Big Browns And Ways To Catch Them

Thank you for the multitude of comments over the last few months. This blog has been averaging close to a 100 comments for every 10 posts AND the vast majority have been from readers (not from me) AND they are REAL comments about technique, flies, places to fish and not sugar coated "what a pretty fish"  or sounds like a great day" filler. THANK YOU!!! - Ken

Salmo Trutta

The brown trout is my favorite trout for a few good reasons.  1. It is able to survive those hot and dry summers on our freestones such as the Millers and if left alone with good water quality and an ample supply of groceries will grow to the gargantuan sizes that you see in the Swift and on this blog.  The Swift is a great example of what this fish can do  without any genetic manipulations that you hear about elsewhere.  These fish are FAT and not skinny like eels by virtue of the fact that they are the unchallenged apex predator on the Swift.  I almost feel bad for the brookies that feed these beasts!!

How to fish for them

First, they are everywhere.  Browns in the 20+ inch range are all over the river.  A 6 lb brown was caught just above the route 9 bridge about 2 weeks ago.  I caught one about 22 inches and fished over one that was closing in on 30 inches.

The fantasy is to hit the swift at night with mouse patterns. That's not necessary. Pick a very early morning or a cloudy day or a half hour after sunset and fish something BIG and subsurface such as an outsized wooley bugger or a deceiver that you would use for good sized schoolies.

Mouse patterns can be problematic.  You had better be a very good caster and that means being able to get this big fly airborne without having it hitting the water on multiple falsecasts.  One "splat" is ok but more than one will spook an old brown trout.

Another fly that could very well work would be  the old standard bass bug either made of deer hair or balsa.  I remember a few decades or so ago that  fly fishers were catching monster bows in one Alaska /river with balsa poppers.  If it worked on bows it will work on browns!!

The Rivers

The  Millers and the EB are ok now and will continue that way as long as we get weekly rain.  Remember, very early mornings or sundown and after.

The Swift

The fish are stocked but they seem to have developed lock jaw.  Fear not, they will get hungry!!

Book A Trip

Want to know more about the Swift??  How about an evening on the Millers (I've had over 35 years of them).  Just email me and set up a time!!

Ken

A Dry June Is In The Books And I Welcome July

"In gathering samples of sulphurs I've found an unusually high incidence of crippled duns with bedraggled wings. To this do I attribute the fact that my most consistent producers during the Sulphur hatch have been emerger patterns fished with a  downstream, and slightly across, presentation".  -Thomas Ames Jr.

It has been a crazy two months.  First, my guiding has been "through the roof" as well as my fly tying business.  Secondly the drought really forced us to switch gears and pick our spots.  This is part of the yearly cycle of the freestone angler - fish and fish hard before the rivers go into a mid season swoon and then rely on the tailwaters to pull us through.  If you only fish tailwaters you are missing the point.


Crowds - they are been nonexistent on the Swift where I fish it.  I may see 2 or 3 people each session that I'm there and that is by design.  Last year we had great sulphur action in July that is described perfectly by the Thomas Ames quote at the top of the post and the fly to the left is the emerger that worked.


Body - yellow tying thread
Thorax - orange rabbit dubbing
Hackle - gray partridge
Hook - standard dry size 16 through 20

The Drought

It rained and then rained some more.  The drought has been broken (maybe) with the Millers running at 223(very good) as I write and the EB cruising along at 144 (very good too). Remember, the strategy is to get to the river VERY early or stay past dusk.  The second option is usually the best because you will have diminishing crowds as sunset approaches instead of the growing hordes as the sun rises in the sky. Plus the hatches, except for the morning trico hatch which is over a full month away, are better in the evening.


It's Still There!!

Book Me

Now is the season for the "Evening Rise".  Book a 5 to 8pm trip on the Millers or the Swift or the EB and have some summer fun. 



One More Point

Is it my imagination or is there less chatter about using stomach pumps on trout to find out what they are feeding on?  I hope so.  We really do know what they are feeding on.  We did just catch one, right???  Ditto for fly fishing competitions.  You want to keep score?  Play golf!!!!

Have a happy July Fourth!!

Ken

Summer Favorites For The Tailwaters

"Cedar Waxwings were flying in mass picking off the hatching sulphurs. (thank you Chuck for the bird identification) One came so close to my face I could feel the wing beat. The morning sun had that mid summer glow to it, much like a Monet painting and I didn't come within 200 yards of another fly fisher. I was really in my element and enjoying it all". - Me 

"Sulphur" Emergers
                                                                               >

I love this time of year because of the insects that I find on the Swift and the Farmy.


The Ephemerella Dorothea is really the main species that can claim the name "sulphur" although there are others.  Check out the swift around 10am for the swooping cedar waxwings (read quote above) followed by surface activity.  I LOVE swinging a wet soft hackle in front of a bulging trout and many times I fish the entire rise with that fly.

Hook - 16 or 18

Body - olive thread from hook bend to eye

Thorax - bright yellow rabbit fur

Hackle - light ginger colored hen hackle
(Note: Authors Thomas Ames Jr. and Ed Engle have mentioned a bit of orange colored hackle for this fly.  I've used some orange rabbit in the thorax and it does the trick.  Do trout really care about color?  Well, they were not turned off by either color!)

The photo on the right has the bright yellow thorax and some orange thorax.  Take your pick.



The Needhami

This is the go-to summer fly on the Farmy in the opinion of many. Starting in July this diminutive fly (sizes 20 to 26) will hatch all day right into early September.

It's known as the little Hendrickson due to its colors.  Two years ago I spent three days on that river and had tied up two dozen of these fliesto fish the Farmy and then promptly left them at home.  That required a trip to UpCountry to get replacements which was the first time in 30 years that I bought a freshwater fly.  That's how important this fly is.

Note: This fly has found a home on the Farmy.  Word has it that's not  found on the Catskill Rivers or in northern New England.  Some anglers in those regions have never heard of it or seen it.  If you know otherwise please let me know.

Hook - size 20 to 26

Tail - one strand of midge flash'

Body - chestnut brown thread

Thorax - synthetic brown dubbing

Wing - ultra fine post yarn material in a slate blue color.


I don't fish the Farmington often enough to claim any unique knowledge of the river which is why I check out the UpCountry website to know what's going on. They will tell you everything - what flies are producing and what spots are HOT.  That last attribute is a welcome relief from the  "I will tell you about the fish that I catch but  never where I caught them" crowd!!!!!  Those are the guys that really don't want you fishing or catching trout where they fish.

RAIN

As I write the weather boys are talking about some big T Storms.  We will see..

Ken

Special Edition - Another Swift Brown!!!!

"Fly fishing does have its social aspects - on some of our crowded trout streams it can get too social - but essentially it's a solitary, contemplative sport. People are left alone with themselves in beautiful surroundings to try to accomplish something that seems to have genuine value." John Gierach 

Ok folks, another ringer by frequent commentator and Fish Hawk Hunter B.  Yes, it's a Swift Brown which will dwarf most Farmy Browns and that's for sure.  No mention of what was used but that the brownie was caught, it appears, in broad daylight within the last 48 hours.  And it was released. I've seen the video.

It's great to know that these fish exist in our home waters.  And that's not the only one.  There are many good browns all over the Swift.

Nice going Hunter.


Have a nice weekend everyone!

Ken

Older Dries,The Rivers And Your Comments

"I wish you could see them! I never saw so many rotten flies in my life. I was literally astounded. You know the stuff - Mills' Best and a bunch of English flies. Of all the miserable soft hackle, lathered on in bunches! It is no wonder that he became such a magnificent caster. If he hadn't learned to put those flies down so carefully they would not have floated". A fellow angler critiquing the dry fly selection of the GREAT dry fly fisherman George LaBranche from Catskill Rivers by Austin M. Francis

It seems that I've been seeing,in print,and hearing the proclamation that a dry fly that has hackles wound around the front of the hook shank is a CATSKILL style dry fly. The great Catskill tiers, Gordon, Christian, Steenrod, Cross, Jennings, the Darbees' and the Dettes would have all objected to such a simple minded statement. They developed and refined the Catskill style but were not the first to tie a dry fly that way. Here's the story:

Theodore Gordon communicated via letter to the great English fly tiers of the day, Fredric Halford in particular, (early 20th century) and was able to secure instructions AND materials to tie English dry flies. Their dries, created decades before American dries, had hackles would around very close to the eye of the hook and Gordon copied that but objected to the poor quality English hackles and the fact that these flies copied English insects. The other great tiers mentioned above changed everything. First, they insisted on the stiffest hackles. Second, they moved everything BACK from the eye of the hook and Third, they tied a slim, sparse dry fly much different from the English style. That is the Catskill style as seen in the photo above of a Dark Cahill which, as the story goes, was first tied by Dan Cahill, a brakeman with the Erie Railroad. Cahill has another claim and that is that he was the brakeman on a train that had a load of rainbow trout from California. The train broke down and he convinced the crew to save the trout by dumping them into Callicoon Creek, a Catskill stream, where they established themselves. The rest is history.

God only knows how many trout have been taken with this style. We do know one thing and that is that this imitation of an adult mayfly is not as popular as it was decades ago. That's probably because we know now that the rises that we see are rises for the emerging insect and not the adult. Also, this fly will get beat up after a fish or two. I switched over to the comparadun over 30 years ago because it represents the adult and, with it's body stuck in the surface film, the emerging insect too. It will float forever! It also survives riffles and fast water very nicely, a fact that is still not accepted in dry fly circles.

I fish comparaduns and other hackleless creations but love the look of a traditional Catskill Dry!!!

Your Comments

This blog has a lot of readers and it is safe to say that it has more readers than any other owner operated fly fishing blog in the northeast.  But what really sets it apart are your comments.  The last 10 posts have had well over a 100 comments.  Blog hosting platforms cannot distinguish between the owner comments and the readers comments. The comments on this blog are approximately 70% readers and 30% me chiming in.  Most blogs, if they get any comments, are a 50-50 mix of owner and readers and that's because some owners feel compelled to answer EVERY reader comment with a thank you (which also drives their comment numbers up making them seem more popular than they are).

As it turns out some blogs are morphing into semi private chat rooms where the same old readers comment all of the time and end up in a silly back-and-forth with the blog owner which does nothing but artificially pull up their comment numbers. Not on this blog!!!!  Many of you REALLY know your stuff.  Keep it up!!



The Rivers

Does anyone know how to do a rain dance??  Maybe I should plan a family cookout or hand wash and wax my Jeep or start painting the house or how about renting a cottage on the beach for a week???  All those activities usually result in a flood.  All we can do is smile and fish where we can.

The Swift is chugging along at 125 cfs and it will stay that way until we get rain.  The other rivers.....?

Ken

The Fly Fisher In Winter - How To Maximize Success

"Sight Fishing", as it was coined, is the New Zealand art of a guide scanning the stream ahead of the client for that half hidden monster trout. The guide directs the cast and the client may never even see the fish until it rises. It is not casting for dozens of visible trout in a tail water. Just because you can see a bunch of fish doesn't mean you are sight fishing." -Me

A quick drive to the Pipe parking lot revealed one car. The Y Pool revealed "0". Why was that? Was it 3:00 am in the morning? Were we in the grip of a massive Nor'easter? The answer was NO all around. What should of been a day enjoyed by a number of anglers on the Swift turned out to be a day on an empty river and that was because of this bone numbing cold. It kept people at home OR should it have? There are ways to ways to make the most of this.

1. A few years ago someone wrote a blog piece on winter fishing. I expected a piece on flies, lines and technique. What we got was a winter clothing shopping list right down to the PFD (personal flotation device). I don't believe the author even mentioned fishing!! I know that buying things is a big part of this sport for some people but I refuse to insult the rest. You already know how to dress - light and layered. You don't need me regurgitating any manufacturers Kool-Aide over the merits of one pair of fingerless gloves over another. You know what to do.

2. Stick to Tailwaters if you can. Tail waters are actually as important in the winter as in the summer. Their water temperature will be 5 to 10 degrees warmer than your average freestone which are down to the 32 degree range by now. Freestone fish are stressed fish and many will succumb if we have a bad winter. I leave them alone until the ice is off the rivers.

3. When to fish - I used to hit the river at sun up to be greeted with single digit temperatures, iced guides and lethargic trout. Yesterday I was in the water at NOON. The air temperature rose from around 12 degrees at 8am to the mid 20's by early afternoon. It was actually pleasant as I walked to my spot.

4. Where is the best water to fish? - The best water is the warmest (relatively speaking) water. Remember, in the summer the "top" of the river is the coolest and it will begin to warm up as one goes downstream. In the winter the opposite happens. That will give you a hint about where I was on the Swift yesterday!!

5. What technique to use? - Fish low, fish slow and fish small. You have to bounce small flies right off their snouts to get any action. I imagine a grid over the river surface and my goal is to fish that entire grid before moving on. No rocket science here, just keep your line short and cover the water. I find that bouncing your offering on the bottom is more effective than suspending it in the water column at this time of year. And don't go light with the tippets either. You don't want to play these fish to exhaustion. 5X is fine right down to size 24. I know some fish hawks who use it right down to size 30!!!!!

6. How did I do? - 4 bows and two brookies in about an hour. I had dinner plans latter that evening and I really wanted to be home by 3pm but I also wanted to go fly fishing so.....

Ken

Why I Like Soft Hackles And December Guiding

Note 1 - originally posted on Sunday 11/19

Note 2 Read commentator Gary Cranston's comment on 11/14/17 about fishing the EB this past week WITHOUT WADERS. It's not too late!!!

"There's always a hot new fly. Precious few of these patterns are genuine breakthroughs destined to last for a hundred years, but more often they're idle comments on existing traditions, explorations of half-baked theories, attempts to use new and interesting materials to impress other tiers or excuses to rename old patterns. The results are often pointless fads like the craze in some pretentious restaurants of plopping fried quail eggs on everything and calling sandwiches panninis." - John Gierach

Ok, I'm known as the Soft Hackle guy and for good reason. Under every condition other than flooded rivers the Soft Hackle Fly, in all of it's sizes, is the deadliest  fly that you can attach to your leader BECAUSE it represents the living insect better than any other fly. Now, I'm not talking about plutonium glow, super root beer estaz glitz that doesn't even make an attempt to look like you are TRYING to imitate anything that lives in that stream you're fishing. You are not imitating anything BECAUSE all trout food in a stream relies on some for of camouflage to survive. You have entered the murky world of attractor fishing that brings up the question of why a trout would bite that thing. Even Thomas Ames couldn't solve the question of why a trout would hit a bead head nymph. Was it the body material or the bead? Two years ago I answered the question by gluing a bead to a hook, no material added, and caught some stream wise Swift River browns with it. I haven't been able to hook a trout on a bare hook yet but will keep trying.

What makes soft hackles work. It's the movement of the flimsy hackles that we use AND the profile of the body that we tie. It looks and acts like a living insect and that is the key. The colors are muted and found in the aquatic insect world. And wrapping a soft hackle around the thorax of some space age concoction doesn't make it a soft hackle, sorry.

The more natural the better and that means natural materials. Try working more with natural materials such as body furs and natural fibers such as silk and cotton.

Every aquatic insect in the size 8 to size 18 range can be imitated with a SH and that's all of the mayflies, caddis, stoneflies and such and that includes ALL of their life stages. I will add that a soft hackle, swung in the current initiates a heavy strike, much heavier than the take of a weighted nymph. That's what I look forward to!!

Dress them sparsely by not overdoing the hackles and body. Keep them THIN! The last 30 trout taken by my clients have been on sparse partridge and olives in sizes 16 and 18 including a brute 20 inch bow this week. So, ditch the glitter, present the fly correctly and go catch some trout!!!

December is a lot warmer than January and some days in the past have been fairly balmy. The fishing has been great so book me!!!!

Ken

Big Brookies, A Change In Spawning Habitat, And Treble Hooks

"We do have to think seriously about conservation now, although it is chilling to realize there are catch-and-release fishermen alive today who don't know how to clean and cook a fish" - John Gierach

The brook trout are bigger this year on the Swift and there are more of them. Client Ray took two that were over a foot long yesterday on a size 16 partridge and orange swung along the bottom in six inches of water. The P&O did a great job and the bows and brookies accounting for all 18 fish (6 bows, 12 brookies). We covered water from the Tree Pool all the way up to the Bubbler Run and took fish everywhere. It was a good day.

Now for some disturbing observations. First, one of the PRIME spawning runs of the last few years seems to be out of commission and that is the riffle and gravel runs below the Duck Pond. Last year at this time it provided the best fishing, especially for bows who followed the brookies upstream to the vast gravel/spawning beds in the area. That has changed this year. I was there scouting in early October and noticed the gravel was mostly buried in weeds that were not there last year. There were no brookies either. Forward cast into mid November and the place is barren with nothing but weed growth over what was once clean gravel.

What causes this? Rapid weed growth is usually the result of an increased nutrient load in the river. Looks like a bit of study by the DFW and TU is in order. It is also a reality check for the hand wringers who don't like people fishing over brookies in the Fall. The LOSS OF HABITAT is ALWAYS the culprit!

NOTICE : I found an interesting rig at the Pipe lot Monday morning. It was a tiny treble hook embedded in a hunk of power bait!!!  The leader was still attached and it was light, maybe around 4x, and could of been used with a fly rod.

KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN!!! This is OUR river at least till January 1st when we are forced to share it. Until then, turn them in!!!!!!  800-632-8075 is the number!

The Rain - We Prayed Too Hard And The River Report

"Or maybe one day you hit the cosmic hatch. If there are enough insects on the water, trout will sometimes feed so eagerly that they'll lose some of their caution. Not all of it by a long shot, but possibly just enough" - John Gierach

Welcome to the land of feast or famine. A week ago we hoping for rain and now we have it and more and maybe more on the way. Here's the river rundown at 5:00 am on 10/30:

Millers - 3330 CFS!!!!! Last week it was as 140. This river will not be fishable until after Thanksgiving if then. Don't ask for a trip until the flow is below 400 which could be next May!!!



Swift River Bow

The EB - "The river that was not stocked this Fall" is at 1870 cfs and I don't believe the accuracy of that figure because the sister branch, the West Branch, is flowing at 3360!!! In fact, all of the Western Ma. rivers are at official flood stage!!

The Swift - It hit 80 cfs overnight but is now down into the high 50's and dropping. That increase in the flow overnight was not from a dam release but from pure rainfall!!! It's very fishable.

The Ware - In the 300 range and will drop soon. It never got into flood stage!!

The Farmington - (Why am I writing about the Farmington?  That's easy! Someone has to. Unlike others, when I say that I "report on rivers" I mean it!!!)  The Still River, the tributary, is flowing at 3100 cfs and that says it all!!! The WB of the Farmie is around 360 BUT Massachusetts rain is flooding into the reservoir (1550 coming in but only 360 coming out.
Your BEST source for conditions on the Farmington is not this blog because I don't spend a lot of time down there.  The BEST SOURCE is from UPCOUNTRY FLY FISHING which is updated twice weekly with flow conditions, insect info and some good fish tales.

                                        Another Swift River Bow

Fall Flies

I love this time of year on the Swift.  The brookies are ganging up, the water is low and zillions of midges (diptera) make the flow below the Pipe an actual soup!!

I have my favorite flies (as do you) and my favorite flies are SMALL and are meant to represent insect larvae or small scuds or small eggs.

My Swift River Killer Bug made the grade but it will not replace some old staples.  One of the old staples is the RS2 Sparkle Wing.

This fly is dirt simple to tie.  I use scud hooks from size 18 - 24, brown, olive or black floss or thread for the body, some midge flash for the wing stubs and black thread for the head (using a black sharpie does the same thing).

Things didn't really seem to get going on the Swift yesterday morning until we threw this offering on!!!

I'll feature some Fall favorites in the next week!!!!


Ken

Those Gorgeous Millers Browns And Booking A Trip

"Game fish are too valuable to be caught only once" - Lee Wulff

Note: The Swift and the Nissitissit were stocked 10/2/17
Note: The Squannacook was stocked 10/3/17

I'll come right out and say it. The most beautiful browns in Massachusetts reside in the Millers. These trout, either stocked last May or of holdover status, have taken on the most beautiful dark, glowing color that you could imagine. I could best describe it as butter that's been left in a saute pan too long. And the neat thing is that these fish sailed right through the Summer and this September drought with flying colors and are there to be caught. BTW, This weekend the high water temperature on the Millers hit only 62 degrees. We fished some deep runs with good holding water and took fish swinging soft hackles.

Now, if everything goes to plan, the Millers will be stocked Friday October 6. The usual popular spots will get crowded but I know this river well (30+ years of fishing it) and will get you away from the crowds and into fish. Play some hooky during the week and we will have the place to ourselves. Book ME!!

We are seeing the start of the brookie run on the Swift as they are staging into some traditional spawning areas. Hopefully we will get some rain soon to lower that Quabbin release.

Stay tuned!!

Ken

State Of The Rivers And Another Soft Hackle

"I think I fish, in part, because it's an anti-social, bohemian business that, when gone about properly, puts you forever outside the mainstream culture without actually landing you in an institution" - John Gierach

NOTE: THE WARE RIVER WAS STOCKED 9/28

It is September 28 and The Millers is running at 77 cfs (below normal), the EB is at 32 cfs (far below normal) the Swift is at 133 cfs (above a normal flow of 88 cfs) and the Ware is at 29 cfs which is normal.
What does this mean? It means that we are exactly where we were last year at this time. The Millers was stocked last year on 10/7 with a flow of 90 cfs. We are close enough!! The Swift was stocked on 10/3 (it should be stocked NOW!!!) and the Ware got its fish on 10/11 and the flow then is what it is now. The EB got stocked in mid October last year when it finally got some water.

If you're interested the DFW stocked the usual Cape ponds for the catch & freezer burn crowd but the Swift has to wait. Go figure!!!

All we need is a day of rain and it will fix everything. My usual group of "spies" will be texting updates on stocking AS THEY OCCUR and you will know about it ASAP. You'll also get the rundown on fishing location by location, a service that is always lacking on the net. If you like crowds or solitude just stay tuned!

BTW, read the comments over the last two posts about the BIG browns in the Swift. The DFW surveyed the river this past Summer and they used the word "enormous" when describing them. Also realize that this is not a "program" that produces big browns like in Connecticut. This is just HAPPENING on it's own just like the brook trout explosion of the past decade. Do we have something special here?? I think so!

The soft hackle fly pictured above is the Grouse and Flash. (I tie it with partridge which may be considered a grouse in some quarters. It makes no difference). Nick Yardley, the inventor, claimed that it is a good caddis emerger imitation. Actually it imitates any aquatic insect that is getting ready to hatch.

Hook - wet or dry in sizes 12 through 16

Thread - olive 6/0

Body - thin mylar strip wrapped around the hook

Thorax - optional (use something buggy if you tie in a thorax)

Hackle - partridge or starling

Wrap the olive thread around the hook shank and then the mylar. The olive color will show through.

Playing with my new smoker. Smoked chops, zucchini and potatoes. Almost as much fun as fly fishing!!
Ken

10 Years After, Your Comments, The Rivers, The Farmington

Ken,
Thank you once again for continuing to educate everyone who enjoys reading all the information you have provided over the years from your Millers River guide to your routine blog updates. I find myself frequently going back to both as I did earlier this week prior to getting ready to hit the upper trestle pool. I hadn't fished it in over a year and couldn't remember exactly how to access the middle without taking a swim in the process. I managed to find that special perch, mid pool and had a blast watching 4 browns annihilate a Chernobyl ant - so fun! Also had lots of success swinging soft hackles in sections downstream from there, but the main point is that you are THE MAN! Keep on writing and teaching us because you can't imagine how many secret admirers you have! ......and now that you're free mid week, I am hoping to find a day to play hooky with you on the EB before it gets too late.
Thank you,
Paul

Wow, I can't believe it but this blog is 10 YEARS OLD this month.  What started as a fragile experiment is now THE trusted source of fly fishing information for Central New England. Many people have been introduced to this sport through this blog.  Thousands have gotten to know the Millers River, Swift River, Ware and the EB through this blog and through the Millers River Guide. Tens of thousands have gotten exposure to this blog from Boston area TV and through national flyfishing publications.  In short, This blog is known for it's original reports and observations  (no mail-it-in videos here) and for a comment section that is beyond reproach!!!!!

 

When I started this blog in 2006 the blogosphere (and the internet) was a different place. Besides a few "forums" and message boards nobody covered central New England flyfishing. You couldn't "hitch a ride" on another popular website - THERE WERE NONE!!! Facebook and YouTube were barely two years old and Instagram wasn't even embryonic. You had no help so you had to do it yourself. No links to "awesome videos". You needed REAL original content. In short, you had to FLYFISH the rivers you highlighted and then write about your experiences. And the purpose had one goal - to promote central Massachusetts flyfishing on a select group of rivers.

Many support my reporting on certain sections of rivers but there are those that don't. I've always felt that reporting on a good day on a stream and not mentioning that I was at the Upper Trestle, Cady Lane or the Bliss pool was like writing a restaurant review about a great dinner but not naming the restaurant. Are you afraid that if you do you won't get a table the next time around?? By naming the spots where I fish I PROMOTE THE RIVER and not just myself so someone else can share the same great experience. As I've said for years - I've fished and written about a spot all season long but I'm still alone when I fish it.  But you're a guide giving away spots on a river!!  Correction, I'm a busy guide who gives away spots on a river.

I don't use this blog to promote big-box-internet flyfishing entities and I don't accept discounts from them. I promote owner run, stand alone, fly shops, bamboo rod makers, inventors and environmentalists!!!  Someday I'll write about about the fly fishing industry and the marketing slight of hand that's used.

Blogs come and go. Guides come and go. Another 10 years??? Why not!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your Comments - You readers are burying  this blog in comments and that's a good thing. No other blog that I know of has as high a percentage of READER comments as this blog. As I've said before your comments make this a blog within a blog.  Good work!

The Rivers -

You knew it was going to happen. The rivers kept getting lower during this "dry spell" (I don't want to use the word "drought") which means that the Quabbin faucet would be turned on and the Swift would go UP. And it did and I got to witness this 80 cfs increase first hand. The Swift is now holding at 129 cfs which some anglers like. Me? Not so much. I get a bit worried at this time of year because the brookies need shallower conditions for spawning. Last year we had high water almost into October and no fish were on the traditional spawning sites until the flow was reduced. This may all end on a good note if we get rain as forecast this week. Let's hope so and maybe the drought release from Quabbin should be readdressed given the spawning brook trout!

The Millers - They are playing with the flow at the dam in Orange Center. As I write the flow is an ok 155 cfs but it has been as low as 60. Even with this condition I've gotten good reports on the Millers especially the Upper Trestle Pool which has skunked me this year. The river has a lot of browns in the 10 to 12 inch range and they are working the surfacr.

The EB - A week and a half ago this river was at +200 cfs. It fished great at 80 cfs but the trout got spooky at 58 cfs. As I write it's at 45 and under 24 hour watch!!!! After last week I've got the EB on the brain because the fishing was so good.

The Farmington - Very possibly New Englands' best river but many people haven't fished it because they don't know where to start. If that's the case then backcast to my December 10 2016 post " The Farmington - How to get started". You will be pointed in the right direction!!

Pray For Rain!

Ken

Big Bugs Of Autumn And This Weekend

"The last thing you change is your fly" The great Lee Wulff

One cannot go to a river like the EB or the Millers during late August to early October and not see them. Large, long, dark forms clinging to stream side stones will greet the angler during his early morning fishing. This is the exoskeleton of the of the Isonychia nymph, one of the largest mayflies around and an insect that emergers all Summer long but especially in the late Summer and Fall.

This mayfly takes it's cue from the stonefly when it comes to hatching and that is the habit of crawling or swimming to shore and then climbing a rock to hatch leaving the shell behind. This act is usually done under the cover of darkness (they would be easy pickings for shore birds if they hatched during bankers hours) although I've seen them at dusk on cloudy days. Needless to say, the nymph is what's important to us instead of the dun.

These are the fastest swimmers in the mayfly family and seem to like to dart around especially at hatch time. Thomas Ames, Jr., in his book Hatch Guide for New England has a number of nymph presentations but I have found that a possum nymph colored black with a sharpie captures form and color. All you have to do is present it correctly. This swimmer doesn't get lost in the drift but swims and darts around. Make it dart around! This nymph is bigger than the Hendrickson. This bug is also a good indicator or clean, well-oxygenated water. Keep a supply ready this Fall.

This weekend - Let's hope for a little rain to freshen up our freestones. The EB has been great this week and I've heard good reports about the Millers and not from the usual places like Orcutt. Seems like the "regulars" are spreading out and that's a very good thing!!

Ken