Beginner Tips

 

"Flyfishing is an act of hope that leads to a net full of fish and a head full of dreams." Fennel Hudson

 In my almost two decades of guiding I would come across this type of individual a number of times a year. This is the absolute beginner (nothing wrong with that, I was one!) who gets his gear and heads off to the Swift River or the Deerfield River or the Farmington River, gets totally zeroed while seeing others deftly catch and release trout and then asks himself "what's wrong?

 The simple answer is Nothing is wrong!!  You just started in at way over your head on three very technical rivers and you should of started on a venue that most closely matches your skill level.  What you need to experience more than anything else is the magic of the "tug" and that is best experienced on our smaller streams  especially the ones that have been stocked.

"What size fly do I use?"  If you are fishing a small brook (picture on the left) that is about two feet deep a size 12 wooley bugger, a size 12 soft hackle or any size 12 hares ear nymph with a bead head will get the job done on a Spring day.

How do I fish it? Cast across the stream and swing that fly in the current until it's directly below you and then start a slow retrieve guiding that fly through all likely holding areas as you move slowly downstream. Now, some expert will probably thumb his nose at you for using such a simplistic method but remember that early season streams are full of simplistic fish and you would like to catch some and your method is no worse than indicator fishing.

Always watch other anglers especially the ones catching fish.

Don't go out and buy a big box packed with large goofy looking flies. You know what I'm talking about: big gaudy dries with weird hackles lathered on or monster buggers.  Stay with the flies that I mentioned at the beginner of this piece and then go to a good fly shop (UpCountry on the Farmington) and ask for some local advice or read this blog.                                                         

As I write on Monday a.m. at 10:30 it is 25 degrees and the wind chill is 12.  The Quabbin is overflowing at 276 cfs and the Farmie below the Stillwater is up in the 700's with water only in the mid 30 temperature range. The Millers is rolling along at 1230 and the EB is doing the same at 638.  

We have a ways to go!!

Ken

What A Cold Spring!

 My IQ tests results came back.  They were negative - Anonymous 

 

"OPENING DAY" used to have nothing to do with baseball and everything to do with "the first day of fishing" which, here in the Baystate, meant the 3rd Saturday in April. It was an absolute fact (well maybe not that absolute) that the 5 days prior to the magical day would have temperatures in the 60's and maybe the 70's and the streams would be at a perfect flow.  Hell, sometimes you'd see Hendricksons!!!

But on that 3rd Saturday you would arise at 3am to a cold, heavy rain and possibility snow.

I know it's New England but I don't have to like it. And I don't think that fishing in a cold rain in a swollen river builds character. I do believe that casting a floating emerger to a rising brown on a Summer evening while in short  sleeves does build character and it's much more fun.

I have been on a nymph hook craze for a while now and the the insect that is getting my attention is any of the caddis pupae that inhabit the freestones that I fish.  Bodies are tan floss with thin copper rib and sometimes the backs are touched up with a brown sharpie. There is some wire around the thorax for weight and then peacock over the thorax area.  Finish with soft hackle.

I've been fishing this fly at the Bridge Street Pool on the Millers since the 80's and it always works.  Stay with a short cast and high sticking and you will do fine!

As I write it is 35 degrees and raining and next week is supposed to suck.  Things will get better!!!

River Update

"Fly fishing is a magic way to recapture the rapture of solitude without the pangs of loneliness". - John Volelker

3/22 - The clonebows are in the Swift.

There is one thing we know for sure and it is that no central Ma rivers have been stocked yet. We may see some stocked next week but don't count on it.  And even if some are stocked they may be very difficult to fish with the current flows:

The Millers - 1210 cfs and that is very high. If you just NEED to hit the Millers play it safe and fish below the mouth of Orcutt Brook, especially below the new bridge since it is usually fairly safe to wade.

The Ware - At 184 cfs this river is rounding into form. I like anything below 200 cfs and this is just right for swinging soft hackles or dredging caddis pupae.  Watch the flows after a heavy rain!!

The EB - They are playing with the flow by holding water back at Littleville. It's now flowing at 702 cfs BUT THAT IS BELOW THE DAM and not upstream towards the Gorge.  That water, without heavy rain, should get into that 250 to 350 cfs area.  Remember that this section of the EB is one of the last of the major rivers to get stocked in the Spring.

The Swift - It's at 184 cfs and that means they are dumping excess water out of Quabbin. I haven't personally checked the flow out in person but if it's coming over the dam in the Spring you will have what we had a few years ago when smallies, pickerel and perch found their way into the river. (we don't really want that). 

I like the Swift but I like it at 60 cfs!!!!

Fish some blue lines!!!

Ken

Dry Flies On The Freestones

 

"The best fishermen I know try not to make the same mistakes over and over again; instead they strive to make new and interesting mistakes and to remember what they learned from them" - John Gierach 

Bridge Street Pool On The Millers

"Once upon a time", before the wide spread creation of tailwater fisheries, if we wanted rising trout we fished in the evening from late May through September. It was the "Evening Rise" that we lived for. Spring and Fall, because of cooler waters, have good dry fly conditions during the day and Summer usually doesn't.  That is why tailwaters have become so popular (cold water all day) and freestones seem to have less angling pressure.  I LOVE THIS CONDITION.  I've been fishing the Millers and the EB for years and the evening is ALWAYS the best!!

How To Approach This

Early Summer mornings are good on a freestone but by 11am things go to sleep and begin to awaken in the early evening.  Now, if it's a cloudy day that morning action may not stop but it will slow down and the evening rise may start early.  In any event, pick out a good pool or run and plan to spend the evening there and that means until dark or later. I've seen the river surface go from dead to boiling with rises in just an hours time, usually around dark.

The Flies

The March Brown

We are not talking about the tiny flies of tailwaters but of good old Mayflies, Caddis and Stones in the size 12 to 16 range. That's what you find on freestones in the evening. My all time dry fly is a size 14 Comparadun because it gives a good profile of an insect and is almost indestructible which is good when the action picks up because you don't have to change flies as often. 

I don't go around "matching the hatch". Just mimic the size, profile and the general color of the insect.

For those who care the stocking trucks are rolling.

Ken 

The Millers Bug And A Favorite Spot

 

"A trout is a moment of beauty known only to those who seek it.'

Ok, I admit that I'm tired of the old trustworthy wooley bugger. No matter what you think of it we all know that it catches fish but I want to see if I can borrow (steal) elements of this fly and make a generic (always the best) pattern that could equal the catch rate of the old WB.  Hence the Millers Bug!!

The Millers is a tough, brooding river filled with all kinds of creatures that have actually scared some anglers. It's not a gentleman's river like the Farmington or the Swift. Hellgrammites, crayfish and eels top the top the list which includes that weird water bug that actually bite me.  I wanted something that imitated those creatures.

 This fly has a clipped marabou tail and is weighted at the front end with lead free wire. The secret sauce for this fly is the body of laser dub which I am falling in love with. I used brown for this fly but  olive or black should should work well. (I haven't used chenille for bugger types in years and have replaced it with peacock or dubbing).  Wind on a hackle and you are all set.

The Gorge Pool

This pool is too beautiful to be true. Actually its two pools back to back and it may be safe to say that this pool may be the deepest natural pool on the river.  It's a real swimming hole that swimmers haven't discovered yet. It just smells of brown trout!! I've had some very good summer dry fly evenings in this spot. This is also the place where something BIG snapped my 4x with one head shake!

Where is this place? It's  up in the Bears Den section of the Millers.  Just find Gulf Road, drive down to the river, suit up and start walking downstream for a 1/4 mile or so. You can't miss this spot. Be careful wading in this spot!

As I write I'm listening to another bad news weather report. Up to 5 inches  snow for my neck of the woods. I know, tie more flies!!

Ken

 

The Tiny Swimming Nymphs - The Baetis Family

 "The future is not what it used to be" - Yogi Berra

Thomas Ames Jr. Photo

If you fish spring creeks or the tailwaters you will run into this fly because it loves to call these waters home. I'm not writing about one particular fly but the one most of us want to call the tiny Blue Winged Olive. The BWO tag actually refers to about a half a dozen different species that are very similar in size, color and movement.  They all like to swim, especially at hatching time. Before that they like to hang out in the weedy areas that you find in the above waters.  It's when they swim about that interests us!

 This little guy loves flyfishers because he is readily available to us from March to November. On a cloudy mild day in October (best month) the surface of the Swift, Millers and the EB will have countless trout working the surface chasing this emerger. Above is my favorite pre emerger fly. It has a mylar body, a pinch of olive hares ear for the thorax and a small (size 11/0) olive plastic seed bead for the head. That plastic bead is important because it imitates the nymph's head (check out the photos). The hook is a curved nymph hook size 18. The beads can be found in any crafts store and you get about a zillion of them for 3 bucks.

Fish this on the swing and when the rising trout get to be too much to stand change to a small soft hackle in an olive tone.  The dry imitation, if you need it, comes last.  Many times I don't need it.

This fly is not a crack of dawn insect.  Real action starts around 10 am and lasts until dusk.

Ken
 

Enough Guiding

 

 

All good things come to an end.  I've been guiding on our great central Ma. rivers for about 15 years and I think it's time that I get to go fishing.  With a calendar that always points to "getting full" my days on the rivers were reduced to a few hours. I'm going to fix that!!!

Will I still be writing this blog?? OF COURSE! The blog is actually older than the guide business.  The blog will continue to give up-to-date info on the Millers, the Swift, the Ware and the Westfield system. It will also cover some new spots on old rivers that I just haven't had the time to fish enough to write about.  I'm fixing that too.

So, thank you for all your support and for the steady growth of this blog.  Keep reading and I'll keep writing!!

Ken

P.S. - I still sell flies and more of them in numbers and in pattern.

Overlooked Places On The EB

If catching fish is your only objective, you are either new to the game or toonarrowly focused on measurable results. - Steve Stuver

Every river that has trout will have certain areas that will be crowded. Now, these spots are crowded for a number of reasons: easy access is one. It's a stocking point is another reason and also the misguided belief that this is the best holding water, therefore we only will fish here (Y Pool and The Pipe). Basically our fellow anglers will forsake 80% of a river and jam themselves into the remaining sections.  It's a big mistake!!

The photo to the right is of the upper EB just below the Gorge. I will step into the river looking downstream and start crossing over to the left bank. This is dicey when the flow is 300 or above. I like 200 cfs.

This is where I caught my first EB trout years ago. I never see anyone fishing here and I'm fishing alone all the way down to The Bliss Pool. 

This pocket water is perfect for swinging a large soft hackle or a tiny marabou streamer.  You will always have plenty of backcasting room fishing on the left side but no room fishing on the right.

A 5wt rod of 8.5 to 9 feet is perfect.  I've done well with larger dries here especially in the evening.

Now, If the EB flow is above 300 cfs you may want to drive down to the Bliss Pool, cross over to the opposite side (much easier crossing here than upstream) and start walking upstream and hit those good spots up there.

All that Ice and Flies for Sale

I really can't remember such a COLD month like this past February.  A lot of our freestones can actually be walked across and hopefully this will not harm the fish and the insects that live underneath.  We don't need a major thaw with tons of rain because that could cause those dreaded ice dams which can ruin a section of river. An easy thaw would be nice.  

Order your flies now!!

Ken

Polly's Fuzzy Nymphs

 

Polly's Fuzzy Nymphs

Successful trout fishing isn't a matter of brute force or even persistence, but something more like infiltration"  - John Gierach

Polly Rosborough was a great inventive fly tier from over 60 years ago.  He basically invented the "fuzzy nymph", that concoction that seemed loosely tied but gave the impression of "life" due to the natural flowing materials used in it's construction.  Tightly wrapped bodies on his nymphs were not to be found. Light reflecting natural fibers applied with dubbing loops were.  They worked.  In the last years of his life he tied mostly for collectors and his flies were always in demand.

His BEAVER NYMPH and his CASUAL DRESS applied beaver in it's construction but any buggy (I like Australian Possum) fur will do. I apply very thin copper wire although Polly didn't.  It never meant that I was creating a "variant" of his fly but just putting my personal preference to it.  It's still Polly's fly!

One material that is in these two flies is a thorax of ostrich herl.  This is now becoming a forgotten material but it REALLY works on the two flies mentioned here.

The Casual Dress

Size 12 nymph hook

Use wire weight if you want but Polly never used weight. It works well with a micro shot

Australian Possum on a dubbing loop or just loosely dubbed on the hook

The finest copper wire available if you want it.  Use a dubbing brush to work out the fibers after you wrap the wire on.

Use a long strand of ostrich herl to wrap over the thorax area and you are done.

No need to coat this fly in plastic. You will absolutely kill it as you will with all dubbed bodies.  Let those fibers breathe and you will do well!!!!!  

It still feels like Winter.  Just a few more weeks.....

Ken