A Winter Rod And Happy Thanksgiving!

 

"I also think of the spring, that season when the earth begins to forgive itself, in the words of Allan Gurganus. It will be here soon." - Monte Burke

Maybe we've gone too far on the lightweight thing, especially in winter. A 10ft 3wt can be a pleasure on a balmy day in May but a pain when ice coats the rod, guides and line.  You may want something that is sturdier and with more backbone. Try a heavier rod.  You fish a long 3wt? Try moving up to a 5wt or even a 6. Think about it. Most of our fly offerings during the winter tend to be BIGGER and HEAVIER and will be cast much easier with a heavier outfit. And what happens when size 22 winter caddis begin to emerge? Lengthen your leader out to 6x or 7x. I guided a young beginner a few years ago who used a 6wt to deliver a size 30 dry and subdue a good brown.  Decades ago a 4wt was considered ultralight and a 6wt was a standard dry fly rod and we still caught fish with tiny flies.  And don't think your going to throw your shoulder out with a 6wt!!!

Another thing to consider would be a FIBERGLASS rod of 5 or 6 wt. Fiberglass, being heavier, can take a beating in the winter. In fact, back in the day when fiberglass ruled the market the only rods that broke were because of car doors and trunk hoods. Casting??? I can't think of any.

So....If you love sending your smashed graphite rod back to the factory for repair or replacement then ignore all of the above.

Swift Update Again

The Brookies have finally made their grand appearance and are spread out over any suitable water. Browns are showing up but the rainbows are not there in the numbers that we have been used to seeing.  Who cares?? Browns and brookies are fine!  

Stay safe this Thanksgiving Holiday and be thankful for what you have!!!

Book Me


Ken

Rating The Rivers And Reproducing Trout

 "Stocked trout are as wild as a Chihuahua sitting in aa pink velvet handbag" - Fennel Hudson

The Ware River

Well, we do this little exercise every Fall to give an overview for the past season.  Yes, the fishing is still going on but it is winding down.  Let's start at 5th place and go from there.

Fifth Place - The West Branch of the Westfield- I don't know what happened out there this year but this beautiful river was a clunker this year.  High water had something to do with it.  I'll be back next year for sure.

Fourth Place - The Millers - I've fished this river for 37 years and this was the worst year due to the constant roaring current starting around mid June and continuing now.  I've had a number of October afternoons over the years with a flow of 250 cfs but not this year.  I'll be back next year.

 Third Place - The EB - It wasn't a disaster out there due to this river's ability to rise like a rocket BUT then sink like a stone.  There were plenty of fish but high water sort of killed my late season dry fly excursions. Swinging soft hackles helped save the day on the EB.

 Second Place- The Swift- I'm being generous here. This river gets a pass most years because of its cool and tame flow which draws fly fishers from all over the Northeast.  The big problem, especially this year, was the disappearing rainbow act.  And now we are into tattooing bows to see where they go. Stop the Madness by  stopping our reliance on rainbows!!!!  We should be looking at species like browns, that have a chance of getting established, as the DFW in Connecticut and New York do. (BTW, the sulphur hatch was off this year.)

First Place - The Ware River

Yup, this river did everything right this year.  It got high but corrected itself quickly. The Quill Gordons arrived on time and trout took advantage of them. And there are other places to fish on this river instead of just only below the Church Street Bridge.

The flows were good and the trout were willing.  It's number #1!!

Book Me - The Swift is fishing well with brookies on the redds but more importantly it's drawing big browns to go after those eggs.

Three and six hour trips are available!!

Ken

Some Never Learn And LLS Revisited

 

Some anglers never learn. We see it all of the time - a nice trout laying on the shoreline  rocks for that precious photo opportunity.  That photo can be taken while the trout and the net are in the water. No harm done that way but for some reason it just doesn't sink in!

The worst example of poor fish handling was the very recent photo of someone doing a one handed death grip on some poor brookie. The grip was so strong that you could see what looked like milt running down the tail of that brookie!!!!

Salmon

There have been some interesting reports this season of salmon in the Swift. They all seem to be in the 8 to 12 inch range and they are everywhere from the Bubbler down into the depths of Bondsville.  These guys are the aftermath of the 2018 October overflow which sent hundreds of BIG salmon into the Swift where they immediately began to dig redds and spawn. Here's my question. Brookies spawn all over the Swift. The DFW says browns don't spawn but just get stocked and grow BIG. Rainbows don't do anything and need to be replenished a few times a year.  WHY NOT TRY PLANTING LL SALMON??  They seem to do well even with that unintentional accidental stocking.  Some salmon in northern New England are stream residents and don't need aa big lake to grow out in.

Just a thought.

Try putting a bit of color (orange) as the thorax of your next soft hackle. The fly to the left is a Grouse and Flash with a orange thorax which makes sense during the egg season.

Ken

Brookie Update And The BW Of A BWO

 

"If someone asks me whether I prefer fly fishing with a "dry" fly or a "wet" fly, I answer simply that I prefer fly fishing and put the accent somewhat suavely on the word "fly". -   Malcom Whitman

Ok, it seems to be an "off" year for spawning brookies on the Swift. Why do I say that?  I say that because over the last dozen years or so I have visited certain traditional spawning areas and none of them have the brookie load of recent past years.  

Last year my blog recorded the first rush of spawning BT on October 28 (that's historically late)and they were still going strong on November 20, 2020.

Is there something wrong??  Maybe, maybe not.  I know that nobody questioned the outrageously high number of spawning brookies over the last 10 years but nature works in cycles, giving us good years and off years for reasons that we may not understand.  It may be worth our while to study brook trout in that river instead of color coding clonebows and then trying to find them.

My BW

I used to be a disciple of CDC but not so much anymore. Here are the reasons:

1. If you are catching fish your CDC will have a short lifespan.  It just doesn't hold up.

2. silica powder or gel is the only floatant that will work on that stuff.

It was once said that CDC worked because it came from "benign" waterfowl, ducks, geese and such and not from predator birds (BS) and that the feathers floated because of waterproofing oil that is on the feather (more BS)

Instead of CDC I use the finest, thinnest, poly wing material available. I use the gray shade on almost all my small dries because most small wings are close to that in color.

Very fine poly wing material cleans up and keeps it's shape better than CDC.

Keep Fishing!!! 

Hello Dark Season

 "I do have some 7.5 foot 4 and 5 weight rods - plus a couple of 7 foot, 9 inchers. I use them a lot on small mountain streams and medium sized creeks and love them dearly, but I think anything shorter and lighter than that is too specialized  to be very useful. If you're spooking fish with an 8 foot, 5 weight rod, the answer probably isn't a 7 foot 3 weight.   The answer is a longer leader and a better cast". - John Geirach

An Empty Y Pool!!

Yup, the clocks have been turned back and now it's dark before 5pm. I can dress warmly but not having sunlight just drops things down a notch or three.  Yes, I fish through the winter but the rivers are now falling into cold mode. The Swift and the Farmie will be ice free (mostly) but the freestones will begin to lock up with the first few very cold nights. Add some snow to the mix and it's "Wait Until Spring".

I fish through the Winter not because I like winter fishing but because it's the only game in town and I can only tie just so many flies.  BTW, the worst ideas that came from my time on the vise have been during the dead of winter when most new creations look like a stroke of genius but by the middle of a balmy May leave me mumbling "what the hell was I thinking!!!

All is not lost. We still have some nice days left with the temperatures kissing 50 degrees and you still have some days left in that license.  And I'm still guiding!!!

Ken

                                                          Autumn On The EB

Revisiting Scud Hooks On Soft Hackles And the Swift Lost A Regular

 

About 10 years ago I had a discussion on this blog about the use of scud hooks for soft hackles. There seemed to be s lot of interest in them back then but it appears to have tapered  off. 

I still tie them and use them but not as much as the straight shank hooks.  My question is: is anyone still using them?

George Cunningham (AKA Wooley Bugger George) R.I.P.

The Swift flyfishing community lost one of its greats with the recent passing of "Wooley Bugger George", a true Swift River original.  I first met George on the Indian Hollow section of the EB back around 1992 and the first thing that impressed me was how freely and openly he dispensed his fly fishing knowledge.  He even gave me a olive wooley bugger!!!! In the subsequent years we would run into each other on the Swift.  George was not "politically correct" and I really enjoyed that. 

So, 20 years of knowing  this man and I haven't one photo.  That makes me sad.

We will miss you, pal!

The brookies are on the move (so are the browns).

Ken

The Brook Trout - Finally

                                   

                                    "You can observe a lot by just watching" - Yogi Berra

Finally, the first vanguard of spawning brookies have begun to ascend the Swift. This means that this is the latest arrival that I've seen. Last year the first sighting of BT on the redds was on October 28.  Now, I'm not saying that brookies in spawning colors were not around in October of this year. They were but not on the redds.  Yes, they are late this year.

Give Spawners a break

You will catch roaming brookies in spawning garb in places that they will not use for spawning.  Any section with clean gravel and shallow water will attract them.  One good bet would be to fish the tail ends of these sections for egg stealing rainbows while trying to walk on the weeds and leaf debris.

Best Flies for Fall Brookies

Since I love skinny water (so do spawning Brookies and Browns) my favorite patterns are small Soft Hackles (partridge and orange) and my Copper Grouse both in sizes 14 and 16.  Toss in a micro egg or two and that rounds it out.

Don't forget to move around and try not to fish the same old places. These spawning brookies will draw bows and browns away from their usual haunts with the hope of an easy meal.

Swift Brown

Also, one does not need to throw articulated monsters at these big browns.  Many are taken at this time of year on your average trout fly.

Book Me

The weather is good, the Swift has a good flow, let's catch some trout.

 

Ken