Hmmm.....What's this all about?

 "Nothing grows faster than a fish from when it's hooked until it gets away." 

 So, I did my check of the Ma. DFW stocking page fully expecting to see some activity in the last week of September (because they said stocking would start then) but was greeted with the notice that stocking was to be delayed because high water temperatures.

STOP RIGHT THERE!!!!  What high water temperatures??? I fish and visit a good sample of the major rivers in this state, the Swift, the Ware, the Millers and the EB (Westfield East Branch and as of last week they were all in good shape temperature wise.  And they are a good sample of our rivers statewide. 

The Swift, being a tailwater, is a no brainer.  It's been 58 to 60 degrees since June. It should have new fish.  The Ware water temperature has been under 70 degrees for over a week, and trending downward, and the Millers and EB were at 64 degrees at mid morning last week.

It could be stated that this Fall has the best conditions in a number of years because of the higher than average flows in all rivers.  High flows mean water tables are fully charged and are releasing cooler water into the rivers.

Personally, I wish we didn't have to stock the above rivers.  What's wrong with propagating a trout that could stand a chance of making it through the Summer(like browns).  I support the Fall season because it is a last chance for the average flyfisher to get some licks in before Old Man Winter steals the show.  Why are we missing out on these good conditions??

Ken 

What To Look For And What Not To Look For

 I fish because I love to.  Because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful, and hate the environs where crowds of people are found, which are invariably ugly. - Robert Travers

Still time to order your Fall flies, especially the Partridge and Magic

Notice - someone found a lanyard loaded with tippet near the Y Pool on Friday, 9/24. Describe the lanyard and the range of tippet sizes then contact me via email.  Ken

Notice - Lanyard owner found 9/25!!!!

The Swift is beginning to change as I write.  Brookies are starting to group up for their Autumn trip upstream and so are the browns. In a week or so the clonebows will be dumped in. Remember, the browns and the Brookies are the real prize on this river.  In my not-so-humble-opinion a 14 inch brook trout in worth more than an 18 inch rainbow.  Why? Because bows of that size are commonly stocked but a 14+ brookie is fairly rare and a large Swift Brown is a fish for the season!(Yes, the Swift holds 20 inch brook trout and 15lb browns!!!)

Look for the browns below shallow riffles where the brookies are spawning.                                                           

Don't bother hoping that this year will be a repeat of 2018 when Quabbin overflowed and the LL Salmon entered the river. It appears that even with all this rain there will be no overflow this Fall, hence no salmon unless we get many inches of rain quickly.

All the rivers are in perfect shape and should remain that way so book a trip for October or November (the best months)!!! The Millers, Ware, EB and the Swift await you!!

Ken  

The Beauty Of Home Rivers And Their Memorable Trout

 

 "If people don't occasionally walk away from you shaking their heads your doing  something wrong" - John Geirach

I have fished Montana, the southwest corner of North Carolina,

Western NY, Northern Georgia for all that they offer and New Brunswick for all that it offers and that is Atlantic Salmon.  I've done well there, not like the halcyon days that we all read about but in something akin to the average trip from someone that drives hard or flies fast to spend some time on a river that is not impossibly crowded and has some difficult fish to fool. The last few words of the last sentence say it all.  If the fishing runs are chocked full with wading fishermen that look like an old photo of an "opening day" I'm not interested, Period!!

I've caught fish under these conditions BUT the REAL memories are of fish caught in local rivers that fill my mind with memories and dreams.  The MILLERS holds a lot of those memories like the misty July evening where the river exploded in rising browns. I took about a dozen until I lost my comparadun and couldn't tie on another in the dark.  There was another Millers brown that I chased for five months before it was fooled by a #14 partridge and orange that was draped over a mid stream rock.   There was the 2 foot long brown that slowly rose to my dry and then slowly sank, not to be seen again.  The same thing happened on the Swift but that brown was caught (luck).

Why have a bucket list and a fist full or airline tickets when all of this fishing is all around you?  American Flyfishing Magazine highlights many, many streams all over the country that are not destination rivers (read crowded and or overrated) but are close by and underrated?  I've had great fishing on the EB over the last 15 years with lots of caught trout and very few other anglers!!

The Swift And It's Browns And Brookies

The browns have been ganging up on the Swift and the brookies will be right behind them.  It would be interesting if the bows were not stocked in the Swift this Fall just so we know if they really make a difference.  The most successful trout in the Swift is the Brookie because they can reproduce in the river. The Brown is the next best because it can survive the longest (20 lbs are proof of that) and the bow fills in the holes and that's it.

Book Me For September, October and November!!!

Ken

News Flash - Holtshire Bridge is open. Welcome Back To Orcutt Brook!!!!!

 

Thanks to reader Bill Bedard for the news and the photograph.  This beautiful stretch of the Millers has been off limits during construction for two years but now it's ours again.  There may be a day or two where finish work will have to be done but the wait is over. Hopefully the DFW knows this so it will be stocked this Fall.

Finally!!!

Ken

The Blood Midge, Bad Info, And Our River Update

                            "I go fishing for reasons other than catching fish"  Fennel Hudson

                                                                                                                                                       Ok, There's no frost on the pumpkin yet but a few mornings out here in the Pioneer Valley have required a sweatshirt during my early morning walk.  That gets me thinking of cold weather flies for the Swift.                                       Blood Midge

I like the blood midge for all the right reasons: aquatic worms are a mainstay in the tailwater environment and I have used them to clean up on the Bubbler Arm and below the Pipe. RED is the color of choice. The fly is finished off with a hard clean shell.  Fished alone or with a weighted point fly and you will be fishing in the zone!!!  Order them right from this blog!!

Bad Info

A few months ago a regional blog proclaimed the virtues of the infrared thermometer for taking stream temperatures over the standard thermometer. Here are the reasons AND the reasons why they are wrong.

1. You would not be using a mercury thermometer therefore helping the environment.

     The Truth - You would be hard pressed to even find a hand held mercury thermometer today.  14 states have outlawed the sales of them but more importantly the manufacturers have been discontinuing  them (product liability???) making them impossible to find.  Most hand held thermometers have red dyed alcohol as the measuring liquid, not mercury.

2. You can just point at the water and get a reading.

     The Truth - Yes, you can point and get a reading but the reading will only be the SURFACE of the water, not down in the water column. A Pennsylvania study showed a significant difference in stream water temperature from the surface to say, the four foot level during warm weather. That's why it's best to take a standard device and put it on a lanyard so you can measure at different depths.

I can't tell you how to spend your money but I can think of more useful toys to spend it on such as a floating net.

Our Rivers And The Fall Stocking:

The DFW says that they will start stocking in mid September (that's right now) and that will probably be the ponds and lakes (got to keep the "forked stick" crowd happy) and then our rivers.  There will be no excuses about low water this year.  You will know very early in the morning where the trout are just by reading this blog.  Before I'm accused of being a "hatchery truck chaser" let me just say that we have just over two months before things freeze up and most of your fly fishing STOPS.  It will be the last chance for many of you. 

Book Me

Every day I have one less open day to book clients.  Don't hold off on this because things are filling up.

Ken

Big Stoneflies - A fly For All Seasons

                                           "The Future ain't what it used to be" - Yogi Berra

Lots of orders coming in for the Partridge and Magic soft hackle. (thank you).  Order now before I run out of that magic material.  Go to my previous post for ordering instructions!!!

                                   

                                   Thomas Ames Jr. Photo

Autumn is not just the time for micro flies but is the time for some of our largest prey items to take center stage.  I will dwell on EB because it makes my case very well.  As I stated in the previous post the river is loaded with size 14 Isonychia nymphs which have been hatching since August.  The river is loaded with emerald shiners which grow to about 3 inches long and are good forage for the trout. You will see schools of them in the shallows  which are the young-of-the-year. I've seen browns chasing these guys.

But the star of the show is the Giant Stonefly - Allonarcys!  This fly is unlike most aquatic insects because of it's extended life span..  While most  live for a year these guy is around for 3 YEARS.  There will always be a good supply of these monsters for trout to feed upon.  They are BIG usually topping out around 2 inches long. Trout will not get picky if one of these goes drifting bye.  If you tie your own use plenty of weight or micro shot a few inches above the fly.

 Big Browns 

A client and I went down to the depths of Cady Lane and worked over 2 large browns yesterday morning.  One was about 24 inches and the other about 18.  What made this memorable was the fact that they were hanging out together. Usually browns are fairly solitary except when we begin to approach the spawning season.  We had a couple of long looks but no takers.

Book Me 

September, October and November are the prime months of the Swift, Millers, EB and the Ware.  Book a date now!!!!!!

Ken

 

 

Gearing up for Fall

 The Partridge and Magic Soft Hackle is available again! This killer pattern has a yellow body when dry but a sexy orange body when wet. It has worked here and in Europe and is just what you need for those Autumn Bookies and those egg stealing bows.

They are easy to order. Go to my fly page and use the order form for the Partridge and Orange.  After you order email me and say you want the "Partridge and Magic" and I'll ship them instead.  All my flies are the same price.

I've had a lot of orders come in already.  Don't wait too long!!  Ken

It will be different this Autumn. The last two years have gifted us low water levels. Although we could go into a super dry spell in September and October our groundwater levels are right up there and with the vegetation die back in the Fall the water will not be sucked up into the biomass but will stay in the ground and hence, the rivers.  Btw, the last really wet Summer/Fall was in 2018 when Quabbin overflowed in October and spit out hundreds of   salmon into the Swift.  This year???  Maybe!

It also means a change in equipment. I NEVER cast weighted flies with my bamboo. so if I need weight I'll throw it with graphite or fiberglass. Glass is tough stuff  and never breaks (not mine anyway).  Kind of makes you wonder why rod companies haven't made a glass euro rod the way that those fragile graphite sticks are snapping.

Fall Flies (besides soft hackles)

                                                                                                                          Isonychia (Ames Photo)

Every so often you read where some expert casts a pall on Autumn fishing because "the flies are really small".  Now, if you spend your time splashing away in a tailwater there may be some truth to it BUT if freestones are on your venue then you will be aware of the larger inects that are with us through the Fall.  Take the Isonychia for example. This insect, best represented in a size 10 or 12, is found all over the EB. It hatches by swimming towards the shore and climbing onto rocks above the surface.  This is a nighttime activity where the exoskeleton is all that remains by the next morning.  It's the nymph that catches the fish and not so the dry.  Leadwing Coachmen and Zug Bugs are the traditional imitations.

We will talk about Autumn Stoneflies on the next post.

Ken

September On The EB And Magic Orange

                                    "When you come to a fork in the road, take it" - Yogi Berra

The flow on the EB this morning was a perfect 245 cfs but that , according to an early morning forecast, would change quickly as what's left of Ida would dump in the range of 4 to 6 inches of rain on the region over the next 18 hours.  Better fish it now!!!

I did see a set of tire tracks that kept going past the Bliss Pool and probably down to the gate where the driver would begin his 15 minute hike down to Les's Pool.  My first choice was taken but the Bliss Pool was unoccupied so I strung up my 7/1/2 foot Edwards, tied on a soft hackle and hit the river.

It only took about 3 casts before the rainbow slammed the fly at the very end of the swing. It was about 14 inches and very healthy after a summer in the river (all that great rain!). Next came a brown of the same size that struck deep and didn't want to give up.  That was followed by a another rainbow and then a missed hit. Then that was followed by a downpour which is when I decided to call it quits. (Note: the "downpour" followed me back on the 15 minute drive home and then STOPPED. The forecast still says 4 inches). 

I'm lucky to be close to the EB. It's a great freestone river that holds it's trout friendly temperatures through the summer (today it was 64 degrees, the same as what the Farmington has been running) and it's trout seem happy!!

Magic Orange

About 4 or 5 years ago I wrote about a "new" Partridge and Orange concoction that I stumbled on. I was experimenting on material that would give me a good YELLOW bodied fly.

What I ended up with was a yellow body that turned a beautiful sexy carrot orange when WET. It caught trout that year and  I actually started selling them. Some of those flies ended up in Italy where they did a number on those brown trout.  But after a year I ran out of the material that I used and couldn't recall the exact shade of yellow that I needed.

Now I have a huge supply and the three trout I caught today were on this Partridge and Magic. I intend to sell these. Just order the regular Partridge and Orange from my fly page and then EMAIL me with the words PARTRIDGE AND MAGIC and I'll send them out.  The price is the same and free shipping is included.

P.S. It only looks orange when it's wet.

Ken