"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
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
2 comments:
Nice to have some water in our streams this time of year for sure. One thing I've noticed lately is fish seem more spread out on the streams I like to fish and that's a good thing, stocked streams or native brookie blue lines alike. Ken I had a chance to check out a blue line you had mentioned in a post possibly going back a few years now called Phillips brook, I had added to my list of new places to try and took a while to get to it but what a little gem of a stream !
Paul Fay,
I agree, especially the Swift River browns which seem to be on the move early this year.
Ken
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