Happy New Year And A Resolution Or Two

 

Fishing is not an escape from life but often a deeper immersion into it. - Harry Middleton

New Years Salmon, Swift River 2018

First, I hope your 2021 was a good one and that 2022 is even better. It was a crazy year with all the high water BUT the fishing was still good.  Right now I'm tying my butt off and working on some new creations which leads me to a New Years resolution or two:

Resolution #1 - My dry flies for 2022 will be tied on light curved nymph hooks BECAUSE they represent the insect stage we encounter the most. the hook end is below the surface, the body of dubbing or thread does nothing and could be eliminated but the thorax of clipped deer hair, snowshoe fur and the same materials used for the wing keep it on the surface where it looks like an insect trapped in the surface film. Check out the fly on the previous post or the one below to see what I mean.

                                                                          Wyatt's DHE

What will I do with all those dry fly hooks??  SOFT HACKLE WETS..

Resolution #2 - My euro nymphing experiment is over and that is because I just don't like those nymphing rods. Some do, I don't. That said I am selling my 10 foot #4 weight  4 pc. Greys XF2 Streamflex rod. There's very few miles on this baby. It listed at $375.00 but a $200 offer takes it. Tube included.

 Have a great new year.

Ken

Minimalist Dry

 In the early seventies, Idaho guide Bill Cowan used a similar, if even more minimalist, fly called the Hank of Hair - no body, just a deer hair wing with the butts clipped into a sort of thorax.  It appeared in a 1971 issue of Flyfisher Magazine but never caught on for some reason.  I expect it was just too simple for commercial fly tiers to take seriously or most fly shop customers to shell out good money for. - Bob Wyatt

I'm a fool for simple, minimalist flies.  Less is always better and this fly is a good example of that belief.  It first worked when I tried it out last Summer and it will be a mainstay in my fly box going forward.

The above fly is tied on a #16 curved emerger hook. The body is nothing more than one layer of thread (I don't think you even need that).  Use fine deer hair for the wing and clip the butt ends down close.  It is the fly's  thorax.  

You can make it size 20 or smaller by using snowshoe fur instead of deer hair.

Time to get your 2022 license  and then book me!!!!!

Ken

Happy Holidays!!

 

To My Readers - One thing this blog has been doing for many years is to give you the fly fishing news for Central New England while leaving out the junk like bogus product reviews (like you actually need to be bombarded with more advertising) and at the same time giving out real time fishing conditions on rivers that are actually named!!! (it's called spreading the wealth).

So, thank you for reading (lots and lots of readers) and thank you for the best comments that you will find anywhere.

Merry Christmas

Ken

Swift Serendipity Again

"Science tells us that fish respond to their prey primarily by size. During a hatch, the food is being served in one size only, so that helps.  Stream trout are drift feeders, so they have to snatch what's going past on that water borne sushi train before it's swept downstream or another trout gets to it first.  Match the size and you're more than halfway home in the fly selection process. I could almost leave it there, but that would make for a short book." - Bob Wyatt

The Swift Serendipity has been a standard Winter fly for me going back maybe 15 years.  It copies the traditional Serendipity except for two materials: I dumped the deer hair wing pad and replaced it with a short stub of white turkey flat (the turkey isn't as buoyant as deer hair so it sinks quicker) and the body has been made with kevlar  thread. ( that's about to end because I really don't think kevlar beats out regular red thread.)  Put on a head of brown dubbing and you are all set.

Now, Once Spring comes around I'll change the body to olive and change the white wing pad to slate grey which will mimic the BWO family.

Sizes are 18 through 24 for me.

As I write there are only 11 fishing days left on you 2021 license.  Go fishing!!!!!

Ken

p.s. The Flyfishing Guide To The Millers River makes a great stocking stuffer because it's stuffed with pages and photos and REAL advice on the Millers AND IT'S FREE. Same day delivery via email.

Thoughts Of The Salt

 

"Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things"- George Carlin

It happened back in the early 90's (not my age but the decade).  I had been a devoted fly flinger for trout for 25 years but then took a wrong turn after my first striper and then my first bluefish on a fly.  That led to a trout fishing hiatus that lasted about three years.  I rarely fished for trout during that time but did the long haul as a committed tide chaser.  Frankly, I loved it but frankly, it took up way to much of my non career time.  Living in central Ma I was used to driving anywhere from only 15 minutes to 30 minutes to scratch that piscatorial itch.  Trips to the coast took too long so fishing the tides were reduced to renting a place for a week at Plum Island and/or spending March in sunny Florida.  Covid killed Florida for me so hitting the salt became a rarity.

But I still miss it.  Now, as luck would have it my youngest daughter just bought a house in Hampton Falls that is a couple of double hauls away from Great Bay and all of it's tidal rivers and if I show her the basics of flyfishing she said I could use the place as a base camp. (sorry, I'm the only invitee)

What kind of saltwater flyfisher am I?  Although I've done well on boats my favorite game is walking and casting along the beach or walking/wading a tidal stream that flows through an estuary. (It's the beach bum gene kicking in).

My favorite set up is an 8wt rod with flies that imitate baitfish in the 2/0 to size 6 range although small crab patterns work well on the Ogunquit River flats (and others) as the tide just starts to roll in. (hint: the small crab pattern is nothing more than a size 8 brown and olive wooley bugger!!)  So it looks like I chase schoolies  with the light rod and small flies? Yes, when I'm wading and walking it's a good setup. When I'm on a boat I'll toss an occasional 8 inch fly.

Summer is far away but it will come and I'll be ready.

Meanwhile, back at the Swift...

It's creeping into Winter mode although Thursday (tomorrow) will have temperatures in the mid 50's which should bring out some tiny flies.  I'm still guiding!!!

Ken                The "Basin" at Plum Island, Newbury Ma.

This cove empties out to become a mud flat twice a day. When the tide comes in so do the stripers!!!!!

The Snowshoe Emerger aka Wyatt's Emerger

 "CDC is pretty much a one fish fly because after one fish it's usually too slimed up"  - Bob Wyatt

You can't beat this dry fly.  It is a perfect general imitator of most average sized (sizes 14 through 18) aquatic insects. The deer mask body is rough and spikey and nothing floats like Snowshoe foot fur!  This fly takes a beating but a shake or two of float powder brings it all back. 

 You would think that more dry flies would incorporate this material but it is kind of hard to work with.  Here's some hints.

The photo below is of a snowshoe foot that is upside down with the sole of the foot pointing up.  That fur is what you want plus the fur that's between the toes.

(I dyed that foot an olive color that's why it looks strange but it's one that I haven't chopped up yet so you can get a good look at it). Get an good pair of sharp scissors and cut off some strips of fur.

A tiny moustache comb is great for combing out the fur while it's still on the foot before you cut it.

Use an emerger or light scud hook and NOT A STANDARD DRY FLY HOOK. I have abandoned the standard dry fly profile (tail, tight body, hackle and upright wing) because most flies are eaten when they are stuck in the surface film and not while riding the surface.

A Future For Landlocks

 

"There's only one reason in the world to go fishing: to enjoy yourself.  Anything that detracts from enjoying yourself is to be avoided". - Leigh Perkins, legendary CEO of the Orvis Company

Swift River Landlocked Salmon

Back in October of 2018 Quabbin overflowed and god knows how many LL salmon went over the falls and into the Swift.  We saw them going through the spawning motions but didn't think they would be successful.  It appears we were wrong because tiny salmon began to show up the next Summer and larger salmon in the Summer after that.  They are still chasing our flies from the Bubbler Arm to Bondsville and are in the 10 to 12 inch range.  The question is will these "new" salmon reproduce in the Swift or will they eventually die out?

Some people may say that LL Salmon need a large lake to grow up in and an inflowing river to run up to spawn.  There are rivers that have non migrating populations and if the food supply is ample enough then why leave. They will spawn right there.  

Here's my question(s) - did the salmon that went over the spillway make a mad dash to the Atlantic via the Swift,Ware, Chicopee, Connecticut River corridor or did they just die off.  Will that be the fate of the 10 inchers (or smaller salmon) we see now?

If the DFW thinks that the salmon are taking up residency in the Swift then why not try to establish a population of them.  They are more fun than rainbows.

Just a thought!!!

So far no snow and that's a good thing.  Snow will really chill things off.   Ken

Pinheads All Year Round

 

"They said, don't give up on your dreams. So I went back to sleep."  Unknown

I love this fly because it is a great imitation of a black fly larva.  How important is the black fly larvae? VERY IMPORTANT especially on a tailwater stream. I've always thought of black flies as being a creature of swamps and muck holes but this little critter likes fast running water with good oxygen. I remember as a kid I used to try to catch these bugs from a fast, shallow outflow of a warm water pond.  They clung to rocks and clay deposits by the millions (well, not that many) and never seemed to be in short supply.

The Pipe on the Swift is loaded with them as is the Bubbler Arm.  Both of these locations have produced 20 fish days using, you guessed it, a Pinhead.  (P.S. - don't forget Bondsville.)

The Fishing

It's funny how the rainbows of the Swift like to pull a disappearing act after appearing to be in the millions the previous day. Great action one day and a yawner the next.  I'd trade all of them in for half as many browns!!!

Ken

The Hot Spot - Simple And Effective

 "Before you marry a person you should first make them use a computer with  slow internet to see who they really are." - Will Ferrell

I came up with this fly back in 2006 and then first wrote about it a year later and I'm still writing about it because it works well and it seems like every other year there's a new crop of fly flingers who have never heard of it. I wanted something small (down to size 24) but something that stood out among all the other trout food items that are lost in the drift.  It certainly does that and is one of my best Swift River flies.  It gave me a killer morning at the head of Les's Pool on the EB a few years ago during a surprise hatch (Needhami's I think) and suspended under an indicator it rules on the Bubbler Arm.

I like writing about different flies and different rivers and I am not like those that guard flies and river sections like they are State secrets. The only places that I don't talk about are native brookie streams (unstocked) and certain spawning areas because they are just too fragile to stand up to heavy angling pressure.

The Fishing

The Swift has had dependable flows so that's where to go.  The Millers (669 cfs), the EB (344 cfs) and the Ware (167 cfs) all shot up in the last 24 hours making them iffy. The Millers is too high, the EB is fishable and the Ware may be the safest of them all.

The Millers Fly Fishing Guide

This Guide has been around for years and it's the best source of fly fishing knowledge about the Millers.  BTW, it's FREE.  Just send an email requesting a copy.

Ken

 

"If I'm not going to catch anything , then I'd rather not catch anything on flies" - Bob Lawless

 

Color is not the most important element in the creation of the artificial fly. Size and profile are first and second and color is third. This is easily understood when you go to pick out some olive dubbing.  Many of these shades of dubbing are very different in shade and hue even though they may all call themselves "light olive" or "sulphur" or whatever.  Frankly, it's almost impossible to duplicate an aquatic insects color  with fur or plastic.

But one color seems to stand out and get the trout's attention. and that is "shell pink" I use it on scuds and on soft hackle bodies and the time of year that it works best for me is from early May through July when March browns and sulphurs/cahills rule the rivers.

It's an easy fly to tie and it's a big fly to be fished on big rivers.

Hook - Saber dry fly or curved nymph, size 12 or 14

Body - UTC Ultra Thread #140

Thorax - Rabbit 

Hackle - Partridge

Fishing Now

The brookies on the Swift are starting to thin out but they are still there.  Best to fish spots that have not seen a million flies.

The Rainbow fishing has been good on the Swift but I'm thinking that a trip to the EB may be worthwhile (178 CFS).  The Millers is still slogging away at 600 cfs.

Ken