y. The run between the cable pool and bench has numerous "tandem" anglers. I am not sure if these are guides or just people who like to fish side by side? In smaller runs, keep moving, I've had recently a number of people who see you fishing, say in the bubbler, then the walk up to 30 feet from you and plop in the water and don't move for an hour. I will just leapfrog someone who does that, but it's somewhat rude to make someone have to avoid you.
In fairness, in the middle of all of this complaining about anglers at the swift, I witnessed a good thing on Monday. :) Perhaps, this guy reads this board. I am the one who suggested to you to keep your trout (even though we are in C&R). This guy foul hooked the fish and it was dying for sure. I watched him struggle with it for a while, he then asked about the regulations and seemed legitimately bummed out about the result. I don't make the rules or have any authority, but I suggested, if he thought he'd eat it, he keep it and just put in his car in case an EPO came. This angler very much wanted to do the right thing and spent a lot of time trying to revive his fish. It was good to see that even with the crowds. I am certain everyone who fishes the swift are good people/anglers.
All in all, I love the big fish pictures, and congrats again to Hunter, but this river doesn't need one more person fishing it, in fact, it needs a lot of people to stop fishing it. All of this, I fear will lead to more angler problems. It's in bad need of new regulations to handle both the people, and protect the resource. In short, I'd like to see it harder to fish at the Swift. Closures for spawning, C&R single hook ALO for at least to Cady lane, if not further.
-Andrew
I for one would pay MORE for a C&R license on certain designated rivers or stretches of rivers. I think there would be great financial benefit to the state and local businesses. Though I doubt i will ever see it in my life time.
I agree. Fishing for the sport rather the meat of it is wear its at
Simply WOW!
Falsecast,
I don't fish much above RT9 anymore. Therefore I don't have to deal with the crowds. This past week I've seen 2 flyfishers where I go and I love it. I've spent the last 10 years telling people to explore but they keep going back to the Y Pool and the Pipe area which is like flyfishing crack! They can have it.
Protecting spawning brookies. They may not need protecting due to the fact that I see hundreds of them whenever I'm at the Swift but if we are going to protect them then the swift season ENDS 11/15 of each year and that will stop flyfishers from scrambling trout eggs and the season will not resume until 2/1 of the next year after the eggs have hatched.
Ken
Interesting night wednesday— not a lot of surface activity with the sulphur hatch, but the new rainbows were going crazy for a tan bugger. There were a lot of cars in all of the lots, but I found some space below Cady.
JoeS,
Yup, tan buggers and Gartside nymphs seem to do the trick.
Ken
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