Starling On The Brain And Our Rivers

"I think I fish, in part, because it's an anti-social, bohemian business that, when gone about properly, puts you forever outside the mainstream culture without actually landing you in an institution" - John Gierach 

 Starling Caddis Size 20

"What's that fly you're using" I said after friend Lenny one October day landed his 6th bow from the riffles below the Duck Pond. "YOUR GREY CADDIS" he said!  Seems I had written about this fly in a blog post years ago after another friend Ric introduced the pattern to me at the confluence of the Deerfield and the Cold Rivers. I used it with some success but after a while forgot about it.  Lenny didn't forget about it and that's why I now carry it.  It works best in small sizes, 18 through 24.

Hook - standard dry fly hook

Body - any grey dubbing. I used to use rabbit and muskrat and still do but the fly in the photo has a body of a synthetic grey material with some glitter added to it.  I like it.

Hackle - Starling on a small fly like this

Head - one turn of thin peacock (yes, it's very similar to my DMS Caddis)

I call it a caddis but I believe that it is of the right profile and size to imitate many insects especially the BWO. Work it in the riffles this Autumn.

                                                                                        Starling And Olive

                                                                                  

Here's an other one that's dirt simple to tie and is very effective in sizes 18 through 24, the smaller the better.

Two layers of 12/0 olive thread and one starling hackle.  Yes, use it at the beginning of a BWO hatch.

Hook Styles

I was asked this weekend why I tie my soft hackles on dry fly hooks and not heavier wet fly hooks. The answer is simple. I don't need the heavier gauge wire of a wet fly hook to get the fly down. Mending will do that.  It also means I don't have to carry wet fly hooks in a full range of sizes. If I really need to get the fly down then micro shot is the answer.

I thought I was pretty much alone on this until I saw that one fly tying star ( I think it may have been Kelly Galloup) gave up on wet fly hooks a while ago for the same reasons.  

The Rivers

The Swift - 124 cfs.  If we get real rain this flow will drop down to the 60's which is my favorite flow.

The Millers is at 35 cfs and the EB is at 17 cfs.  Enough said.

Book Me

The Swift is the game right now and I can get you away from the crowds!!!!!!!

Ken

  

Soft Hackle Feathers

 Repeated encounters with a specific prey item allows the trout to form its ‘searching image’.  Things that fit the trout’s searching image, more or less, almost always get a look. The natural emerger struggling at the surface, with part of its body and shuck penetrating the surface film, is spotted sooner and at longer range than the dun or spinner. 

A semi-sunk fly projects more visible stimulus than a high and dry pattern, so it makes a lot of sense to use a design that penetrates the surface film as a ‘searching pattern’, rather than the high-riding flies usually recommended for this job like the Royal Wulff, Humpy or Elk Hair Caddis. For me, the old dry hackle jobs have been moved well down the bench, even for fast broken water.  Bob Wyatt

I still get questions on what I use for creating soft hackle flies.  Some answers are easy such as PARTRIDGE  and orange, some are not so easy.  I have four main feathers to create my favorite fly and a few tricks that I use at the vise.

In front of you are five feathers from four different species of bird.  From the left to the right:

Partridge - (first from left). This is that beautiful brown toned, mottled feather from the back of the bird.  It is the main ingredient in most of my flies that start with the words partridge or grouse. It has that perfect nymph color.  A word of note: Always tie in your hackles by the tip and not the base of the feather.  You don't need that thick stem on the fly plus the finished fly just looks better.  Another word of note: try to buy your feathers on the cape (skin).  It's much less expensive in the long run and you get better sizes. And another word of note: When I say "on the cape" I don't mean Truro!!!

Grey Partridge - These light grey feathers come from the breast of the bird.  For a long time I didn't use them that much until I began to color them with Sharpie pens to get the color I wanted. The feather above has been colored with a dark grey Sharpie on the right side to show you the contrast.  Using a sharpie you can color them any color that you want.  Just remember to do both sides.  Brown works great.

Hen - I didn't like this feather until I realized that I was using the WRONG hen cape. Look for a cape that has the most narrow tips on its feathers (the one above shows this).  This will give you access to the shortest hackle fibers for trout flies after two turns. Then (mostly) the hackle becomes too big for the fly.  Two turns is good because hen hackle is wider and takes up more space than partridge.

Starling - This tiny beautiful hackle that works all the time especially on Autumn BWO hatches.  The only problem is that it is always DARK but most of the Autumnal flies are darker anyway so use it.  If you can tie a dozen of these without breaking the fragile stem you can consider yours a profession grade fly tyer!

Pheasant - The last feather and I don't really know what to do with it as hackle.  The feathers are too big as are the fibers.  It's a size 10 or larger feather.

What not to use - CDC sucks as a soft hackle regardless of the size of the fly. Those flimsy, feminine feathers get smashed around when you get a hit and if you get some slimy weeds attached those CDC fibers will melt away.  There is so much more to use instead of that stuff.

One More Feather - One last partridge feather of note is the wing covert feather. It covers the top of the bird's wing, is a great brown shade and is mostly in smaller sizes.  It's drawback is that it has a fairly thick light colored stem. Eliminate that problem with a good old brown sharpie.

I have thought of using pigeon feathers but I can't stop thinking of these urban birds as flying rats.  If you want to skin one for me then I'll take it.

Pray for lots of rain!!

Ken

 

Back Again And A Look At Dries

 If leaders are fished on a SUNKEN FLY then the leader visibility is a moot point. Modern leaders, if they are below the surface, are practically invisible especially the fluoro variety. Mono has made great strides to reduce light refraction over the past decade to where it's almost a "no decision" between mono and fluoro. (Note: my sources are not retail outlets which have another agenda). Me

First off, I've been away for a week at a wedding that seemed to go on forever. I need to go fishing!!!!!  It also seems that this blog has been buried in page views and comments this summer which I really appreciate.  It's safe to say that this is the most popular owner operated fly fishing blog in New England. Keep it coming!!!

Dry Fly Design

A comment or two on my last post mentioned the shape and construction of dry flies.  This is timely because I've devoted much of the past two  years ignoring some standard elements of the dry fly such as hackle (this goes back a few decades) and tails.  Why ignore tails??  Tails are pronounced on the adult mayfly but we seldom encounter adults.  Most surface rises are for the  struggling emerging fly that is stuck half in and half out of the water.  My offerings are not tied on standard dry fly hooks but on curved shank scud style hooks. I don't need hackle because the wing material (deer hair, micro post yarn and sometimes CDC) keep the fly in the film and visible. Tails will help keep an old fashioned fly upright but this is a useless point.  Let that tail end sink below the surface like a natural fly.  Better yet, Get a copy of Bob Wyatt's book: What Trout Want - The Educated Trout And Other Myths. His DHE Emerger will set you straight.

Don't worry, you are still dry fly fishing but using a better imitation of the insect in play.  If that doesn't work then a soft hackle will do the trick.  I've caught a lot of rising trout over the years by swinging a SH right by its nose. My guess is that the SH looks like an emerging fly that is still rising in the water column.

The Rivers

There is a large rock  in the Millers River that I've only been able to see three times in over 30 years. In 2010, 2016 and in this dry year the flow has shrunk to where the this boulder is visible again.  When I see that rock I leave the browns alone.  This is the story with most of our freestones this summer and there is no indication that this drought will break soon.  The Swift is the only real game in town and it may be the only stream to get a Fall stocking.

To Unknown: Here is the dry fly that I've been using.  It's Wyatt's DHE (deer hair emerger but I used snowshoe hare for this one.)  It doesn't sink except for the back end which is what it's designed to do and I don't have to mess around with parachutes.  Instead I can crank them out all day!!!  Try one!

Real Fly Fishing And Our Rivers

 The blob is the latest joke to be added to what used to be a fur and feather sport.Will someone please come up with a name other than flyfishermen for those who use these type of things.They denigrate the sport. - DanT, 

DanT says it all!!!

I agree with DanT. This sports' definition, a definition that has existed for a 100 or more years, has been run through the weeds to encompass a growing style of slinging weighted flies, flies that have very little resemblance to natural stream organisms for the sole purpose of causing trout to strike outside of a feeding purpose! Trout see hundreds of insect prey every day that are represented by flies that are of the natural color/form/shape found in a trout stream. To fool a trout with a natural looking insect is the epitome of fly fishing. To get it to strike a Blob, a bright green Mop or a glowing Rainbow Warrior or  something like that is a lesser version of fly fishing. Maybe it's not fly fishing at all.

A blog post of mine a while ago mentioned a "fisher" on the Farmington.  I watched him catch trout after trout but after a short while I wasn't fooled by his 9ft limber road or the fact that he was casting fluorocarbon line but by the fact that his 9 ft rod was rigged with a spinning reel and the fluor was 3X! He was fishing with meal worms (legal where he was). I wanted to introduce him to flies but I seemed to have gotten the fact that he had been approached before. I showed him a fly that looked like his meal worm and there was some interest but he said that his trout were never deep hooked and he released all of them.

Now, what is the difference between what this guy ( a gentleman if there was one) and a tightline nymph fisher? Answer = NOTHING!!!  Change the lightweight spinning reel to a fly reel  AND IT'S THE SAME. He was casting the same 20 to 25 feet of fluor as your typical, I HATE FLY LINE, nympher does.

I asked him what he would do in shallower water seeing that he had lightweight split shot a foot above the fly.  "Take the shot off"  he said. DUH!! I should of known. That's easier to do than  changing a weighted fly and that's easier and makes a lot more sense then looking for a water flow (faster) that suits nymphing. (can't believe I saw that on the internet!!!!)

In short, there are degrees or levels of fly fishing. If your game is to catch as many fish as possible with costume jewlery you must realize that after a few dozen you are working over freshly stocked trout which includes the Farmington. If your intention is to fool trout with something that looks and acts like a natural insect then you are in the zone, you are FLYFISHING!!!

The Rivers

The Millers, EB and the Ware need rain.  The Swift is fine.

Guided Trips

Book me NOW!! October and November are great months that can be warmer than May and April.  These are my favorite months!!!!

Ken

 

Ant Season And This Autumn

 "I have always been fascinated by whatever that spark is that actually makes a trout take a fly in the first place.  Sure, match-the-hatch gets you close but it's hard to believe that a minor adjustment in something like the hue of the dubbing material will make that big a difference". Ed Engle

I think it's a termite

It seems to start around the third week of August and will, on some years, last right to the start of October.  That is the annual breakup of ant colonies (termites included) in New England. The biggest that I saw was on the Farmington the week before Labor Day almost 20 years ago.  the second largest was on the EB one September afternoon a decade ago.  In both cases THE TROUT WENT CRAZY, giving up on whatever they were snacking on, to zero in on the ants.

There are many species and sizes out there. I ran into a short hatch of size 22 reddish winged ants on the swift last week.  They all have a few things in common:

1. This is the WINGED STAGE of the life cycle.  The colony is splitting up by following the new queen (?) to a new spot. 

2. For some reason they (many) end up in the water. That is bad for them but good for the trout and for us. 

3. Your imitation should be WINGED (blue dun hackle tips from a hen cape are my choice) and the body should be hour glass (ant) shaped.

4. I stopped using hackle years ago and use a synthetic dubbing that dries quickly and plenty of powdered  floatant.

5. Sizes 18 through 22 in black and brown do it for me.

6. It's been said that a good rain will jump start a colony split up. (like yesterdays rain, I hope.

My strangest ant encounter was a few Octobers ago on the Millers. They were all over the ground (thousands) with a few in the air.  I picked one up and immediately smelled something like lemon oil.  Forward cast a few months to a presentation that I did at the Evening Sun Fly Shop. I mentioned the strange lemon scented critter and an exterminator in the crowd stated that I had stumbled onto a colony of CITRONELLA  ANTS!!!

Do  I carry lemon scented flies?  No!!

The Rivers

Yesterdays ran really helped but we need more.

Millers - 66 cfs

EB       - 49 cfs

Swift    - 124 cfs

Remember, days are much shorter than 2 months ago and evaporation from streams and rivers is also less. In a few weeks the trees will drop their leaves and that means less water sucked up into the biomass and that means more water in the rivers.  

Book Me

 

 

A Bamboo Crowd And Colorful Brookies

' Something to think about: if you fish the wrong fly long enough it will sooner or later become the right fly." - John Gierach

It was a bamboo week on the Swift for sure.  In my 50 years of flyfishing I never saw a collection on cane addicts as this past week.

First it was Steve and Kristin last Sunday. I asked the usual question "what kind of rods do we have".  First Kristin pulled out a vintage Orvis 6  ft 6 inch 4wt impregnated bamboo rod that was as close to mint condition as a 1970's rod could get.  And it was a rocket launcher.  Steve was not to be beaten when he assembled a Ted Simroe 8 foot 4wt.  For those outside of the bamboo world Ted Simroe was one of the last artisans to work for the great Leonard Rod Company. Like the Orvis rod above it was a dream to cast.

As we made our way to our spot I noticed another angler just downstream from us and guess what?  Another bamboo guy!  That made three bamboo fans working  a 300 yard section of the river.  Not a graphite rod in sight!!! 

It didn't stop there. I had worked the river with a 6 foot 3wt Paul Young for over a week but changed over to a Rick Taupier (of Swift River Rod Company) 7.5 foot Sierra rod for a DT 4wt.  I love this rod!!!!  Then someone said "Hi" and introduced himself as Pat and if I had a few minutes he'd like to show me something.  Back he comes with a 7 foot 4wt rod made from a Payne taper.  The neat thing is that he built it by himself starting with splitting the culm (cane) which makes him a "maker" and not an "assembler'.

It seemed that I had gone back in time to when cane ruled on the Swift!!!!

The Brookies And Their Fall color.

Ok, the brook trout are not yet running to their spawning areas BUT they are certainly putting on their Fall colors.  Book me for a 3 or 6 hour trip on the Swift for this Autumn action.

BTW, I've heard encouraging reports about the Millers and the EB.  The trout have survived the drought and are hitting flies.  Let's take a trip.

Ken

A September Morning

 Really, the only thing a psychiatrist can do that a good fishing guide can't is write prescriptions" - John Gierach

It was only 55 degrees on September 1st as I rigged up a 3wt bamboo to play with the Swift's bows, brookies and salmon. With the 58 degree water the fleece I brought felt good. Only a week ago it was 90 and humid.  The seasons are changing and we can't avoid it and why would we? September has the most comfortable weather (cooler and usually dry), less of the biting insects and a dusk that comes early and a dawn that comes late plus plenty of insects, aquatic and terrestrial, to keep us and the trout happy. (don't believe the naysayers who think that the trout food is too small in September. I like small trout food!!)

I stationed myself in the flats above the Duck Pond where bows, brookies and LLS have come to the net as of late but this morning started off as a complete dud. The #14 partridge and orange, usually as reliable as Tom Brandy, was totally ignored.  Now, I could not see any insect activity and the rises that I saw were sporadic at best.

Well, let's do what has worked before. Go down to Cady Lane?  No, throw on a size 18 partridge and yellow.  In my final hour that fly resulted in 8 nice brookies (6 to 8 inches) and two rainbows plus one that broke me off. Some of those fish were taken on the same fly in a size 20.  The technique was the classic wet fly swing which is deadly.  Have at least 12 feet of leader  in 5 or 6x and cast it down and across the current mending as needed. You will be imitating an emerging insect perfectly.

P.S. - For the first time in two weeks I didn't take a LLS. 

Brookies And The Fall

Have you noticed that the brookies are starting to color up? By mid October they will be migrating upstream to their spawning ground and every brown and bow will be trying to get into the act of robbing eggs.  Book me if you want to fish this Fall.

Ken