My Tiny Rods And Goodbye 2022

  "I strongly suspect that much of what we believe about a particular fly rod has little basis in reality. If you're shopping for a fly rod I can think of no greater waste of your time than watching the plethora of "fly rod shoot-outs" that glut the channels of YouTube. Nothing irks me more than to listen to some dweeb prattle on about the performance pros and cons of two rods when he's obviously not a good enough caster to do either one justice". -  George V. Roberts, - Acquisitions Manager, Tail Magazine and Casting Instructor

A few years ago my friend Brad nudged me into buying a short rod, namely the CGR 5ft 9 inch by Cabela's. I hated it from the start. It had the action of a buggy whip and that's what killed it for me.  I played with the possibility of selling it but a strange quirk in my personality keeps me from letting go of any fly rod. So it went into the closet and stayed there for a few years.

Then I revisited this little blue line from my past and decided to give this rod a workout. Cabela's labeled this a 3wt but I rigged it with a Wulff Triangle 2wt and that did the trick. I was able to keep my back cast out of the trees by just roll casting. (Triangle tapers are roll casting machines) This rig may force the retirement of my Tenkara rods which are a pain in the ass on brush chocked streams. The shorter rod with the appropriate sized reel makes landing the trout easy compared to Tenkara.

I'm working on a 6 foot bamboo rod to play on the same streams. Can't wait until May.

2022

This was not a good year on the fishing front.  Let's hope for less extreme weather in 2023.  A year or two without droughts and floods would be nice.

Happy New Year!

Ken

Merry Christmas!!

  "No fly rod at any price is going to magically transform you into a Lefty Kreh or a Joan Wulff any more than a Stradivarius is going to turn your middle school violin student into Itzhak Perlman. And make no mistake: Itzhak Perlman could pick up a yard sale fiddle and extract soulful Tchaikovsky from it". - George Roberts, Tail Fly Fishing Magazine

It's been a strange year. The bone breaking drought last summer pretty much took the fun out of fishing my freestones and I can only take so much of the tailwater scene with the crowds and the rafts. My saltwater campaign was the worst I've ever had. (note to self: do more scouting). 

Fly tying carried me through the summer. As I've said to many that I've guided if I couldn't fly fish any longer I'd still tie flies!!

Merry Christmas, or whatever Holiday you celebrate, and have a very good New Year!!

Ken

Real Blue Lines

  "Trout are among those creatures who are one hell of a lot prettier than they need to be. They can get you wondering about the hidden workings of reality"

We hear a lot about "thin blue lines" but what exactly are they?  Here's my definition: it is a tiny watercourse that may or may not have a name and is not on the DFW stocking list. This last bit of criteria strikes a lot of gems from the list because the DFW just can't help themselves from stocking a lot of these streams with hatchery brookies and at times with rubber rainbows!

Who fishes these streams?  Well, hardly anyone to be truthful. I will mention the stream name and favorite spots on well known streams but never, ever mention or give the name and location of a thin blue line.

If you just bought a $1000 dollar fly rod you will not be seen on a thin blue line because you will not be able to show it off as you would on the Farmington. Tenkara rods, where there is no leafy canopy, and glass rods where there's a lot of underbrush, rule the day. In fact, thin blue lines demand simplicity in equipment and approach.

We could vastly improve the quality of life for self sustaining brook trout AND self sustaining brown trout populations just by stopping the stocking on these small streams.

BTW, beavers are important to wild trout survival.  A few years ago some local TU'ers declared war on those dam builders. I had a wildlife biologist from Maine declare that if beavers were harmful to wild brookies then Maine wouldn't have any wild brookies!!  Enough said!

Ken

Favorite Spots On The Millers

 "Lawyers are like nuclear weapons. By all rights they shouldn't exist, but if some people have them, then you'd better have one too, just in case." John Gierach

I've been fishing this river for 38 years so I know something about it. I know that this river, like all freshly stocked freestones, fishes well in the Spring but really hits it's stride at dusk on a Summer evening. I would want to find myself on the Upper Trestle Pool or the Kempfield Pool, either one will do and it's all surface action.  

Don't forget morning fishing and I mean EARLY morning and that's getting on the river before 4am. (I used to live 10 minutes from the river so it was easy). This is a summer time activity because the water will be the coolest at this time of day and the surface feeding will be heavy over a short window. At 4am the water is boiling with fish but by 6am the sun is up and it's over!!

Fishing in low light means you need a fly that can be seen like the one shown above.

The Millers is a brown trout river and throwing in rainbows is a waste of time. I worked with the DFW in sampling this river in early September (twice) and all we found were browns!!!!!

Ken

Happy Thanksgiving

 Only 127 days until April 1st

Happy Thanksgiving To All of You!!!

Ken

Tweaking A Wet Fly: The Millers Flymph

 

Two wrongs do not make a right but three do! - Anonymous

Well, the dark season is upon us and I don't like it. I've done a lot of Winter fly fishing but it was only to have something to do. No way would I give up a balmy day in May to trudge through snow and ice to wet a fly.  The great flyfishing publisher Nick Lyons once said that yes, there can be great midge fishing in Winter, but he needed the downtime of Winter and the thoughts of Spring to recharge himself.  Nothing wrong with that!

Then there's fly tying. Earlier this Fall I stated that there is no fly tying season for me because I tie all year long. During the "season" I'm busy tying inventory but in the Winter I get to experiment.  I've come up with the Millers Flymph.

Hook - light wire scud hook sizes 12 through 16

Thread - 8/0 brown

Tail (that's right) very sparse partridge fibers

Body - brown ice dubbing (don't go to the hook eye with the body but to about where the wing would be.)

Hackle - partridge (three turns)

Head - a few turns of ice dubbing again slightly pushing back the hackles.

This fly is like a soft hackle on steroids and imitates all those bigger mayflies and caddis of Spring.  I'll be stocked up by the time April rolls around.

Ken

Brook Trout Study On The Swift

 

Please read the following:

HI Ken - as per your recent discussions of the Swift and its wild brookies this from the GBTU chapter: PVTU Embrace a Stream Project The Swift River tailwater in Central Massachusetts is the premier wild Brook Trout fishery in Southern New England and is fished by TU members from all ten TU chapters in Massachusetts including many from GBTU. The Swift River holds up to 4000 wild brook trout per river mile, estimated by MassWildlife. Yet, Brook Trout have not been stocked in nearly 40 years. It is a virtually accidental wild fishery, created after the damming of the Swift River and the creation of Quabbin Reservoir. Pioneer Valley Trout Unlimited has been awarded an Embrace-a-Stream Grant to study the population density, movement, mortality, recruitment and growth of these wild fish. Partners include the MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWlidlife) and the Massachusetts Outdoor Heritage Foundation. The core method of this study is the use of PIT tag technology, supervised by the MassWildlife and implemented with the help of TU volunteers. The Project will provide metrics on fishery status and viability and develop better strategies to protect Brook Trout and their environment. This study, at a total cost of $36,500, will inform not only cold-water fisheries professionals, anglers, and advocates, but the general public that support the preservation of this unique heritage. The PVTU goal for this fundraiser is $12,500 to complete the needed funding. Please support this project with a donation this week (November 7- 13) to maximize the match that PVTU will receive from TU National

Finally, we have some action on the wild brook trout population on the Swift, action that is long overdue. Let me correct a few statements mentioned above. 1. The Swift is the Premier brook trout fishery in not only Southern New England but maybe all of New England. 2. Yes, it is a tailwater (artificial) fishery BUT no other New England tailwater matches it's ability to produce large brookies. 3. It's fame is not just local as I have guided fly fishers from up and down the eastern seaboard, the mid west and Europe. They had all heard of the Swift.

Now, why did I include the photo of the monster brown from the Swift.?  That's just to remind everyone that we should be taking care of these trout too. I know that they are not NATIVE (They are European origin) but they capture the minds of all fly fishers and have coexisted with brookies in this river for decades. They are the perfect apex predator. They are needed to keep the brookies at a healthy level.

If both species are to be studied to improve their stream environment then I totally support this action and you should too.

Not The Fly Tying Season, Some Tasty Food And A Lost Fly Box

 "Fishermen who care too much about the size and numbers of the fish they catch are insufferable on good days and as harried as executives on slow days.  On the other hand, it's possible to be a happy angler who doesn't catch many fish; it's just that no one will ever say you're good at it." - John Gierach

I recently cruised through a fly fishing website that said that the fly tying season has begun.  "WHAT"?? The fly tying season has no beginning and has no end. When I guided I told countless clients that if I couldn't fly fish again I would still tie flies. That the tying of a henderick emerger or dry transports me to to that time of season, same with tying sulphurs or ants.  As that fly takes shape in my vise I begin to recall the great moments with that fly and that is almost as good as the actual fishing.

I tie flies almost every day, from streamers to tiny stuff. I tie flies that I only use on certain rivers because they only seem to work there and not really anywhere else. I have a small box for the Millers, the Swift and the EB which makes things very simple for me.  It also works well!!

Tuna On Thai Noodles With Snow Peas And Zucchini

Season the tuna really hard with pepper and some soy sauce and sear each side for a minute. I throw basil on the noodles and vegetables.  It's SO good!!

The Flows

Millers - 463 cfs Fishable

Swift - 122 cfs I'm worried about brookie spawning

EB - 98 cfs = It's good

Fly Box- A small grey fly box was lost above route 9. Contact me and I'll contact the owner.

Ken

The Copper Grouse Revisited

 

 

"Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded" - Yogi Berra 

This may be my best fly for Fall run brookies and browns. The Copper Grouse has all the right elements to be a great fly - sparse grouse or partridge hackle, a copper body and an orange fur thorax.  Sizes 14 and 16 get it done.  

The Rivers

Things are a little screwy out there.  The Millers is roaring at 760 cfs, the Ware is calm at 155cfs, the Westfield is perfect at 132 cfs and the Swift is too high for my taste at 122cfs. I've always felt that 50 to 60 cfs is best for that stream and it'd spawning brookies.

BTW, the USGS has launched its new, enhanced stream data site and IMHO it's a great improvement.  Check it out!

We have one month of Fall fishing left. That Fall season ends when the first snow sticks to the ground.  Then it's Winter and that's another season with its own rules and strategies!!

Ken

 

 

My Favorite Emerger And A few Hours On The Swift And Lost Glasses

 

The great fly tier and fly fisher and writer changed my approach to tying emerger flies.  His DHE (deer hair emerger) did it all for me. A light curved scud style hook, coarse rabbit fur body and a fine deer hair wing causes the fly to sink a bit on the back end but float on the front, just like an insect trying to break through the surface tension.

I can tie this fly in sizes from size 12 down to about 18.  That my be the size limit with deer hair.

Remember, most rises that we see are from a trout taking an EMERGER and not an adult insect.

At The Swift

It's been a strange year.  My usual 20 minute drive to the Swift is now a 2 hour slog, a situation that may need a remedy for next year but this past Friday was a good day. It appears that the bulk of the native brookies have not arrived at their traditional spawning grounds, something that seems to be the new normal for this river.

My flies of choice were soft hackles, of course, with a size 16 Partridge and Orange leading the way with some quill bodied soft hackles taking a few.

The main event was the BIG BROWN I missed exactly where two of my clients lost big browns on back to back days 2 years ago.

I'll be back for them.  You don't have to fish too far from the gauge to have a shot at them.

Lost Glasses

Prescription glasses on a bright green croakie were lost on the 20th somewhere from the Y Pool parking lot and the Y Pool. If found contact me and I'll contact the owner.

Ken

Quill Bodies

 Secretiveness, typical to some extent of many professional craftsmen, was contagious  among flytiers.  Christian caught it from Gordon: when his grandson asked to be shown how to tie flies, Christian said "Find out the way I did".  He untied and figured out in reverse how Gordon had tied his flies, just as Walt Dette, Harry Darbee and the later generations of Catskill flytiers did in order to learn the professional secrets of the old masters". - Catskill Rivers by Austin M. Francis

Wrapped quill bodies are an "almost" forgotten flytying material.  It was only a few generations ago that the best of the tiers such as Theodore Gordon and Art Flick commonly used this material to create realistic and beautiful trout flies.  But quill bodies fell out of fashion and were replaced with a mountain of dubbing material which works really well but doesn't look as good.

So, I've made a deal with myself to use more quill bodies.  After over 50 years of flyfishing and thousands of trout I don't need the big numbers and can afford to experiment a bit.

If you've been tying for a few years you have a good supply of quills on those worked over hackle capes.  Strip off the fibers, soak the quills for a a few minutes.  The next thing to do would be to dye some quills orange as in Partridge and Orange!!

The Rivers

As I write the Swift is flowing at 122 cfs which is too high for this time of years. Brookies need reduced flows to spawn successfully. Hopefully that flow is temporary.

The Millers is at 152  which is low but still fishable as is the EB although we need the rain.

Note: If you are flying down a pre dawn highway praying to be the FIRST at your favorite honey hole just remember this: someone else is probably doing the same thing. So relax and have a plan 2 and a plan 3. Stress and flyfishing should not mix!!

Ken

 

 

A Short Update On The Local Rivers

 

Just a short post on the Millers and the Ware Rivers.  Both rivers were stocked this past week and the flows are perfect.  The Ware got a helping of browns and should receive more fish this week.  With these rivers plus the EB and Swift all flowing well and producing action you have plenty of places to go in the next week.  I'm going to try to hit the Millers and the Swift.  With nice low flows a Partridge and Orange should do the trick.

Winter is around the corner!!

Ken

THE EB IS STOCKED!!!!!

"The squeaky wheel gets the grease" - Anonymous 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

When the 2022 Fall stocking list came out around late  August there appeared to be a glaring omission - the Chesterfield Section of the Westfield River (AKA " The EB") was not listed.  The same thing happened about 5 or so years ago with low water being the excuse.  But this river is different. There are many deep sections down in the Gorge that hold trout through the heat of Summer and October may be the best month for this river.

Well, I bitched about the EB being taken off the list and suggested that you could write a note to the DFW in support of a Fall Stocking.  Well, guess what happened? According to the DFW report the EB got it's share of trout on Monday the 3rd!!!

Some may say that it seems strange that I am waving the pom-poms for stocked fish but we have to realize that October is the "last call" for fly fishing for many until next April and after this dry summer we deserve some "tight lines".

Go Fish!!!!

Ken

October Pumpkin Caddis

 

     

The largest swarm of this particular caddis that I've seen was on the Millers River about 10 years ago.  That mid afternoon in October had millions (maybe) in the air.  They came in waves, all flowing upstream and I was covered with them.  The trout couldn't give a damn about them. A few days later with just a sparse hatch the trout couldn't get enough on them. So it is with this big tempting caddis fly. I always carry some with me on autumn days because you never know. BTW, the trout on that day 10 years ago were hitting a size 20 BWO.  Go figure.

I tie this fly on a size 16 hook with a very sparse tail of fine deer hair, a body of rust colored hares ear and a sparse wing of deer hair like the wing.  I color the wing with an orange marker because I think it adds to the fly although the trout may think differently.  Don't think for one second that this fly has to be pretty and perfect and all of that. The trout don't care!!

The EB and the Squannie

When you check out the DFW stocking page this Fall you will see a spot where you can ask a question.  Ask This: how come the Westfield River at Chesterfield Gorge, the premier freestone C&R river in MA isn't on the Fall stocking list.  There's enough water from the Gorge downstream and it's cool enough for trout!

 If you are stocking the Ware River why not the EB of the Westfield???????????  Same with the Sqannacook.

Ken

Fall

 "Shorten your line, focus your casts, and slow things down.  Enjoy the magic of local fishing."  - Fennel Hudson

It finally happened. We got this drought ridden Summer behind us and some early Fall rains have brought the rivers up to a fishable level.

The Swift actually came down from its months long 110 cfs level down to the mid 40's which is perfect.  "Perfect for what" some may ask. Perfect for brookie spawning which is more important for that river and to those who fish it than a 110 cfs flow. I like skinny flows on that river!!  

What's Up With The EB and the

Squannie??

I've noticed that the EB and the Squannacook Rivers have not been added to the 2022 Fall Stocking list.  Why would two premier rivers be left off the list?  It's not the flow level because both rivers are well within their many decade long flow average for this time of year.  It's not the temperature of the water because that is good too and will only get better. It's amazing that Jamaica Pond in the wilds of downtown Boston will get fish but the above two rivers will not. 

The DFW should reexamine this faulty decision and correct it or at least explain their rationale!!

Soft Hackle orders keep coming in.  Thank you!!!

Ken

The Myths Of Autumn

 

The solution to any problem- work, love, money, whatever,- is to go fishing, and the worse the problem, the longer the trip should be." John Gierach

I was flipping through a fly fishing website that had what the author stated was the perfect Euro nymphing fly box.  The box was a collection of bead heads - you know the ones - Pheasant Tails, Sexy Walts, Rainbow Warriors and that awful Perdigon collection(I call them lures, not flies.)  That's when I was reminded of an experiment I performed for this blog about 10 years ago.  I remember reading where Thomas Ames, Jr. only listed one beadhead fly in his book Hatch Guide For New England Streams.  His reasoning was that he didn't really know whether the trout was attracted to the dressing of the fly or the bead.  I solved it for him! 

I glued a bead to a hook (there was no thread, dubbing or anything placed on the hook by me.)  I went to the Swift and caught a couple of rainbows and browns in short order with just the bead.  Case closed!!!

The Myth of Fall Feeding

You will see it if you haven't already.  Someone will claim that trout will put on the "feed bag" right after spawning so you should have a good supply of big, ugly streamers to get in on the game.  Tom Rosenbaurer of Orvis laid this myth to rest when he said that a trout will consume more calories in May and June than October and November.  For shear numbers October rules for me. The streams are mostly low and there's lots of insect life of which, the Isonychia, is my favorite. It's big and it moves fast.

My Least Favorite Month

And that month is July for obvious reasons.  It's the hottest month of the year (I love freestones but July can be brutal for them) and we have a lot of sunshine right up to 9pm which stalls the Evening Rise which is the best time to fish with dry flies. On the other hand September has darkness falling at about 7pm which means rising trout with no waiting!!!!  In fact, one doesn't have to hit the road at 3am unless you are addicted to crowded places. 

Flies for Sale

Stock up on Soft Hackles for the Fall. Size 14 through 18 should cover all conditions. The Partridge and Orange and the Partridge and Olive are good bets.

Ken

Soft Hackles - Don't Leave Home Without Them

 

Partridge and Orange

I group all trout flies into two groups: one that represents aquatic insects and one that doesn't. The "doesn't" group( includes all streamers (imitation of baitfish),and all terrestrial insects (ants, bees and grasshoppers are not aquatic insects).  Now, it doesn't mean that I don't fish with these flies it's just tha I prefer to imitate aquatic insects either in the mature or immature stage. But maybe the underlying reason is that the most beautiful creature we will come in contact with while fishing, besides the trout, is the Mayfly!

This ephemeral, gossamer and dainty creature is too beautiful to live anywhere else but a trout stream.  I find plenty of specimens without killing any by just an visiting the stream side bushes and checking out the spider webs.  It's also a good opportunity to take some close up photos to help with the imitation that you will make.

Don't forget your soft hackles for this Fall Season. Chances are the river flows will be lower then normal which makes the SH the subsurface fly of choice. Sizes 14, 16 and 18 should do the job.

The rain earlier this week was perfect. No washout but just a good steady rain (unless you live in Rhode Island which go clobbered)  Local streams made out ok:

The Millers- from 40 cfs to 208 (perfect)

EB              - from 10 cfs to 114 (very good)

The Ware    -7 cfs to 72 It's a start

The Swift     110 cfs again.

One rainy day a week into November will give us some sport before things freeze up.  The above photo was taken last October on the Swift.  Signs of things to come.

Ken

September Dry Fly Fishing, The Comparadun Revisited And An Update

 

September Dry Fly Fishing, The Comparadun Revisited And An Update

"Do you need a 50-fish day dredging the depths with three jig-head nymphs drifting under an indicator? Or will half a dozen trout rising to dry flies prove equally fulfilling? - John Shewey, Editor In Chief of Fly Fishing Magazine, September/October 2016 edition

It seems that there is some "conventional wisdom" being cast upon the waters that dry fly fishing, outside of #28,#30 and #32 midge fishing, is at some kind of low spot during September here in New England. This is a half baked idea that doesn't stand up to even casual scrutiny. For starters let's look at what UPCOUNTRY FLY SHOP, (Farmington experts) suggest for a late summer, early fall dry fly selection:Tan Caddis 16-18, Light Cahills 12-14, White Flies (good on the Housy too) - 12-14, Ants #20 and Blue Wing Olives 20-24.

These are not midges. These are the flies that hatch throughout New England (fewer white flies, very many BWO's) and give September the reputation of being, next to June, as the BEST dry fly month of the year. And let's not forget the terrestrials because September is the best month for them. Grasshoppers, crickets and ants rule the month. Take a walk up the railroad tracks to the Upper Trestle Pool on the Millers any day during September. You will see hundreds of grasshoppers in that short walk fleeing your approach. In June you could sit on your back deck in the evening and the landscape would be fairly quiet. Now it's September and you will hear a million crickets. I've had my best ant action in September when ant colonies split up, sprout wings and end up landing in trout streams.Terrestrials mean surface action!! It happens in September!!

The Blue Wing Olive is the MAJOR hatch of the Autumn and the Millers is a great place to see wonderful surface action to these insects. My best dry fly day was in early October on the EB and it was to the BWO. The Millers still has Cahills in September and that is a size 14 fly. The Pumpkin Caddis drifts in WAVES over the Millers in late September and it is best represented by a size 12 or 14 imitation. I still see Cream Cahills on the Swift in September. Never a populated hatch it continues from late May into September and the trout like them. I remember casting size 14-16 Light Cahills on warm September days years ago on the Squannacook when it seemed that every trout in the river was rising to SOME fly that my limited entomology failed to recognize. The Cahill matched what the trout wanted. They were not after midges.

In short, carry midges because you may need them but don't start dredging the depths because you think that dry flies with "meat on them" are through for the year.

COMPARADUNS - It's my favorite dry fly pattern and I have now tied most of my standard dries(including BWO's) this way for 35 years while giving up on the standard hackle patterns. Why's that? It's because it puts the body (the most important part) down in the film while hackle patterns really do not. And most rising trout are going after the insect caught in the surface film and not the dainty little sailboat floating downstream. Look at the comparadun photo above and you will see a small ball of dubbing in front of the deer hair. It's used to anchor that hair in place. I'm still surprised how many of these flies don't incorporate it. What about the Parachute?? I love to tie them because they look so nice and the body is in the film BUT caparaduns are easier to tie and are more durable. Dubbing and deer hair and that's it. What about the small sizes? Ultra fine deer hair works to about #18 then go to poly yarn or even better CDC. Kill the tail, use a curved light wire scud hook and you REALLY have a great emerger pattern.

Another BWO pattern that I like in #18 and #20 is nothing more the a wispy tail, olive dubbing and two turns of green dyed grizzly hackle (shown above). The green dye comes out a nice shade of dark olive on a grizzly hackle and it's mottled too. It's a dun or a spinner. I have to do something with all those hackle capes!!!

This year was supposed to be a big year for Atlantic tropical storms but so far it's been a bust.  We need the rain for our freestones and we need it in September.

Ken

That Caddis Again

 "There's no greater fan of fly fishing than the worm"

 DSM Caddis size 16

 Some times things just work out really well like a certain fly just ruling the day. This "certain fly" was a creation of Ric Flematti of Athol Ma and it wiped out the trout where the Cold River meets the Deerfield on one wonderful evening on that busy river. (Note: try fishing this river and all rivers for that matter IN THE EVENING during the Summer months). I was taking a few but Ric was hammering them and well into the double digits.  His fly was a caddis emerger shown on the left.  I tied some up and they did well but I began to forget about them.

Forward cast about 25 years and I am on the Swift on a balmy October afternoon just below the Duck Pond.  Again, I'm doing ok until My young friend Lenny shows up and goes from zero to 8 trout in a half an hour.  They were all big bows and when I asked what he was using he yelled out "Your Caddis Fly!!

                                                               

Needless to say, I don't leave home without it and it remains the same fly with just one alteration: I don't tie it in sizes larger than size 16. Strange but a size 12 or 14 just don't seem to work as well.

Hook - size 16 to 20m scud hook

Body - grey, tan or green rabbit dubbing

Hackle - Two turns (that's it) of partridge or starling in the smaller sizes

Head - ostrich or peacock, take your pick

Rain

"There are no active storms in the North Atlantic, Caribbean Sea, or the Gulf of Mexico ".  That statement was from a weather service dated 5/27/22 and it should raise concerns among well owners and fly fishers.   A drought like this will even effect tail waters if severe enough.   Yesterday's T'storms did little to push the needle except for fire warnings.

The All Around Rod And Your Comments

 

The All Around Rod And Your Comments

It still amazes me that some "experts" make blanket statements regarding trout behavior. This is, well, kind of dumb! Trout in tailwaters behave differently than freestone trout. They don't have to deal with the environmental stresses of high water, low water, COLD water or warm water. Life is stable for them. A stable environment allows a stable food supply to exist. The biggest bonehead truism that I hear is that trout like to put on the feed bag in the Fall to prepare for Winter. The trouts' need to eat is controlled by the water temperature, period. Trout will feed more at 48 degrees than at 38 degrees. In the low 30's they are shutting down and you have bounce the fly off their noses. Did You Know: Trout consume more calories in May and June than in the Fall and that's not because there's more food then. Kenny Cahill

What Rod?

I get asked this question all of the time. "What's the best all around fly rod"? The answer is simple - it's the one that feels the best during most fishing conditions. Now, that answer is not a cop out but the truth. One rod may feel like a dream under one condition and totally suck under another. You want a rod that feels good and fishes well under as many different conditions as possible. You don't want to be like the newbies in this sport who seem hell bent on turning fly fishing into golf with a bag full of rods for EVERY Condition. Here's what I look for in a rod for trout fishing:

First, We will leave material out of this and focus on the most popular rod building material: graphite. I love bamboo because it is beautiful and if well made fishes well too. Some of the old "factory rods" were best used as tomato stacks. Fiberglass has it's following and I would never give up my old Fenwick which was as good as fiberglass got 40 years ago (a great dry fly rod) but I have my doubts about the newer fiberglass rods which seem too "progressive" (read "slow"). They don't have the zip of my Fenwick.

One does not need a dry fly rod, a nymph rod, a streamer rod and so on. Just a rod that does most things well.

A Small Stream Rod - 7.5 feet to 9 feet in a 3wt. The Swift, the Mill and the North are small stream and you can cover all sections of these rivers with those lengths. Mine is an 8.5 foot 3 wt., of a moderately fast action, matched to a 3 wt double tapered line. I can nymph with this (don't need a nymph rod) and then use this crisp rod to launch dries. Now, I seldom use weight on the on these rivers under normal conditions. A weighted fly cast with this setup leaves something to be desired. (Double tapered lines don't throw weight very well). If the flow is high and I have to use weight I'll bring along a 3wt WF line to solve the problem.

Big River Rod - When I know that I'll be fishing larger water like the Millers, Ware and the EB I'm bringing my 9ft 5wt  with a weight forward line to the show. It is a moderately fast rod that handles heavy stuff really well yet can blast a size 16 BWO out there quickly and into the wind to boot. (big rivers are windy). I can fish EVERYTHING with this rod, period!!!!

A few notes:
1.You don't have to go ultra light with a dry fly rod. I had a client catch a brown on a size 30 fly using his 6wt!!!

2. As I said before, I have guided hundreds of fly fishers and very few show up with a nymph rod or even own one. These rods are not, generally speaking, good casting tools. I own one, given to me as a present, and it is the worst dry fly rod I've ever cast.

Your Comments


As I've said many times, the Comments section of this blog is a blog-within-a-blog and no other New Englad fly fishing blog shows this kind of engagement by its readers. Case in point: my last 10 blog posts before this one had 90 comments. All blog formats cannot distinguish between a readers comments and the authors comment. Comments by me totaled 45 or 34% of my total. Some blogs have author comment totals that are well over 50% of the total or even more!!! You have given us reader engagement and that's what I want. There are no drive bye page views here. You guys are readers!!!

Tail Waters

On the last blog post I wrote a short description of what a tail water is and that is because of some misconceptions that linger out there.

Ken

Ken

Little Wets Can Save The Day

 "Tailwaters are what Thomas McGuane called "the great theme parks of American fly fishing," with their more or less stable water temperatures and artificially inflated populations of insects and fish. They are irresistible for all kinds of reasons, but all of those trout breed the peculiarly postmodern sense that anything short of a 20 fish day is a bust, so when things are slow there's the temptation to lie about numbers or to vaguely allow that you are "getting your share" - John Gierach

Some times my favorite patterns(soft hackles) just don't seem to get the job done.  They always work fine in choppy riffled water but when the pools and runs are low and slow, like this summer, even a size 16 seems a bit out of place.  

What to do? Before I became addicted to SH I always carried a supply of micro wets on the stream.  They were in sizes 18 through 22 and ALWAYS had a tan colored body with light brown WET FLY HACKLE.  This fly has worked on the Swift (the only game in town) from mid July through mid September when the BWO seem to take over.

This fly has done well in the flats above the Duck Pond and down to the slow water by the Second Turnout. Yes, you can fish it at the Pipe and it will do well there (everything does!!)

Apply no weight to this offering but just let it drift downstream letting it rise in the current until the slack is played out and then repeat.

Our Drought

1992, 2010, 2016 and this year.  These are the worst dry years that I can remember in central/western Ma. Two of the above years had a Fall tropical storm save the season but as I write this the Caribbean is storm free and that is unusual and a bit scary.  

Here's where we stand river wise: Millers 54 cfs, Ware 4.0 cfs, EB 14 cfs and the Swift is flowing hard at 110 cfs.  The Swift, at 110 cfs is flowing at 4.7 times the combined flow of the Millers, Ware, and EB!If this continues we may not see a Fall stocking except for the Swift. This happened a few years ago when the EB missed out on the Fall stocking and I believe it has happened to the Squannacook.

A Word To The Wise

Spread out on the Swift!!!  There's more places to fish than the Y Pool and the Pipe. I mentioned two places earlier and there is always Cady Lane which may hold more pounds of brown trout and any other New England river.

Did I mention the brook trout??

Pray for rain!!!!

Ken