"The best times to fish is when it's raining and when it's not" - Patrick McManus
This is the time of year when we let the creative juices flow as we sit down at the vise. It happens every year and some times the results will actually work while at other times you will find yourself on a stream looking at one of these mid winter creations at the end of your leader and say to yourself: "What was I thinking?" I don't think it will happen with this fly pattern. Say hello to bead chain again!
This fly has a built in trigger and that is the set of big eyes. Dragon fly nymphs as well as Damsel fly nymphs have this attribute. So do sculpins and crayfish and if you venture into salt water flats with this fly you will mimic a number of crabs.
Now, another key to this fly is the reduced weight of the fly. Bead chain will sink a fly but not like a bomb like lead or tungsten will. If I need more weight I'll put on a micro shot a foot above the fly. (I'm ridding myself of using lead which should not be in the environment.
This Spring I'll be putting the mini buggers aside and going with this concoction which I believe will catch fish.
Back on January 18 2022 I posted the recipe for this fly so just backcast a few posts to find the instructions.
Browns 0f the Ware
One evening last Summer I took a ride to the Ware River and fished not at the Church Street bridge but maybe close to 3/4 of a mile upstream. One has to walk between the corn field and the river and the first thing you see is that very few, if any people, travel up here. The second thing you notice is that the pools and runs up here are deep and brown trout friendly. I swung soft hackles and tossed a comparadun and that fly took two browns that amazed me by their size which was in the 4 to 5 inch range. The year before the DFW tossed in a bunch of 8 inch browns. My little guys HAD to have been born in the Ware and I was happier catching them then catching 14 or 16 inch fish that were dumped in.
Maybe the DFW should take some time off from sampling the Swift to death and check out the potential of this neat river. BTW, it is reasonable to believe that 90% of the fly fishing on this river is done within 200 feet of the Church Street Bridge. SPREAD OUT!!!
Flies For Sale
Order now before I get really jammed with orders.
Guided Trips
Everyone has their favorite days or weeks to spend on a river and when yu finally get around to booking a trip you find out that someone else has scooped up that date(s). BOOK EARLY!!
Ken
8 comments:
Ken, awesome find with the small browns, I believe a few tribs to the ware as well as parts of the ware itself have been known to support brown trout reproduction. I'm guessing like all streams some years have better results then others. My main focus over the past few seasons has been blue lining for these gems and they do exist in many more places then we might think. If a stream looks fishy chances are it probably is! One thing I've learned is not to overlook any stream and by pushing into the untouched parts can unlock big holdovers and wild fish alike! There is even a small stream just outside of Boston city limits with wild browns. It's remarkable the kind of water they can take off in!
Good comment on the time/$$ spent electroshocking the Swift. It is a waste of time as most of the bows head downstream after shocking. Studying the Ware, Millers and the Squanny makes more sense.
A. R.
Is that the Church Street Bridge at the Frolof Farm?
Yes, I have had modest success at the Ware trudging upstream along the edge of the cornfield. There is some really nice water there, and portions of this river could possibly support holdover fish and maybe even some reproduction. Same for the Quininie, both browns and brookies there, but as Ken alludes to, DFW seems more interested in performing doctorate studies of stocked rainbow migration at the Swift. Sigh.....
Chico,
I like the comment about the DFW!!!
Anonymous 9:56,
I believe it is.
Ken
Agree. Would love to see the state spend more time of e-shocking other prospective waters in MA that may hold wild trout to help promote greater awareness for fly folks across the state. The main stem of the Westfield is another river that has lots of interesting water structure and plenty of super-deep holes. Certainly worth the state spending some time in that watershed as well.
Very cool. A long time ago I remember fishing up there, but it's been a couple decades I bet. Pretty area.
I bet MDFW has somewhat recently sampled it, but it's hard to find the data. Reach out to the cold water bio's directly and ask. I was talking to a friend who is a tech and has helped with MDFW's sampling on many streams and rivers - lots of which people would never believe. Turned out a "theory" of mine about a very industrial river in my neck of the woods, which has a bunch of small spring fed streams supporting wild brookies (some browns too), seems to have some large browns living in it. I've thought this, tried to catch some, but so far have been unsuccessful. After talking to MDFW I know they are there and just need to work a bit more.
There are also lists of the blue lines that have been shocked and data reported. But you have to dig, or ask, it's not easy to find.
Worth a shot on the ware.
I think the sampling difference is that some rivers are just part of the ongoing monitoring of the states water ways, while the swift right now is part of an ongoing study. Thus the swift is getting the 2 or 3x a year shockings.
Hibernation,
I know that the Nashua River has cold water tribs that contain native brookies. My first wild brook trout and wild brown trout were taken from a an unstocked Nashua trib!!
Ken
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