Fly Fishing Information On The Millers, Swift, Middle, West and East Branches Of the Westfield River and the Ware, and Mill rivers. YOUR BEST SOURCE FOR MA. FLY FISHING INFORMATION, the top ranked fly fishing blog in Massachusetts! WHAT FLY FISHERS READ!!
Bill Ricardi, a Swift River regular and one of the nicest people that you could ever meet, passed away on Sunday, January 23, 2022 at the age of 84.
Just under that crusty exterior was a man with a heart of gold who would share his fishing knowledge with anyone who asked and whose laugh could be heard from the Y Pool to Cady Lane. It will be hard to imagine that river without Bill.
Kapinos-Maur Funeral Home is handling the arrangements. Visiting hours will be Wednesday February 2nd from 8:30 to 9:30am.
"Its a game we play out here in Montana where we try to spot the out-of-state fisherman. Big brim hat with no drawstring; no buff when its 90+ degrees and blowing in the meadows; neoprene chest waders in the summer instead of shorts and wading socks; 10 boxes of flies on them at all times; every gadget ever made hanging off their vest; huge net catching on every bush; and applying silica using a brush. You nailed it. I always thought the brush concept made no sense." Kozman - Former Ma Angler and now 8 year resident of Montana
Genetic Hackle
Back in the days of BG (Before Graphite) the most common way of floating a dry fly was with the best of the available rooster neck hackles which either came from India or China and compared to the genetic hackles of today it can be said that that old stuff truly sucked. I can remember the local fly tying legend Rodney Flagg telling me how he and a few other professional tyers would be the first to open up a shipment of hackle from India and then cherry pick the best capes from the lot.
Genetic hackles, feathers raised for the expressed purpose of fly tying, changed all of that. Starting in the 1970's we had an explosion of great hackles all the way down to size 28 and 30.
Was I satisfied with these hackles? Not really. First, Grade A capes ran about 50 bucks back in the 1970's and that was a little steep for me back then. Also, rooster hackles would float because of their stiffness after being wound on the hook and not because of any natural buoyancy. And I didn't want a dry fly resting on it's hackle points anyway. (unnatural).
Caucci and Nastasi present the COMPARADON
It was the mid 1970's when the dry fly changed forever. Say goodbye to hackles, say hello to deer hair (from the mask and the neck) which improved the floating qualities of a dry fly.
The Compardun
I have tied more of the standard deer hair Comparaduns than all other dries combined. They are perfect for sizes 12 through 18. If I want a smaller fly I will will opt for very fine, sparse poly wing material. Poly cleans up and stands up to all kind of abuse. If I will be fishing some rough and tumble pocket water I will opt for the "greatest floater" and that is Snowshoe rabbit. Many don't like to use Snowshoe because it can be difficult to work with. My advice: practice!!!!! I've seen a size 30 dry tied using snowshoe. That's extreme but it can be done.
CDC - I use it but not that much. It's too flimsy. I've taken a liken to "CDC Puffs" because of the profile it presents.
"There's no such thing as a "best fly" or a "guide fly". After the hatchery truck rolls away just about ANY fly will work and everyone is an expert. Give it a month and you will see that presentation is King. The well placed fly wins every time. Remember, there are some fish hawks out there who only fish a few patterns but they catch the most fish." - Ken
The Painted Brookie
I have a love/hate relationship with streamers. Standards like the mickey finn, with it's body of yellow and red, just don't seem natural to me because they are not natural (it's an attractor). Also, the wing material be it bucktail, fixed hackle wing (becoming rare these days), or even craft fur is usually too stiff and lifeless for my taste. That is why my freshwater (trout) streamers went over to Marabou about 30 years ago. It's action in the water can't be beat, period!!! But there is a problem. Marabou comes in solid colors and not too many of them either. I wanted to blend colors and that's where the use of sharpies come in.
The fly above has an orange dubbed body with mylar for the rib. The wing is WHITE marabou that I colored in sections. First, a thin bunch of white marabou is tied to the top of the hook.
Second, a thin strip of white marabou is cut and then colored with a reddish brown sharpie (hold the marabou in one hand placing the feathers on a piece of paper to color it). Then tie it to the fly.
Third, Do the same thing with a purple sharpie and then finish the fly. I think it has some important brookie colors. A size 10 or 12 standard streamer hook will work.
Did I mention that I don't like the traditional way of fishing a streamer? Well I don't. I like fishing streamers like a nymph - upstream and then a high stick drift downstream on a short line. Most streamers are fished too high in the water column and too fast in the water. Little bait fish don't swim that fast. The great Catskill legend Harry Darbee used to imitate large stonefly nymphs with a streamer called a Dark Edson Tiger.
Go figure!!!!
It's Cold I've lived on the banks of the Mill River (an ok trout stream) in Northampton for 14 years and this is the first time I've seen the ice thick and safe enough to ice skate on. Most years it never really freezes. Is this the coldest winter? If the photo that was in the town paper is true then we are not even close. The paper published a photo of the river behind my house in 1905 that had about 50 people posing for a photo while standing on the river ice. The day was Thanksgiving Day!!!!! Sounds like the start of a cold winter!!
Well, it seems that Covid beat the Marlborough Show again. That's too bad because the show had become a mid winter fix for long suffering, frozen out fly fishers. Now it's moved to April. Three things could happen: first, Covid, in one form or another, will still be on the rampage come April. Two- the lure of a balmy April day will be too much to resist and fly fishing will win out or Three- the urge to shop for something that we really don't need will win out!! Ladies and Gentlemen - place your bets!!!
"If catching fish is your only objective, you are either new to the game or too narrowly focused on measurable results." -Steve Stuver
Grizzly - after and before
I've dabbled in dyeing my own materials for years but with one condition: I have to use all natural dyeing materials and no manufactured compounds. This morning I decided to take my over - abundance of natural grizzly (basic black and white) and turn them into something more appealing. I wanted some grizzly that was of a brownish/golden hue. Here's how I did it.
I buy my onions is a bag of about 10. As I use them I save the loose brown outer skins. When I have enough (one bags worth) I'll put them in a pot of water and then wait for it to boil. In the above photo I dyed a 1/3 of a cape and boiled it slowly for 10 minutes. Throw some salt in the mix (I don't because it doesn't seem to make a difference) or some vinegar ( I don't for the same reason as above)
Take the 1/3rd cape out, rinse in cold water, sop up water with a paper towel and then hit with a hair dryer to speed it up.
The feathers come out a brownish gold - just right for Sulphurs!!
In late Summer you can do the same thing with marigold petals.
Speaking of Summer - I can hardly wait!!!!
One ad for the Marlborough Fly show says 21, 22 and 23 of January. Another ad says 22, 23 and 24 of January. Go figure!!
"Something to think about: If you fish the wrong fly long and hard enough, it will sooner or later become the right fly." - JohnGierach
I only subscribe to two fly fishing magazines (I'm talking about real paper and not an online publications.) The first is American Fly Fishing (the one with me on the cover) and the other is Tail Fly Fishing Magazine. Tail likes to refer to themselves as the "Voice of Saltwater Fly Fishing" and they deserve it. This is no "hook and bullet" rag but a slick and very informative publication. They went overboard this month with an insider writeup of Yvon Chouinard.
Who is this guy? For starters Chouinard is the creator of a company you may have heard of named Patagonia which is a multi billion dollar company that he created and has set the trend for much of what we consider to be outdoor gear: hiking, biking, rock climbing right down to walking along Newbury Street in Boston on a Sunday afternoon. He has set the trend and the masses have picked it up.
During the last decade Chouinard has gotten into the world of flyfishing but not in the way you would think your average billionaire would. Yvon Chouinard, it turns out, is a true minimalist!! His freshwater rod will most likely be a Tenkara rod and the fly at the end of the tippet will most likely be a soft hackle creation. Now he has taken a pheasant tail soft hackle, beefed it up a bit and began catching bonefish with it.
I tied up my version of his fly but it's still a freshwater fly except (hopefully) for the stripers that love those skinny flats. I have caught trout and bass on smaller versions.
Hook - Chouinard uses jig hooks from size 8 to 12 (bonefish???). The fly on the right is tied on a size 8 wet fly hook with a olive floss body and a rib of flashabou. The Patagonia guy uses tiny lead eyes while mine is made up of bead chain eyes (they work). Next comes a good sized partridge hackle and it's done.
One more thing about Chouinard - one would think that he would treat himself to a state of the art vise. NOPE! A photo of him in Tail shows him in front of what looks like an old Thompson A or a Sunrise India Vise (a $15.00 vise). He reminds me of a guy who wrote on a fiberglass rod site that he grabs a rod and regardless of the length and weight he "will make it work". You gotta love Yvon Chouinard
Flies For Sale
It's been a tough, brutal January so far with zero temperatures and icy streamside conditions. Time to tie flies which you will have when the weather breaks in February. February is the traditional month for tapping maple trees and with luck the first crocus will bloom. Maybe the first BWO. All that means SPRING!!
"Fishermen who care too much about the size and numbers of fish they catch are insufferable on good days and as harried as overworked 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
Most of the flyfishers that I have met over the years can best be described as loners. Now, does that mean that they hate people and avoid them at all cost? Certainly not! They just go the added mile to fish in solitude away from the crowd. When they do meet someone it's always ashort pleasant encounter with a "hope you do well" send off.
I think one of the reasons people say that our rivers are too crowded (Swift, Farmington) is that some fly fishers can't help but make a party out of it. "Hey team,let's get a half dozen of us and overcrowd the nearest tailwater this Saturday." Don't tell me this doesn't happen because I know of anglers who innocently admit to it. The worst case of this is a group or fly shop that pulls up with a van or two of guys wanting a great day on a river. I have been asked if I wanted to join the fun but have always politely refused because those guys are going to ruin the day for many. I once was accused of helping to sponsor a group trip to the Swift which crowded the place out and pissed the regulars off. Bye the way, I never guide more than two on any river.
Before you label me as being too antisocial I can tell you of one veteran of group outings who totally admits to not liking to see others catch fish and he will hardly ever tell you where he fishes!!! I don't see the reason for this odd behavior because he fishes one of the most crowded streams in New England!!
I like to spread the wealth by telling people where the fishing has been good. I will preach about the freestones which are never crowded and mention specific, out-of-the-way spots on the Swift knowing that nobody will really fish them.
Midge Flies
I got curious the other evening and began to check online fly shops to see what their midge selection looked like. I was surprised to see that very few flies were offered smaller that size 20. Even that size was a rarity. Just to let you know I carry many flies down through size 24. Size 26 will be coming soon. The tiny patterns that I offer are all successful on tailwaters like the Swift and the Farmington.
"Trout are wonderfully hydrodynamic creatures who can dart and hover in currents in which we humans have trouble just keeping our footing. They are torpedo shaped, designed for moving water, and behave like eye witnesses say U.F.O's do, with sudden stops from high speeds, ninety degree turns, such sudden accelerations that they seem to just vanish. They seem delicate at times but will turn around and flourish in conditions that look impossibly harsh. They like things clean and cold." - John Gierach
It's 9 degrees as I write this. At this point my brain goes into survival mode by sending out flash backs of the ones that got away! These fish are not the monsters that run up from the lakes of western New York or anywhere else. These are local fish that have found a good spot in the river that makes it just damn hard to catch them. In turn some of them can get BIG and I define big as 18 inches or better which is fine for central New England. By the way, they are all brown trout.
The Squannacook gave me two memorable trout close to 50 years ago. The spot was behind the Sterilite building in Townsend. Years ago it was not gated off and one could take a path to the river and go up or downstream as you like. Now it's a jungle of wader wrecking thorn bushes. This is where I took a 22 inch brown on a size 16 Blue Dun dry after spying and fishing for him for a month. It was a good fish but not the toughest. That prize went to a 14 inch brown that started hanging out under a overhead branch, about 100 feet above the home of the 22 inch brown, in June and was still
there in September. The overhanging branch hung about six inches above the stream surface which was where this trout called home. I never caught it but rose it twice that Summer and lost some flies on that branch.
The Millers gave me a memorable brown back in 1990. I fished for this trout at the Upper Trestle Pool from late May until mid October (I caught it on my birthday) and I totally thought it would pass the 20 inch mark. It had it's home next to one of the big rocks that will break the surface of that upper portion of the Pool. He rose all Summer and I finally took him with a size 14 partridge and orange. He was 14 inches at best but a very tough fish!!! I will not forget that trout. It gets me through the dark season.
The Swift
The Swift is still fishable but wait until the air temperature gets above 32 (less rod breaking ice in the guides). It also means that you don't have to be there at dawn but at a smart mid to late morning start.
Flies, Flies, Flies
Order your flies, especially your midge patterns, now while my inventories are good.
Early to bed, early to rise. Fish all day and tell big lies
I don't like CDC feathers too much because they easily get mucked up too much. I will not say the same for CDC puffs which are denser and less fragile. But I still didn't like the "look" of the finished fly and that's because I was tying in the "CDC WAY" - a straight up and down post. So I started to experiment a bit.
The photo on the left is the first step. Take a size 20 curved emerger hook and place it in the vise.
Wrap 12/0 thread from the curve to the beginning of the shank and then tie in a cdc puff so that the stem almost reaches the hook eye.
Next pull the loose end of the CDC puff up and over the hook shank with the puff ends extended over the hook eye. as seen in the photo on the right.
Then pull those loose ends up and back over the fly and with a little luck you will have created the perfect dry fly dun profile as seen in the last photo.
Using the whole cdc puff adds a lot of floatability to this fly and visibility is second to none.
If all you have is very light colored puffs (not exactly a BWO shade) you can mark up the fly with the appropriate color with a sharpie. It will not hurt the floatability.
"If I fished only to catch fish, my fishing trips would have ended long ago".
Over the years I've been asked many times this simple question: " Are there holdovers in the Millers? The simple answer is YES and they are basically browns and when we talk of holdovers we are talking browns that make it through the winter which Robert Behnke said was the major cause of trout mortality in a freestone environment (Behnke was considered the foremost expert on trout and salmon).
Now, does that mean at the end of every winter we have a stream full of holdovers? That simple answer is NO and there is a good reason for it. In my opinion, after almost 40 years of fishing this river, you will only see holdover browns in, let's say March, if we have had a mild, easy winter. By mild and easy I mean little of no snow, no icy floods, little stream or anchor ice with milder than average temperatures. If we have a horribly cold winter with lots of river ice with scoured stream bottoms the browns will not stand much of a chance.
I can look back on the early Spring of 2006 and 2010 to make my point. Both winters were mild with little snow or rain at all so run off was not a problem. By late March, before the clonebow trucks did their thing, I was catching rising browns that were feeding on hendricksons. It was wonderful!!!!
Are all freestones like this?? Answer - They can be. The EB, being basically miles of riffles with little good wintering habitat, no doubt has winter kill. The Ware, even with some very bad flooding a few years ago, has good holdover potential (all those beautiful pools).
So, keep an eye on the weather forecast and another eye on the stream gauges. Don't miss an early Spring on the Millers!!!
