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
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
9 comments:
If you're looking for a fishing buddy let me know!!
-Zach
Great update! Can you share with us your recommended flows for our area rivers that would be considered acceptable to fish? Thanks!
Ken, I have been itching to swing some softies, I have never had luck fishing Quill Gordon dry flies, I think the way they emerge makes for poor dry fly fishing. When I start to notice them I like swinging a nemes style soft hackle. I use pheasant tail for the abdomen with very fine copper ribing, natural hair mask thorax and of course partridge hackle ( I think starling or hen would work here as well) in fact this pattern works really well for Hendrickson and if you swap the hair mask for a yellowish dubbing it covers the sulphurs also, hook size may vary!
Paul,
You are right about the emerging QG. There's no long surface ride before they fly away, they pop through the surface and then fly away. BTW, I wish someone would raise some starlings about the size of a chicken. I'd love some larger hackles.
Ken
Anonymous,4:00
The Swift - anything below 100 cfs
Millers - anything below 500 cfs
EB - anything below 500 cfs
Ware - anything below 300 cfs
Ken
Hi Ken, An update on the Swift River study performed by MA DFW, about which you and your readers have written/commented a number of times.
https://www.mass.gov/news/initial-swift-river-study-complete
Study details are here: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/swift-river-fisheries-research
Thanks for all of your great work
Rick
Rick,
This is very interesting work although I may disagree with what they think the browns are doing.
Ken
Ken,
thanks for the suggested flow rates, where are you looking at flow rates?
the link for s royalston seems broken
(I was looking to check out Bearsden early next week hopefully after flow drops from canoe race)
current discharge for winchendon is 167
current discharge for erving is 167 846
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?cb_00060=on&cb_00065=on&format=gif_stats&site_no=01162000&period=30&begin_date=2022-04-01&end_date=2022-04-08
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?cb_00060=on&cb_00065=on&format=gif_stats&site_no=01166500&period=30&begin_date=2022-04-01&end_date=2022-04-08
PS
the doc you sent me on millers is awesome. thanks so much for providing valuable info to start out in a new area for me
Nice to see the data from the Swift River study, but the conclusions, at least so far, are so broad that they really don't offer much new insight. Stocked fish either stay where they are or go downstream... this was pretty clear even without a study. Fish mortality is occurring, but we don't know anything about how/why... lots of possibilities that will all contribute to some extent. Not sure what there really is to disagree with up to this point?
I hope this initial study leads to an exploration of some more complex questions. Why is there almost no brown trout reproduction? What would we need to do to establish consistently fishable populations of wild fish such that we can stop relying on stocking? Perhaps we are there already with the brook trout and should stop dumping in clonebows that dominate the prime lies, take up space, and eat the food, and then disappear? With the high water quality in the Swift, a wild trout fishery should absolutely be the management goal... far superior ecologically and recreationally to yet another put-and-take river.
Brendan,
I agree. The main concern, as far as I'm concerned,p is the lack of brown trout reproduction. It has become the home of a thriving brookie population so why not browns? Browns grow BIG in the Swift but don't reproduce. Frankly, I could care less about the bows!!
Ken
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