"Most anglers, especially beginners, false cast too often. Three false casts should be sufficient for any cast and two is better. One is perfect". - Joe Brooks
You see them everywhere at this time of year. On the Swift it's the hordes of young brookies and on the EB it's the schools of small emerald shiners. The tiny baitfish are out there and are being chased by the larger fish and your job is to provide an imitation that will work. I first developed my imitation back in 1988 while chasing LL Salmon and outsized brookies on the Moose river up around Moosehead in September. I knew that there had to be tiny salmon from the previous season so with that in mind I tied up a small marabou streamer with just enough flashabou to catch their attention. As you can see the streamers are small, only about an inch and a half and the marabou NEVER stops breathing which gives it a distinct advantage over the more static materials such as bucktail or fixed wings. I will put three to four colors of marabou into these flies along with some accents via Sharpie Pens and they work!!! (Note: I use the same pattern whether I'm fishing to landlocks in the Swift or stripers in the salt. Only the size changes). I will actually fish these streamers on the dead drift starting with a quartering upstream cast and high sticking as it passes me on the way downstream. BTW, size 12 works in freshwater, larger sizes to fit the prey in the Salt.
Comments On The Last Post
Talk of playing out trout until they can't recover really struck a cord with our readers and brought back some bad memories for me. There was once a Swift guide who would not let clients use anything heavier than 8x tippet regardless of the fly size or the guy who fished a size 12 stimulator on the EB using 7x because "the water is so clear" or the Millers angler who wanted some 7x tippet because the trout had become "leader shy" and wouldn't take his size 14 caddis. "Conventional Wisdom" is usually misinformation. You can be successful on the Swift over 90% of the time with 6x and many times 5x will do the trick. It's also easier on the trout!
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Mid September, October and November are the best months on our central Ma rivers. The weather is the best of the season, biting insects are few and the freestone trout like the cooler waters and the flows have been great so far. Book me on the river of your choice.
Ken
11 comments:
Like your streamers. I use similarly sized Thundercreeks. Nothing fancy needed.
Anonymous,
I like Thunder Creeks too. They have the shape of may baitfish.
Ken
I dig the small streamers and don't give them enough of a chance-though I have tried them in the past. Its good to hear someone talking about it because I haven't heard about it in quite a long time. I just coincidentally re-read out of Art Lee's book, "Lore of Trout Fishing" about the young of the year streamers about a day before your post went up! If anyone is interested in some good info by a Catskill Legend, his books are worth finding- the other good one is Fishing Dry Flies for Trout on Rivers and Streams, he has a third which I have not read about Atlantic Salmon fishing called Fishing the Riffling Hitch.
BobT,
Art was one of my favorite writers. He was a staple of FLYFISHERMEN MAGAZINE back in the day and an article that he wrote decades ago about brown trout fishing in Iceland is an absolute classic.
Ken
Agreed...whenever one of his articles popped up in FFM I would jump to it first! Obviously a lot in fly fishing has changed but a lot has not so most of his stuff still applies and is a good refresher on several sub topics of fly fishing.
Hi Ken and any other readers: Do you have an opinion on the pluses and minuses of a Fast Action 5 wt rod?
I have been using Little Brook Trout streamers in various sizes for years on the Swift and have taken some very nice fish.
Falsecast,
A fast action 5wt spells "dry fly rod" to me. That crisp action is just right for some quick falsecasts to dry that fly off. I have a 7 foot 6 inch Redington rated 3 or 4 wt and it's great for tossing dries in the close quarters of the Swift. What length is your rod??
Ken
I am considering a 9ft, 5 wt. Specifically, a G Loomis NRX series. I want to use it as on bigger rivers out west or up in Rangeley, also as a boat rod. I've cast a few and they load very quickly and easily for fast casting. It doesn't seem to be a drawback for nymphing, but you do lose some of the "feel" for the cast.
I doubt I'd use it on the Swift, but I would on the Miller's and the Housy and in Maine where I use a 5 wt most. On the Swift, I only use 4 wt's. My go to rod is 30 years old, a 7.5 ft, Thomas and Thomas LPSII.
Falsecast,
Since you're going to be fishing larger rivers and out in a boat you may consider a 6wt (they were the standard for trout fishing years ago). That would help with the wind and heavier flies or rig the 5wt up with a 6wt line.
Ken
Ken, thanks for the bait fish streamer idea. They are so simple that I don't know why more people don't use them. I tied a few up and I was immediately slammed by fussy stripers. I had been trying everything with very little luck. They are the answer I've been looking for! Thanks again.
Dave
Dave,
Glad you did well!!!
Ken
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