"A trout is a moment of beauty known only to those who seek it."
Hendrickson by Thomas Ames Jr.
I was coming back from a semi successful late morning on the Ware when I decided to checkout the mighty Swift. It was noon on Thursday and there were only five vehicles at the Route 9 parking lot and ZERO at the gauge. We know why that is: the flow is too high. On that day (May 5) it was roaring away at 381 cfs and as I write the flow has increased to 395!!!! It's the only river that is actually rising. What's the solution? It's go fish the Ware or the EB or anywhere else until the overflow on the Swift stops. If you read the comments section of this blog you will see that readers are out there and fishing local, smaller waters with good success. You should too!!!
"Fish On" At The Y Pool
If you do venture to the Swift head to the Bubbler Arm because that section should be manageable. The Y Pool is fishable but after that I would head to another river because the Swift is a terrible place to fish when it's flooded. Maybe it's because the stream bed was channelized down to the Route 9 bridge back in the late 1930's but something seems very unnatural about the place. It's a much better place to fish when the flow is hovering around 60 cfs.
The Wind
This has been a goofy Spring with the constant north by northwest gale that has been blowing our fly lines around for a month. I also believe it's been blowing the freshly hatched bugs around. I haven't seen the concentrations of mayflies and caddis as in the past. I believe that they are out there but just hunkering down until conditions improve.
A Very Simple Emerger
When things calm down on the Swift or you have a Farmington day in the near future you may want to test this fly. I caught my first Farmington trout on a size 18 version of my Simple Emerger and have taken many on the Swift too.
Hook - dry fly from size 12 through the mid 20's
Tail - a few dun hackle fibers
Body - rabbit mask picked out and roughed up. Any color that you want.
Rib - a single strand of midge flash (only 3 to 4 turns)
Happy Mothers Day
Ken
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4 comments:
Nice emerger/flymph pattern. Simple is best.
Anonymous,
My emerger patterns are usually sot hackles but I think this fly works better in sizes 18 and smaller. I usually swing and mend it. Very similar to a pheasant tail quicker to tie.
Ken
Hi Ken- yet another highly anticipated (by me) weekend of fly fishing ruined by this never-ending wind. Forced back to the tying desk again, I’m rapidly reaching a point of having more flies than I can lose in a year. This wind needs end now before my wife notices that I’m not fishing and finds some type of home upkeep thing for me to do. Love your AVSE (A Very Simple Emerger), add a bead or wire and you got a nymph. Simple just works.
If the wind is making it hard I would suggest blue lining around. West and East branch swift have sections that are tight in the woods and it helps cut the wind down, Osgood brook a Miller's trib is another one also Willard brook and the other squanny headwaters seem to be less windy all these streams hold natives and some are stocked up as well
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