I Don't Want To Start Anything But........

 

"Two Wrongs Do Not Make A right, But Three Do" - Unknown

First, I don't like fishing over freshly stocked fish. It's not fun. The key to that first sentence is the word "freshly".  Trout smarten up within a few weeks and then the real fun starts.  Now you can fish over the only REAL population of native wild trout in Massachusetts by targeting the wonderful brookies of the Swift.  You will not be targeting a native fish population like the Swift brookies ANYWHERE else in New England and that includes the premier rivers like the Deerfield or the Farmington.  If you don't believe that then request that they stop stocking the Deerfield and the Farmington for 5 years and then see what you have.  It was just a few years ago that UPCOUNTRY FLY SHOP on the Farmington told its readers that most of the unmarked browns that people were catching were not wild fish but unmarked stockers. (about 30,000 were stocked)!!!!

More Browns

Our DFW states that brown trout reproduction barely exists on the Swift, that a stocked brown can grow to double digit proportions in that river.  One would then think that an effort would be made to stock more browns and/or find out what conditions need to be to achieve successful spawning.  All this makes more sense than chasing the rainbows along.

Finally It's Dropping

In 48 hours the Swift has dropped 44 cfs to 410

In 48 hours the Millers has dropped 202 cfs to 786

The Ware is at 187 as I write and that means GO FISHING!!!!!

Ken

 

Looking At The Comparadun, The Rivers And A Strange Use Of Words

 

"If you're going to do something tonight that you'll be sorry for tomorrow morning, sleep late." Henny Youngman

If you had only one pattern of dry fly to take care of the vast bulk of your size 12 through 18 presentations it would be the Comparadun, the great creation of Al Caucci and Bob Nastasi. (some may say that Fran Betters created it but that's not so. He created the Haystack, which is close but it's not a Comparadun. The Comparadun can be tied smaller and slimmer , not a Haystack.)

The beauty of this fly is it's floating properties (deer mask for the wing does that) and the fact that it presents the profile of a mayfly without all the other stuff we like to wind on a hook (hackle).  

I've been tying and fishing the standard and traditional tie for 35 years (representing a hatched mayfly) but have gone over to a Bob Wyatt emerger style tied on a curved hook but still using the deer hair.  It's super effective but not as "pretty" as the Caucci/Nastasi fly.

                                                    

BTW, I've done very well using artist brush fibers for tailing material for years. Find a large wide brush that that has WHITE, fine fibers that you can touch up with a sharpie.

I don't use this material as much as in the past because of my love affair with emergers but I will work some up just to have them.

Funny

I got a chuckle when I saw that the author of a blog referred to is fishing companions as his "fishy friends". It appears that the author didn't realize that the adjective "fishy", in the American vernacular, means that something is suspicious!!!   Enough said.

The Flows

Millers River - 1560 cfs

EB                 -  572 cfs

Ware River    - 414 cfs

Swift River    - 442 cfs

Yes, it's been rough. The water is very high on our major rivers and this non stop, NW wind, makes it feel like February at times. Keep the faith and hit the Blue Lines!!

P.S.  Need soft hackles??  You know where to get them.

Ken

Approaching The Swift Come Hell Or High Water And a Buggy Wet Fly

 "I told my doctor I broke my leg in two places.  He told me to quit going to those places." - Henny Youngman

An Empty Y Pool

On Sunday I took a walk up to the Y Pool just to check out the high water situation. I saw one angler in the "destination" and he left shortly after I got there. The 383 cfs makes this place very difficult to fish but there are ways to be successful under these conditions.

First, fish the Bubbler Arm. The flow will be lower there (most of the 383cfs is coming over the spillway) and if the flow looks high in the Bubbler Arm it's most likely just the backup from the spillway.  Slowly walk the ARM upstream and look for bows on the way. When found start below them with a small PT nymph or one of my Pinheads (size 18 and smaller) below an indicator).  I once took 60 fish here on a late March week under similar conditions!

Now, this is important. The Spillway Arm, really unwadable right now, will recede and you want to be there when the flow is just coming over the dam and here is why: The water coming over the dam will be surface water and it will be warmer (60's) than the Bubbler (50's) and that's what you want. Trout will leave the flow of the Swift and begin working over insect hatches in the Spillway. The further upstream you go the better the wading and the better the surface activity. This will last as long as there is a trickle coming over the dam.

Watch the flow on a daily basis because when it begins to drop it drops like a rock!

I love the fluff that comes with a partridge cape because it looks ALIVE in the water and gives a good profile to the fly.  This critter has a fluff tail, a fluff body and a partridge hackle head.  Swing it in the riffles and use nothing lighter that 5x.  4x is better because the the strikes are strong and violent!! Size 10 and 12 work fine on your favorite freestone.

I was told recently that based on page views and comments this blog is the most popular owner operated fly fishing blog in New England.  Very Cool!!  Thank You!!

Ken

What's Up With The West Branch Of The Westfield And Another BWO

This was my favorite river not too long ago. First of all I caught a lot of trout there and it was a river that was just totally gorgeous.  It reminded me of a miniature Deerfield and although Rt. 20 runs along much of it's length you could easily slip off the beaten path and have the place to yourself.

Until lately.

Two years ago this place failed me.  I might have caught 3 or 4 in the 3 months that I hammered it.  I thought that this was just a case of bad luck but the same thing happened last year.  Places like Wild Cat Springs and Dead Man Run produced next to nothing.

I'm not the only one who is being snake bitten by this river.  I fished it once last week and........struck out!!  If you are having any luck on this river drop me a line.  No need to tell me the location.

 A Slightly Different BWO

The only thing different about this dry/emerger

is the hackle that I used.  I took a section of a size 18 through 24 grizzly cape and dyed it NAVY blue. At first I thought of it as a mistake but the blue matched great with the black bars of the grizzly.  With a brown/olive thread body and a thorax of olive rabbit it looks great and when these rivers come down it will do well!!!

T.S Elliot once wrote that "April is the cruelest month" and he wasn't kidding.  Maybe he was a fly fisherman? The rivers are high but they will come down. The sun will come out and we will be in shirtsleeves soon enough.

Keep the faith!!!!

Ken

Why The Bivisible And The Rivers

" The solubility of oxygen in water is inversely proportional to temperature, decreasing as the water gets warmer. It dissolves as water comes into contact with air, and with the agitation caused by turbulence. In the early Spring, when the water is cold, there's is plenty of oxygen and fish can be anywhere, but as the water warms fish move to cold spots and to places just below rapids and riffles where the oxygen supply is replenished." - Thomas Ames, Jr.

First, I really don't like this fly EXCEPT under one condition: choppy, fast water. This is one of my pre-hatch searching flies that I use in the very early evening. It's ability to ride the waves high and dry is all that I ask it to do. The Ames quote above explains this. During the warm season trout look for high oxygen environments and that means riffles and that means a dry fly that will not sink.  As dusk approaches the trout leave the riffles and take up positions in the pools and runs.  That's when I'll switch to a comparadun because under these conditions the bivisible isn't as effective.

Size 12 with hackles that are somewhat oversized

does the trick.

I occasionally use this fly in a size 18 or smaller but there are better choices.

The Rivers

Everything was fine yesterday but....

EB - 387 and rising

Ware - 277 and rising

Swift - 348 and rising

Millers - 744 - going crazy

WB of the Westfield - 2230 and out of control (I fished it yesterday when it was at 100 cfs)

Mill River- 110 yesterday, 1150 now

  

Things will get better!!

Ken

The Rivers

 I don't know about you but I can get tired of fishing in a crowd even when the fishing is real good.  I can even be sociable and have made friends along trout rivers, but to me a large part of  fly fishing is the quite and solitude".  - John Gierach

River Update

Things are starting to calm down a bit as far as the flows are concerned: 

Millers - 730 cfs and it will go up this weekend with a water release for the canoe race.  Avoid this place until next week

Ware - 264 cfs and a water temperature of 48 degrees which is approaching Quill Gordon temperatures.  The bushes should be loaded with caddis!!

EB - 516 cfs - It's been up and down for weeks. The current flow is measured by the dam. Upstream could very well be lower.

Swift - 311 cfs!!  That's high.  Look for smallies going over the spillway.

West Branch of the EB - 263 and that is a great flow.  Try it out!!

With the emergence of the first sizable insects of the season we have entered the "Soft Hackle Season".  This fly represents the emerging insect like no other.  Partridge and Orange, Partridge and Olive and the DMS Caddis fills the bill at this time of year.  It doesn't mean that you give up the weighted flies and you will continue to use them but the insect imitations will be gaining center stage soon enough.

Ken

Flyfishing Or Fishing With A Fly

 

"For sheer serenity there is little to compare with the time honored approach to wet fly fishing.  The dressings are easy to cast, and the rhythmic, down-and-across presentations, followed by swinging arcs of the fly, have a meditative effect upon the soul, at least until a sudden pull announces a fish on the line." - Thomas Ames Jr.

Look up and read the quote by Thomas Ames again. And then go find an article about using 15 to 20 foot leaders or worse, no leader at all! (there's plenty out there so you will not have to look far.) This "method" is exactly the same method as that spin fisher I met years ago on the Deerfield was using. He was wading downstream while flipping a spin rod and bobber out into the current.  I told him that this section would shortly become C&R, no bait, and that's when he showed me the business end of his rig.  It was a big, ugly Montana Nymph suspended about 4 feet below his bobber.  "It's the only way I can flyfish" was his comeback.  

His method had nothing to do with flyfishing except that he was using a fly but it's not flyfishing.  Any of the regulars of the Y Pool would call out anyone with a spin rod/fly combo on their waters.

The founder of Thomas & Thomas Rod Company, Tom Dorsey, this to say:

"Flyfishing isn't really about catching fish. Fly casting is a great part of it, and in a sense a rod is like a baseball bat. If you hit the ball just right you really nail it. It feels good. You've found the sweet spot in the bat.  A fly rod should deliver that kind of joy: the joy of casting".

There's no joy in the "chuck and duck".  If you don't "get it" then you're just fishing.

And The Rivers

The big rivers are getting stocked but the big rivers are still running high. Watch out for the flow on the Millers with the annual canoe race set for 4/9. Water is usually held back earlier in the week and then released for the racers on Saturday.  It will be unfishable for a few days.  The Swift topped 300 cfs (ugh) and the Ware is around 350 and rising.

Fish the smaller streams.                                    Little SH Stonefly

Ken