"Fishermen who care too much about the size and numbers of fish they catch are insufferable on good days and as hurried as overworked executives on slow ones". John Gierach
Drifting buggers so they get down deep makes a lot of sense. They represent a food source that's found near the bottom but are often fished as a mid level streamer being pulled against the current like a baitfish which is not as effective. That will attract freshly stocked trout but as trout wise up after being stocked that strategy begins to fail. I remember June and July evenings on the Millers where a small (size 12) bugger was the ticket until around dusk when I began to see rising trout and then the game changed to light colored soft hackles and then to comparadun flies when the light dimmed.
I would not venture onto a tailwater like the Swift at mid day or later during the early summer without a good supply of the fly pictured in this post. A soft hackle Sulphur is deadly when the Sulphurs are hatching. High sticking or swinging this fly will get it done. Size 16 is the best.
Remember one thing - early season success, many times, is the result of fishing over new (dumb) fish with flies that mimic nothing that is found in the stream. You will do well until the season changes and the water flow drops. I LOVE LOW WATER. Many of our tight line brothers and sisters HATE that condition because those depth charge weighted nymphs sink too fast and get caught up in the weeds. A soft hackle emerger plays in that mid current zone which is what you want!!
Ken
10 comments:
The wooley bugger may be the most successful fly going.
GW
Tight liners can just float the sighter with unweighted flies for low water (if they know how). Got to be flexible.
“ While surveying the river near the Fife Brook Dam and Route 2 bridge cross in Charlemont, they discovered that more than 80 percent of brown trout are born in the wild. Due to this study, MassWildlife says they no longer need to stock that section of the river with brown trout.” - 2 great things from this article : 1. Lots of wild trout (spawning) of brown trout taking place in the Deerfield River, 2. Fisheries biologists will not be stocking trout where they see a healthy wild population of trout.
https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/franklin-county/study-finds-most-trout-in-deerfield-river-are-wild-not-hatchery-raised/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=socialflow&fbclid=IwAR11gES3dZEDpwMF3IRFw7pY934LJk5Y96QHUXdN0uGTo46wJq9_glyRUQs
80% of how many?
As long as the de-watering problem in the Fall is corrected. BTW, I wonder what the age classes or of these wild browns?
Ken
In this Youtube video, Adam Kautza presents findings of the Deerfield study (brown and bow reproduction) at Deerfield TU meeting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ-TeT2AVLg
Ken, in this article they say that going forward Deerfield will have guaranteed minimum of 225 cfs all winter. Does that sound like enough to protect the brown trout redds? Once the wild brown trout population in the Deerfield grows do you think it would make sense to transplant some young wild browns to other MA streams to support wild populations there? If yes, which streams do you think make sense?
https://www.tu.org/magazine/conservation/from-the-field/in-massachusetts-a-step-toward-a-premier-wild-trout-fishery/?fbclid=IwAR1D--vmmYo938mJH2jyiy0h8DZO0XmWL7s4WwSz6sqt_nGWzByQ_34EBdE
https://www.tu.org/magazine/conservation/from-the-field/in-massachusetts-a-step-toward-a-premier-wild-trout-fishery/?fbclid=IwAR1D--vmmYo938mJH2jyiy0h8DZO0XmWL7s4WwSz6sqt_nGWzByQ_34EBdE
Anonymous,
1. 225 cfs might be enough
2. "Once the wild brown trout population of the Deerfield grows"....Your assuming the population will grow. Currently there are fewer wild browns than the DFW folks thought there would be.
3. What streams make sense??? I haven't seen any up tp date studies.
Ken
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