The Copper Grouse Revisited

 

 

"Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded" - Yogi Berra 

This may be my best fly for Fall run brookies and browns. The Copper Grouse has all the right elements to be a great fly - sparse grouse or partridge hackle, a copper body and an orange fur thorax.  Sizes 14 and 16 get it done.  

The Rivers

Things are a little screwy out there.  The Millers is roaring at 760 cfs, the Ware is calm at 155cfs, the Westfield is perfect at 132 cfs and the Swift is too high for my taste at 122cfs. I've always felt that 50 to 60 cfs is best for that stream and it'd spawning brookies.

BTW, the USGS has launched its new, enhanced stream data site and IMHO it's a great improvement.  Check it out!

We have one month of Fall fishing left. That Fall season ends when the first snow sticks to the ground.  Then it's Winter and that's another season with its own rules and strategies!!

Ken

 

 

My Favorite Emerger And A few Hours On The Swift And Lost Glasses

 

The great fly tier and fly fisher and writer changed my approach to tying emerger flies.  His DHE (deer hair emerger) did it all for me. A light curved scud style hook, coarse rabbit fur body and a fine deer hair wing causes the fly to sink a bit on the back end but float on the front, just like an insect trying to break through the surface tension.

I can tie this fly in sizes from size 12 down to about 18.  That my be the size limit with deer hair.

Remember, most rises that we see are from a trout taking an EMERGER and not an adult insect.

At The Swift

It's been a strange year.  My usual 20 minute drive to the Swift is now a 2 hour slog, a situation that may need a remedy for next year but this past Friday was a good day. It appears that the bulk of the native brookies have not arrived at their traditional spawning grounds, something that seems to be the new normal for this river.

My flies of choice were soft hackles, of course, with a size 16 Partridge and Orange leading the way with some quill bodied soft hackles taking a few.

The main event was the BIG BROWN I missed exactly where two of my clients lost big browns on back to back days 2 years ago.

I'll be back for them.  You don't have to fish too far from the gauge to have a shot at them.

Lost Glasses

Prescription glasses on a bright green croakie were lost on the 20th somewhere from the Y Pool parking lot and the Y Pool. If found contact me and I'll contact the owner.

Ken

Quill Bodies

 Secretiveness, typical to some extent of many professional craftsmen, was contagious  among flytiers.  Christian caught it from Gordon: when his grandson asked to be shown how to tie flies, Christian said "Find out the way I did".  He untied and figured out in reverse how Gordon had tied his flies, just as Walt Dette, Harry Darbee and the later generations of Catskill flytiers did in order to learn the professional secrets of the old masters". - Catskill Rivers by Austin M. Francis

Wrapped quill bodies are an "almost" forgotten flytying material.  It was only a few generations ago that the best of the tiers such as Theodore Gordon and Art Flick commonly used this material to create realistic and beautiful trout flies.  But quill bodies fell out of fashion and were replaced with a mountain of dubbing material which works really well but doesn't look as good.

So, I've made a deal with myself to use more quill bodies.  After over 50 years of flyfishing and thousands of trout I don't need the big numbers and can afford to experiment a bit.

If you've been tying for a few years you have a good supply of quills on those worked over hackle capes.  Strip off the fibers, soak the quills for a a few minutes.  The next thing to do would be to dye some quills orange as in Partridge and Orange!!

The Rivers

As I write the Swift is flowing at 122 cfs which is too high for this time of years. Brookies need reduced flows to spawn successfully. Hopefully that flow is temporary.

The Millers is at 152  which is low but still fishable as is the EB although we need the rain.

Note: If you are flying down a pre dawn highway praying to be the FIRST at your favorite honey hole just remember this: someone else is probably doing the same thing. So relax and have a plan 2 and a plan 3. Stress and flyfishing should not mix!!

Ken

 

 

A Short Update On The Local Rivers

 

Just a short post on the Millers and the Ware Rivers.  Both rivers were stocked this past week and the flows are perfect.  The Ware got a helping of browns and should receive more fish this week.  With these rivers plus the EB and Swift all flowing well and producing action you have plenty of places to go in the next week.  I'm going to try to hit the Millers and the Swift.  With nice low flows a Partridge and Orange should do the trick.

Winter is around the corner!!

Ken

THE EB IS STOCKED!!!!!

"The squeaky wheel gets the grease" - Anonymous 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

When the 2022 Fall stocking list came out around late  August there appeared to be a glaring omission - the Chesterfield Section of the Westfield River (AKA " The EB") was not listed.  The same thing happened about 5 or so years ago with low water being the excuse.  But this river is different. There are many deep sections down in the Gorge that hold trout through the heat of Summer and October may be the best month for this river.

Well, I bitched about the EB being taken off the list and suggested that you could write a note to the DFW in support of a Fall Stocking.  Well, guess what happened? According to the DFW report the EB got it's share of trout on Monday the 3rd!!!

Some may say that it seems strange that I am waving the pom-poms for stocked fish but we have to realize that October is the "last call" for fly fishing for many until next April and after this dry summer we deserve some "tight lines".

Go Fish!!!!

Ken