"If people don't occasionally walk away from you shaking their heads, you're doing something wrong". John Gierach
By 6:30 am the Y Pool lots were filling up (close to 20 cars) but that was not my destination. Neither was the Pipe or the Tree Pool. As always solitude is part of the mix for me and I knew where to find it: The Duck Pond Flats. Now, I'm not giving away any State secrets because everyone knows where I'm writing about. It's the flats below the Route 9 bridge all the way down to the lip of the Duck Pond and it's almost always underpopulated at certain times of the day. Mornings until 10ish are good because everyone and his brother is going upstream because it's supposed to be better fishing (it isn't) up there. I've found that afternoons can be busy because the C&R, by then, is too overcrowded and the overflow hits the flats. By dinner time it empties out and you will have a lot of fishing room on the flats.
Now, with decades and decades of fly fishing under my waders, I can honestly say that the sight of a rising trout puts me in hunt mode. And I'm not talking about random risers that seem to wander around aimlessly looking for something to eat. I like trout that have picked out a holding lie and stay there ambushing any insect that goes down the chute. When aquatic insects are near/on the surface you will see the rhythm of the rise and adjust your casts accordingly. You also have to make accurate casts because the trout, especially browns, are not likely to move out of that feeding slot. You have to put the fly THERE. This is how I learned the surface game while fishing the Squannacook years ago and then continued the lessons on the Millers. It's weird, but it's not the game with the Bows of the Swift!
Watch these fish! They will rise and then move away to a new location and then rise again. They are not like browns or even brookies that seek cover, conserve energy and let the food come to them. It's been almost 2 months since the last stocking and the bows are still fining away next to my boots. They are basically tame fish.
On the Swift it's the brookies and the browns that will stake out a claim to a spot- not the bows as much.
Things I'd Like To See
Cut the number of bows stocked in the Swift by half and replace that number with the same number of browns divided by 2. Let's face it, Connecticut and NY have good brown trout rivers with some natural reproduction. Yet we have to recharge the rivers with clonebows at least yearly because these fish don't last. And they really are tame!!
Book Me
The Fall is approaching. The freestones will cool off and we will get some rain. Pick your October and November dates now!
Ken
10 comments:
Ken,
I used to fish the Squanny in the evening years ago. It was always browns rising all summer. They are a better fish for most rivers.
A.H.
Ken,
Thanks for the ongoing education on your site. Seems I always learn something, or my memory gets refreshed on something. For example, a few posts ago you talked about fishing soft hackles. I realized I was staying too tight to the fly instead of letting it drift with some slack at times. That made a difference and I've started getting some hits again. You do a great service to fly fishers here.
Best, Sam
Anon, the squanny is still this way ive observed fish rising in extremely hot and drought conditions above and below the harbor and ive even seen brook trout trying to jump the damn way down stream on the shirley line in the middle of summer once we get some rain this stream will be my choice haunt!Ken ive often fantasized about only stocking browns in the swift and a few other of our great streams im not sure the impact positive or negative but it seems like a good idea!
Sam,
Thank you for the good comment.
Paul Fay,
When the DFW sampled the Millers over the years during the late summer all they ever got were browns. Stocking more browns is a good idea.
Ken
Yes to making the Swift more of a self-reproducing brown/brookie river!!
I tied up some CDC beetles and Morrish hoppers(aparently a hot pattern in that neck of the woods) for an upcoming Yellowstone trip and had to try them out over the weekend...I had not fished the Morrish ever and beetles have been an afterthought for the last year or two. Anyhow...that damn beetle was moving fish...good sized fish ...the water I was fishing was not particularly good for a hopper too many trees and not enough grass habitat. Three small brookies ate the hopper. The beetles were aggressively targeted by brookies but one very nice brown and a couple more browns and clone bow fell victim to it as well-a bad presentation could be followed with a good one and if the fish was there they would still move to the beetle. Not sure if anyone has been prospecting with beetles - it is a fly I sort of left behind the last several years for no other reason than I know ants will take them on top in summer. Going back to the Hopper I used to hopper fish in summer on the lower end of the C&R on the Westfield...I have not done it in quite some time but there have to be various springs that allow trout to live through the summer in that end of the river...its more grassy and even in July August I could drum up a few fish on big yellow Stimulators(my old hopper imitation)-has anyone else had any experience on that end of the river during summer?
BobT,
Funny thing but the stimulator is/was my hopper pattern but I seldom use it and I never fish beetles. I carry plenty of winged ants which are a must have.
I used to fish a stimulator on the EB below the Gorge in the late afternoon/evening because the place was crawling with hoppers.
Ken
you might want to tie up a few beetles ....I left them behind for a few yrs and they were worth coming back to. I do a cdc shellback with peacock body and moose mane legs...and a little post of bright yarn so I can see the damn things
Hi all - Curious if anyone is seeing or hearing of natural reproduction in the Rainbow or LSS populations in the river?
Had a very good day out on Saturday with a buddy and I took Brookies, Bows, LLS, and Browns on Nymphs and SH's. I never anticipated a grand slam (my 1st) but there was no doubt on the LSS.
Two of the Bows were in the 5-7" range nymphed out of riffles and the Salmon were in the 8-10" range. Thinking these fish must be stream born?
And I must admit that the Partridge and Orange SH has worked it's way into my rotation. Have been fishing it as a dropper on a tandem rig and it has been money.
Jon in Charlton.
Jon in Charlton,
As mentioned on this blog, especially by readers, there have been a good number of small (6 to 8 inch) LLS caught of late. LLS went through the spawning act in November, December of 2019 when they came over the spillway from Quabbin. I don't know if the offspring would be in the 6 to 8 inch size by now. The salmon we are catching now may have come over the spillway this past Spring.
According to the DFW rainbows do not successfully spawn in the Swift. They may be escapees from the hatchery. This happens now and then.
Ken
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