Big Browns On The Swift And How To Catch Them

  "The purist fishes exclusively with a fly rod, which means that he owns a spinning rod and sometimes uses it, but he doesn't talk about it much and stores it separately from his fly tackle" - John Gierach

Hunter knows how to get it done!  He has accounted for a good number of big browns and brookies on the Swift.

The following is his story:

Hey ken hope all’s well,

Sorry to see the trout escapades come to a stop, but glad to see you planning to continue fishing!

Thought I’d send you this monster me and my friend both caught on the same fly this summer. 3 weeks apart, same fish, same fly, absolutely incredible but a testimony to the patterns of these beast. 29inches I estimate 11-12lbs minimum. 

Developing more streamer patterns to turn the bigger ones, you will see the 32 inch brown in my hand before summers out! For now I’ve kept it simple, early morning, or late evening when they are more likely to feed without looking twice. Classic streamer pattern similar to grey ghost but with brook trout colors. What I’m working on now is a jigged streamer with accurate colors and representation, this is what will hook the big one. The colors themselves turn it, but it doesn’t commit. 

I sent you the picture of my buddy with it, and myself, the fly we used, and the streamer pattern I’m trying to recreate in brook trout colors.

This is the kind of fishing we all dream about and it's right here in central Massachusetts. The DFW insists that browns don't spawn successfully in the Swift. Well, they certainly GROW in the Swift as these photos prove. The biggest trout I've caught in the Baystate have always been browns and this is where the effort should be made to create an "interesting" fishery.

BTW, if you have a photo of a "good catch" I'll post it here as long as it's a Massachusetts fish. (sorry, rainbows excluded)

Ken

The Last Cast

"The solution to any problem - work, love, money, whatever - is to go fishing and the worse the problem, the longer the trip should be" John Gierach

 

It's time to reel in .  After 16 years of waving the pom-poms for Massachusetts trout fishing I need something new.  No, I'm not taking up golf or knitting but have decided to pursue other species. Stripers, Blues, Smallies, pike and anything else that wasn't born in a hatchery and that includes Swift River and blue line brookies plus some old wise browns on the Millers and at Cady Lane. 

Why the change? After about 50 years of fly fishing and being an advocate for making an attempt at creating a sustainable fishery I've come to the conclusion that the DFW doesn't care. And why should they?  They are fish farmers and to actually develop a reproducing strain of trout would jeopardize some DFW jobs.  Stocking the Swift with clonebows and then chasing them with cattle prods is a "Who Cares" situation.

So, I'll be chasing other finned critters going forward. I'm not abandoning trout - Fall will find me chasing wild brookies on the Swift and enjoying the EB.

Maybe we will be blessed with another Quabbin overflow in the Fall to fill the river with big wild Salmon!!!!!

I'll also be relocating to the New Hampshire coast but I'll still be within a double haul of Plum Island and within my friend Brad's spey cast of the coast of Maine.  It will take 90 minutes to hit the Millers or the Swift.

I'm still selling flies and will expand into salt water flies soon.

This blog will still be available.  Use it.  I may even chime in on occasion!!

Go Fish,

Ken

A Happy Ending

 "Things fishermen know about trout aren't facts but articles of faith" -

John Gierach

Two weeks ago we posted a notice of a lost T&T flyrod and a lost Bogdan reel.  This blog has a good record of finding lost equipment but this was a special case. The rod/reel were the property of a woman's late husband and it had a ton of sentimental value. I also thought that the chance of reuniting this classic equipment were slim.  But good things do happen.  This morning I got an email from the owner that the rod/reel were returned and that she is very grateful to the local fly fishing community for spreading the word which resulted in this happy ending!  

The Swift is coming and may soon hit that 60 cfs mark (some say that's too low but it's perfect for me) but good brookie fishing down in Cady Lane is to be had. Good fishing is also to be had on the EB.

Ken

The Modern Ant

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

I love ants!  Not your crawling around garden variety but the Winged guys that show themselves on the last week of  August and the first week of September every year! All over New England the ant colonies will split up and move to a different location and for some odd reason they are attracted to water which is odd for a land insect.  They will cover the stream surface and the trout will go nuts!!  Here are my best two encounters with these guys.

Backcast to the early 1990's on the last week of August and I'm on the Farmington (first trip) and it was nothing but black ants!!! I caught a bunch of browns and went through my ant supply in one day. The lesson of this trip was "never run out of ants!!!"

Then there was a trip to the EB on a September afternoon. I walked to the Bliss Pool and saw trout hitting the surface after a small (size 20) insect that had bluish wings. "BWO" I thought until I noticed the ants crawling on my waders.  Their wings had that hint of blue.  I did ok with what I was using but the goal was to build that fly with a hint of blue.

That blue came from some size 18 to 22 grizzly hackles dyed blue.  They work!! Also, the ants are tied on scud hooks which causes the fly to "sit" on the water with its butt below the surface and its head above, just like a real ant.

Hook - 18 to 22 scud

Thread - 12/0 black

Rear - a few turns of peacock

Waist - Black thread

Thorax - a few turns of peacock

Hackle - wind it over and through the front peacock

This ant replaced my favorite ant pattern that used thin narrow hackle points for the wing BUT they don't make hackles like that anymore!!

I guess that this fly would work as a BWO emerger too!!

I love skillet cooking.  All kinds of ingredients and spices does it for me. But there's one problem. HOT weather will put the damper on this cuisine like yesterdays 90 degrees but today it's in the mid 60's so full steam ahead.

Chicken gets cut up,  treated with garlic power, seared in olive oil and then come carrots (cut into shards and not wagon wheels) broccoli, a half an onion, and a can of chick peas well rinsed.  Stir in a healthy amount (I'll let you decide that) of Jamaican Jerk Sauce and then let simmer for an hour.

Fishing

From now through the weekend we will have mostly cloudy weather with an on and shower.  Best Best - The Millers on a cloudy day or on any evening.

Ken