"Flyfishing is solitary, contemplative, misanthropic, scientific in some hands, poetic in others, and laced with conflicting aesthetic considerations. It's not even clear if catching fish is actually the point." - John Gierach
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I always keep a few of these in my fly box during the months of May and June. Take a size 14 comparadun and copy it onto a size 10 dry fly hook. Replace the hackle fiber tail with a tail of deer hair and make the body very robust. During May and June we have our largest insects on the freestones (not the tailwaters) and trout are geared up to seeing and feeding on large March Browns, larger caddis and stoneflies. Imagine dusk on the Millers or the EB on the second week of June and browns are working the surface. This fly replaced my old Millers River Bivisible because it has the same floating qualities as the MRB but it's easier to tie and you can see it in failing light.
The Rivers
All the flows are fine except the Swift. We will have brutal heat today and on Sunday but the next week looks kind of cloudy and cool which is perfect. The Swift is still at 300 cfs as it's been since early April. I'd love to see it back to it's historical average of 60 cfs.
I'll be grilling this weekend but I still love working over a hot stove. Sauteed chicken, spinach, potatoes, carrots and chick peas seasoned heavy with cumin is a favorite.
Go Fish,
Ken
5 comments:
Fran Better's Bomber is my summer "stir em up" pattern for pocket water and fast runs even on the Farmington.
BTW, your chicken dish looks delicious!
Anonymous,
Might as well throw in Better's Usual too although I hate the looks of that fly. Trout don't and that's a good thing.
Glad you like the chicken dish!!
Ken
Ken will have to try that recipe! Seems like the trend for the past few years is high water followed by intense heat, pushing the prime fishing to the dawn and dusk hours. I have seen some big stones and yellow Sally's recently. one of my favorite combos for dusk fishing is a Chernobyl in golden stone regalia with an olive brown SH trailed not far behind. The Chernobyl will draw a lot of takes itself but more importantly it draws plenty of looks from fish who then notice the SH. The take on the SH can be strong so I usually use 4x I haven't really fished smaller then 5x in years unless I'm fishing sulphurs on the swift.
Ken, long time fly purchaser here, first time commenter. I’m beginning to think the Swift level is a management issue. The flows of the Quabbin tribs have been low for a month now (I know this; I’ve fished several of them). The key, according to this chart — https://www.mwra.com/monthly/wsupdat/archivequabbinlevels.htm — is that the winter and early Spring releases were low enough as to let the Quabbin pile up. It hasn’t been this high in the Spring since 2019. Whether this is a managerial error or was rationally planned is above my pay grade. But I have to wonder whether the river would be more fishable now if they had let out 120-150 cfs from November to February. (They release that much a lot during the summer.). To me, the only long-term issue is whether brook trout fry have been affected. I’ve been seeing mergansers struggling to fish in the high current, so maybe it’s a positive, but that presumes enough slack water for the fry to congregate in behind woody debris. And of curse I want the mergansers to eat, too….
Brookie Addict,
The reason for Quabbin's existence is to insure a water supply. Fishing is not a main reason. Half of this country will be under drought conditions this Summer and the resource managers may be taking that into consideration - keep Quabbin full so Boston can flush their toilets.
The high Summer releases occur when low water hits the Connecticut River. The Quabbin release is increased to supplement the big river's flow.
Whatever the flow I think the BT fry will be fine.
Ken
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