Sinking Lines, Secret Weapons And Book A Trip
"There's no greater fan of fly fishing than the worm" -Patrick F. McManus
Back in the day, back in BG (before graphite) it seemed that nobody with any sense would fish one of our larger rivers during the Spring high water without a sinking line. And I mean a SINKING LINE as in a Cortland Wet Cell 2 as opposed to a sinking tip line by any maker.
Sinking lines get you DOWN so you can short line, tight line and high stick your brains out but still make traditional casts to swing streamers and soft hackles and such. And don't believe the conventional wisdom that these are a bear to cast because they are not. Picking 50 ft of line out of the water may be a task but who does that anyway. Most of our fishing is withing 25 feet.
The key is the length of your leader material (notice that I said "leader material" and not leader) which should be about a 5 foot section of 3x for those high water, heavy fly conditions.
These lines are cheap and you should have one loaded onto a spare reel "just in case". It has saved the day for me on the Squannacook to the EB and especially the Millers over the years.
Back in the day, back in BG (before graphite) it seemed that nobody with any sense would fish one of our larger rivers during the Spring high water without a sinking line. And I mean a SINKING LINE as in a Cortland Wet Cell 2 as opposed to a sinking tip line by any maker.
Sinking lines get you DOWN so you can short line, tight line and high stick your brains out but still make traditional casts to swing streamers and soft hackles and such. And don't believe the conventional wisdom that these are a bear to cast because they are not. Picking 50 ft of line out of the water may be a task but who does that anyway. Most of our fishing is withing 25 feet.
The key is the length of your leader material (notice that I said "leader material" and not leader) which should be about a 5 foot section of 3x for those high water, heavy fly conditions.
These lines are cheap and you should have one loaded onto a spare reel "just in case". It has saved the day for me on the Squannacook to the EB and especially the Millers over the years.
BTW, the Wet Cell family of sinking lines does all my Salt Chucking too.
Thin Blue Lines
Spring is the time to hunt along these streams. Look for ones that are NOT on any stocking list because a trout out of one of these streams may be the prettiest trout you'll ever catch. So before you line up on the Farmington or the Swift or crowd out the Orcutt Section of the Millers try a Blue Line.
I love bead chain eyes BECAUSE they actually look like the eyes of a large insect or crayfish plus they add just the right amount of weight to beat heavy flows. I tie them on small buggers meant to imitate dragon fly and damsel fly nymphs and they work. In fact, many years ago when I worked the shores of Wachusett Reservoir for smallmouth it may have been my top fly.
Go to a local hardware store for the beadchain.
Folks, I'm booking up this Spring for the Millers, EB, MB, Ware and the Swift. Just email me and the date is yours!
I love bead chain eyes BECAUSE they actually look like the eyes of a large insect or crayfish plus they add just the right amount of weight to beat heavy flows. I tie them on small buggers meant to imitate dragon fly and damsel fly nymphs and they work. In fact, many years ago when I worked the shores of Wachusett Reservoir for smallmouth it may have been my top fly.
Go to a local hardware store for the beadchain.
Folks, I'm booking up this Spring for the Millers, EB, MB, Ware and the Swift. Just email me and the date is yours!
11 comments:
Hi Ken- I’m always happiest catching wild trout. Most of the wild trout water that I fish is a 30-minute ride from my home. With gas prices predicted to approach “pay the mortgage or gas up levels” I have been working a little harder this year to locate some local cold water thin blues. I should say working to find public or at least non posted access to the thin blues with some type of parking. So far I have found 3 that I can access and that are classified as cold water. Early spring I’m going to throw a few flies to see what’s swimming in them.
Dean,
I've been fishing three unstocked tribs of a major river for 30 years. One of these tribs is small enough to jump across. The DFW has published cold water aquatic life inventory studies for all the major watersheds. It can be found online with a little work!
Ken
+2 on sinking lines! Simply the best option at times.
Sinking line can be a game changer and it still is possible to throw dries on in the event you come across early season sippers, there are some great early stone fly events on the squanny and a few blue lines I frequent, my brother reported seeing some crawling around on a stream just last week
Paul Fay,
I saw a tiny black stone on my car this past weekend during a brief warm spell. I can honestly say that I've never seen trout rising for them BUT they are a harbinger of things to come. There will be more if this cold snap subsides.
Ken
The only place I have ever taken trout on early season stoneflies are were on one stocked pond in MA which has incredible hatches of them in early to mid March when temps hit mid 40's to lower 50's. They hatch late morning to mid afternoon by the hundreds, skittering across the pond and the fish are up and eating. Skating a size 16 tiny black stone (see Tim Flagler video) across the surface creating a "V" wake is all thats needed. If you have the time, it's worth exploring various ponds in MA on warmer days in early to mid March that you know have hold trout over from the year prior stocking. If you find stones about, keep an eye on it. You just may time it right for some great very early season dry fly fishing.
Anonymous 5:54,
That insect is similar to the Winter Caddis that likes to run across the surface of a pool.
I think we will still be ice fishing by mid March out in my neck of the woods.
Ken
Ken I've seen early rising in some spring fed creeks for these, but when we see the flies we know the nymphs are on the move !
Ken,
Fished a few Bondsville zones on Saturday and saw a good number of stoneflies in the #16 hook size range, but there was no interest in them from the fish. A few good sized tan caddis also, but no interest in them either, same as my flies. A hitless skunk outing which is not unexpected this time of year. I didn't take the water temp, but it had to be in the mid 30's.
Sam
Sam,
I think that the warmer weather we will have on Thursday MIGHT cause some activity but it is still very early and we are fishing for trout that may or may not have made it through all this very cold weather. Good to see that you are still after them.
Ken
Paul Fay,
Things are moving towards Spring but I believe it will be a while until Spring will open up and make the holdovers and the natives feel like feeding.
Ken
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