Client John's BIG Bow
"The fish and I were both stunned and disbelieving to find ourselves connected by a line." - William Humphrey
It has been a fantastic week on the Swift and the EB.
Browns On The Swift
I have seen more large browns ( 5 to 10lb) on this river in the past seven days than I've ever seen. They are all over the place and in the most unlikely places. And they are in a striking mood. My client on Monday got hits from two monsters but lost them. Same for my Tuesday client.
We saw spawning activity from one of the browns, a big hen that was closing in on 30 inches. I've seen this in the Swift before but the question is how successful is this activity. Does the DFW know??
The Brookies - They are making their upstream migration to their favorite spawning grounds and will, of course, be followed by egg eating bows and brookie eating browns. Remember, do not walk on any clean gravel that you find because you will be walking on potential spawning beds and scrambling brookie eggs. Walk on weeds, silt and leaf litter. In short, don't ruin the future for this river.
The EB - If it wasn't for the Swift this river would be #1 for the month. The trout are spread out over much of this river since the earlier heavy rains and they are hitting below and ON the surface. It's also NOT crowded. We caught trout today and saw NOBODY which has been close to the situation for the past two weeks.
What Are They Hitting - They will hit anything if it's presented correctly.
And The Flows On The Swift - The flow was running at a steady 50 cfs until the 27th when it nosedived at midday to 16 cfs!!!!! A place where I saw a large hen brown digging a redd was almost dry three hours later. This lack of water management does nothing good for spawning trout and should be stopped. The same thing happened two weeks ago and the rumor was that they(?) lost a drone in Quabbin. Tough!!! Don't dewater the Swift again.
Ken
9 comments:
Ken,
I was at the Swift on Tuesday morning. I was up at the top of the Bubbler Arm fishing with a friend and one of the Park Wardens came along and told us that they would be turning off the water to replace a "check valve". She also said they would be taking out the yellow booms and remove some tree limbs in the river. Sure enough, they turned off the water and the fish in the Bubble Arm swam down to the Y-pool.
That’s awesome, seen any Large Browns Up River?? Weary of Covid19 and hoping to get out before the Winter. Good Health and Tight Lines!
JonBoxboro,
Thank you for the info. I hope they fixed it so it doesn't happen again this Fall.
Anonymous 12:16,
I don't fish above route 9 until the Winter - Too crowded. You won't have any covid-19 concerns if you vacate the Y Pool and explore the "road less taken". Hit - that's where the browns are!!
Ken
Your assessment of 'no crowds' on the EB is way off-base. I was there on Saturday and every one of the good pools/runs in the gorge was getting worked over by 9am. This blog is drawing way too much attention to what used to be a local gem. It will be overrun with report chasers like the swift soon enough.
Anonymous 9:04AM,
Well, what do you expect on a CR section on a popular river on a Saturday? I've fished/guided the hell out of of the place over the past two weeks and found very few anglers. I and my client spent the day there yesterday and met NOBODY and we caught fish. Take a 15 minute walk and you will be alone on a great river.
Ken
"Well, what do you expect on a CR section on a popular river on a Saturday" YUP!
there is a lot of water on the most popular rivers that goes unfished or hardly fished...You could drive up the road along the Deerfield and see maybe a couple anglers between the C&R sections and just a few along Rt 2. I have caught my best fish in the in-between part of that river. The same goes for the Millers EB(7 miles between accesses?) and Swift(thats smaller water for sure but still you can find fish after a little hike). I make it a point to start a minimum of 20 minutes from my car if possible and have lots of water to myself almost always. Did the same on the Raynolds section of the Madison...walk 20 minutes upstream and nobody is around one of the most heavily fished sections of one of the most heavily fished rivers in the USA.
BobT,
You are so right. Let me say that again, "you are so right". I feel fortunate that I can fish the Swift and not see anyone for 200+ yards. On the EB and the Millers it's even more in most places. The trout are everywhere and not just in the "easy access" spots.
Ken
BobT,
You are totally right!!
Ken
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