Fly Fishing Information On The Millers, Swift, Middle, West and East Branches Of the Westfield River and the Ware, and Mill rivers. YOUR BEST SOURCE FOR MA. FLY FISHING INFORMATION, the top ranked fly fishing blog in Massachusetts! WHAT FLY FISHERS READ!!
Autumn On The EB
Showing posts with label Ken Elmer Fly Fishing Guide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ken Elmer Fly Fishing Guide. Show all posts
"There is no greater fan of fly fishing than the worm" - Patrick McManus
Around Boston they like to say that the first day of Spring is the day when the Red Sox equipment truck leaves for Fort Meyers. Not so!!! For the fly fishers it's when the first tiny dark stoneflies make their appearance. The photos were taken yesterday, February 27, at my home on the Mill River. (I think that the two 70 degree days last week may have spawned a few). They were about a size 18 and how they got out of that raging torrent (700 cfs) is one of natures mysteries.
Are they worth fishing over? Probably not, due to the conditions of early Spring with it's flooded streams and for the most part, lack of fish. And this little guy's life span will be mostly over by the time the stocking trucks roll. But it is good to see them because it means we have turned the corner in our race to Spring.
Evening Sun Presentation
Just a note that I'll be at the Evening Sun Fly Shop this Sunday at noon to talk about the Millers and the branches of the Westfield. See you there!
Dry Fly Question
Does anyone "anticipate" the dry fly season any longer? Do you have boxes of freshly tied Hendricksons and Sulphurs ready to go into battle or are you mostly a subsurface fly fisher?
"Finally! Amidst a crowd of 4 rainbows somehow he was the one to eat the soft hackle (P&O of course). Took a leap out of the water and started bulldogging for a log - thank God for trout hunter 4.5x 6.1 test" - Commentator Lenny on ANOTHER big Swift River Brown.
Another big Swift River brown comes to the net. There have always been the occasional monster seen and sometimes caught on the Swift BUT NOT LIKE THIS YEAR!!! Just like the brookie explosion in the earlier part of this decade the browns are expanding in range and in size. Let's examine some reasons for this:
It's a tailwater - In the long run this is the main reason for our browns and brook trout populations on the Swift. You have a steady, cool flow of water that is not ravaged by seasonal floods and droughts which can greatly impact a trouts survival.(winter kill is the major natural cause of death, outside of predators, in a freestone environment)
Brookies on the menu - When the biomass of available food increases so will the creatures who consume it. Three years ago I saw a 4lb brown grab a 6 inch brookie and then take about two minutes to swallow it. If you've been to Cady Lane in the summer you will know what I mean - Schools of 4 to 6 inch brook trout can be seen everywhere. The 4 to 10 pound browns see them too and that 17lb monster saw them too when it was a kid. Now it eats adult suckers and 14 inch rainbows!!!!
Catch & Release, Stupid! - Big trout have to run the gauntlet year after year to get to the "measured in pounds" size and ending up in the freezer will not do it. Also, the browns are the premier piscatorial predators on the Swift and to maintain a health fishery WE NEED THEM! The top of the food pyramid is not as populated as the bottom. The top keeps the bottom in control. A year round C&R policy on the Swift for browns could insure this.
Mother Nature in Control - The brook trout and brown trout explosion appears to have been accomplished without the hand of man involved (yup, we created a tailwater and stocked some browns but that's it). No State agency has taken credit for this. That begs the question about the genetic work being done on the Farmington in Connecticut. The Survivor Trout Program had the mission to "create" a brown trout that could withstand the thermal challenges found in freestone environments, namely the Housatonic River among others. To accomplish this Farmington browns would be "mixed" with other wild browns (Housatonic for example) and the offspring would be a hardier fish. That is great and certainly noble but why are many of the offspring going back to the Farmington?? It's a tailwater, remember, cold water all summer long with steady flows etc, just like the Swift!! I've only been fishing the Farmy for 15 years but I've caught some BIG browns there and seen some scary monsters in that river and that was long before the the survivor program started. Wouldn't the Housy and other freestones benefit more from the "survivors" than the Farmy???? Hmmm........
Added Note - Notice that the brown in the above photo was caught on a P&O soft hackle. I posted a photo of another monster taken on a #16 scud. I know of another 4lb brown taken on a #20 Griffins Ghat. The lesson here is that you don't have to toss mouse patterns to get these guys!!!
Swift Brookies Don't fall for the conventional wisdom that the brookies are off the Redds for the year. Not so!!! You just have to know where to look. If someone has an underwater camera you could get some great shots in that skinny water!!!
"On the other hand, when a trout refuses to take your fly, the answer isn't always to step down from a 5X tippet to a 6X, and then from a 6 to a 7. I always try to figure out how I can make my drift better before I start to re-rig. Many times the problem turns out to be operator error rather than tippet size. In other words, it's a poor workman who blames his tools before he's eliminated all other more likely possibilities." - John Gierach
It's over 30 years ago and I'm packed into a crowded exhibition hall somewhere off of Rt 495 to attend, what once was, the premier fly fishing show in Massachusetts. Many of the displays were the same-old-same-old until I saw something catch my eye. There was this scruffy exhibitor placing saltwater hooks into this weird vise and then BENDING THEM BACKWARDS. The exhibitor was Jerry Doiran and he was the inventor of the Regal Vise.
Let's talk about the vise. It was totally unique and worked on a principle that was totally ass backwards
from all existing fly tying vises. All other vises, when they are not holding a fly, are at "rest". To make the vise "work" you adjust the tension or "grip" of the jaws to suite the hook, load the hook into the vise, probably adjust the jaws again if it's a hook size change and then start tying hoping that the hook is held firmly by the vise. With the Regal Vise the jaws are NEVER at rest. To load a hook into the vise you press a lever which opens the jaws, place your hook in the jaws and then release the lever. That hook will never move. No adjustments to the tension are needed because the jaws are SELF ADJUSTING!!!!! A metallurgist friend of mine who examined the vise said it was a pure example of Yankee Engineuity!!! Jerry was French Canadian but I don't think he would be offended!
The Regal Company has always been a Massachusetts company, starting on the Cape (that's Cape Cod for the newbies) and then moving to Orange Ma. the 1980's. Jerry was an inventor who had a couple of dozen patents to his name. He invented the child proof lighter, sold the patent and moved to Florida. I used to run into him on the Millers and he would always give me hints about what new idea was in his head. He was the first person that I saw fish a San Juan Worm! His brother "T" Doiran took over the company after Jerry flew south. "T" passed away and the company was bought by and is now in the capable hands of Don Barnes who brought the company into the 21 century with an expanded line of neat products. Regal is still in Orange Ma.
The best dry fly artisan that I know of is Dan Trela and he uses a Regal Vise.
Here's your chance to "buy local". Get a Regal Vise, the last vise you'll ever need.
P.S. - I get nothing for this endorsement.
A Good Streamer
Reader Kevin Burbick submitted this streamer fly with the accompanying story:
Caught a laker on the fly at Wachusett. Key was using intermediate line. Caught him on a white streamer of my own design sort of (based on Alaskabou steelhead flies). Tie in two white marabou feathers to make a tail on a #6 streamer hook. Just the tops, enough to make a solid tail. Then fold and palmer marabou towards the hook eye brushing towards tail with hand as you go. When you run out of marabou, throw in some strands of flashabou and repeat until you get to the hook eye. You may want a bead or cone because it is fairly buoyant. Really was a decent match for the dead smelt I saw on the beach. Basically a white leech. Not really a "guide fly" because it does take time to tie but I like the way it looks.
Note: 10/27/17 - The Swift came down to 40 cfs. Thanks to Bob O and Ross for the news. Let the Games begin!!!!! "The industry survives by convincing consumers that the only way to catch the fish of a lifetime is to buy more. When did fishing become less about spending time outside, feeling the sun on your face and the water swirling around our legs, and more about one-upping the guy downstream" - Yvon Chouinard
A New Fly
I was on a mission - get to the Swift early before the expected rains and workout this hot, little fly that came out of my vise the day before. I won't say that it's a "new" fly because it's too similar to others but its body material just looks soooo good that it may be more accurate to say that I was working out body material instead of a fly. Anyway, I got there at 7:15,had the place to myself, found some brookies milling around and started fishing.
Six fish in 10 minutes! 3 bows and 3 brookies all caught on a size 16 version of this fly. I started to experiment with sizes with 16 and 18 being the most productive. The trout liked this fly! I saw one bow move over a foot to grab this thing. It worked on the gravel below the Gauge, the gravel above the pump house and at the Pipe (fish it if it's empty). In 2 hours I was into the double digits, the fog turned to drizzle and then to a light rain. Mission accomplished!!
I'm not divulging the recipe for this thing as of yet. I may try to tweak it which will probably just consume time and not improve the fly a bit. I will call it a Swift River Killer Bug for now.
The Rain
As I write (6:30 am 10/25):
Millers at Erving - 850 cfs (maybe in a week....)
Millers at Royalston - Who knows since the gauge is off-line!! Same with the Tully River. Is this permanent? My guess is that it's in the 500 cfs range.
EB - 193 cfs. At this flow it is fishable and will be perfect for this weekend. NOW, ALL THEY HAVE TO DO IS STOCK IT!!!!!!!!! They managed to stock Jamaica Pond in the wilds of Boston yesterday to entertain those that wouldn't know a brown trout from a bullhead AND probably don't buy licenses either BUT leave the largest C&R section of the State barren. There has been plenty of cold water there for WEEKS so what's the excuse????? Note:(10/27) They say that stocking is done for the year. They really messed up this Fall!!!!
The Ware - 80 cfs which isn't that bad.
The Swift - About 140 cfs. This should drop to around 50 cfs as the Connecticut River goes up with all this rain which will allow the Quabbin team to turn of the garden hose (finally).
Book Me
October booked up to capacity (weird, I still have Friday 10/27 open. Grab it!!) and November is filling in quickly. Book a 3 hour or 6 hour trip now. Also, my start times are more flexible at this time of year (daylight savings ends soon). A 1pm to 4pm trip makes a lot of sense (the "evening hatch" starts at 2 pm) as does a 9am to 3pm trip (later start = warmer start.
Contact me with a date or two in mind and what length trip interests you and we will make it happen.
"Angling is extremely time consuming. That's sort of the whole point" - Thomas McGuane
Swift River
The brookies are finally starting to move on the Swift and one of the first signs of this are the rainbows jockeying for position behind the BT. The aggressive positioning over traditional spawning areas creates a surface disturbance that's easily noted and a careful eye will detect the brookies just above the commotion. Small egg patterns, small Partridge and Orange soft hackles and small scud patterns work year after year on this river in October and November. Don't miss this action!!!!
It looks like we could get some REAL rain this coming week which should bring the Connecticut River UP and the Swift DOWN. That will really get the brookies on the beds!!!
The Millers
We are in the middle of the best continuous BWO hatch that I've ever seen in over 30 years on this river.
The action starts around noon (earlier on warmer days) and goes to sundown. The snowshoe and CDC emergers that I use are in the 20 to 22 range and they are working. Believe it or not, the low flow is working to our benefit as the trout realize that they have an option aside from grubbing around for nymphs. The best dry fly fishing that I've EVER had on this river is during low flows like these. The BWO starts hatching when the water temperature nudges 55 degrees. BTW, the warm water days on the Millers are over until next Summer!!!
Remember, the rain forecast for next week may bump the Millers UP and possibly WAY UP. Check this blog for up to date flow readings.
The Ware
It just keeps producing and will probably produce through November. Fish Church Street SLOWLY working those undercut banks.
The EB
Late October and still no Fall stocking. The flow is ok and the water temperatures are in the 50's so what's the problem?? To add insult to injury the DFW stocked the MANHAN RIVER AND IT'S BRANCHES last week. For those not familiar with the stream we can say that it's NOT on the Fall stocking list and it has no water!!!!!!!!!!! BTW, it's only about 20 minutes from the EB. How this trickle gets fish and the longest C&R section in the State gets zip is a mystery!! Maybe they will find some fish to stock this coming week.
"It seems a shame to use a fine, handmade casting tools to lob a weighted, short-line nymph rig 10 feet when you could do the same thing just as well with a broomstick. - John Gierach
How can anyone say that they would prefer to catch trout via nymphing instead of on a dry fly? I don't know but they are out there, a generation of fish counters who like the lofty numbers that a stocking truck can create. I've heard that the Millers has been not like it was last year when buckets of bows were tossed in and everyone was an expert. Now the story has changed. It's slim pickings with the browns they say. Granted, it takes time and patience to catch that fish and a little skill that goes beyond "nymphing". A little timing and knowing the pattern of trout and insect behavior helps too.
I rigged up my 3wt at 1:45pm and fastened on a slightly weighted possum nymph and began to work it as I've always done over the decades - quartering upstream and letting it sink as it as it approached me which is the same way Theodore Gordon fished a wet fly in those Catskill waters over a 100 years ago. There were no indicators or sighters of any kind. Just a look for any hesitation in the drift of the line. I also kept an eye out for any surface activity which was sure to start.
I picked up 6 browns before the surface activity became too real to ignore. A hatch of Olives started (as expected) so on went a snowshoe BWO emerger in a #20 and then the fun really started. After the second brown a blue heron got into the act and twice tried to grab my brown as I was netting it!!! Then I watched him as he watched me. If I cast upstream he looked upstream and if the cast was quartering downstream he followed that too! He watched me cast upstream which resulted in a hookup which he then went after.
They are smarter than we think!!
I ended up with 8 browns taken on the surface and 6 below in two hours of fishing. THE MILLERS IS ALIVE WITH TROUT!!
BTW, A surface hooked trout fights harder than a bottom hooked trout. The nymph caught browns fought ok but nowhere near the the intensity of a trout near the surface who feels the hook. Just an observation.
Going forward this season I would suggest a perfect Millers trip to be from 1pm to 4pm. We will catch the evening rise!!!
"Fishing for landlocked salmon is like scale-model Atlantic salmon fishing: all the frustration for a fraction of the price"- John Gierach
They were all over me. October Caddis that is! This is a true event on autumn trout streams especially on the fertile freestones that we like to fish like the Millers. This orange/brownish caddis can fill the air but it can also disappoint if you don't know it's life cycle. This insect is not going to rise through the water column followed by slashing trout most of the time. It prefers to hatch on the shore and then fly away. Maybe that's why the Partridge and Orange is so good around now.
Are there dry fly opportunities with this insect? Yes, but it will come with the end of the mating swarm near evening when most fly guys decide to pack it up. The above fly works because it looks like a spent insect and incorporates the materials to achieve that look.
Hook - size 14 standard dry
Body - orange/brown rabbit dubbing
Wing - clump of orange/brown hen hackle fibers (an underwing of CDC will work to float the fly longer
Hackle - brown grizzly size 14-16
Head - brown rabbit dubbing
One can fish this fly dry and then wet. It works both ways.
Speaking of the Millers - It seems that some are a bit disappointed in the Fall fishing on this river and that is because this river got an adequate stocking of browns (and some bows) this October and not the avalanche of big bows that it got last October. Stocking the river 3 TIMES IN ONE WEEK last October sets expectations high with 30 fish days being expected. The reality now is that you have to work for your fish instead of just chucking a nymph into a school of stocked bows. The browns are different and they got a dose of rain that put another 100 cfs into the mix right after they were stocked. They are not waiting for you. You have to find them. Go get them and bring your soft hackles with you.
And The Ware - This river, so totally overlooked by the fly fishing community, has been hot as of late. It got some bows in early October but we've been taking browns in the mix which means this river has holdover fish!! One thinks that the Ware is a warm water stream but it's been cooler than the Millers and the EB over that last month with water temperatures in the low to mid 60's. Find an undercut bank, slowly drift a SH or a generic nymph through the deepest parts and you may be rewarded. We were yesterday!!!
"The Millers is fertile in its own right, but the numerous wastewater treatment plants along it return water to the river that is technically clean but that includes even more nutrients. The result is a veritable insect factory that includes clouds of mayflies and caddis and astounding populations of stonefly nymphs and hellgrammites". Tom Fuller in Trout Streams of Southern New England
This Could Be YOU!!!! Book Now For September, October And November!!
As many of you know I become a full time guide as of RIGHT NOW! That means I'm available 7 days a week and It's the perfect time to have this happen with Fall just around the corner. The Swift, the Millers, the EB and the Ware are all on the Fall stocking list and I can put you on those rivers and show you spots that are off the beaten track. Last year the Millers and the Swift lead the list and now with good flows the EB and the Ware will round right into form.
Don't wait as I'm booking up at a good pace and it will quicken as the days begin to cool. Don't get left out!!
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Remember, in two months we will be fishing the brookie run on the Swift. Pods of brookies followed by egg robbing bows and browns. It's the best time to fish the Swift!
Fish The Millers - The Millers got smacked by some heavy rain last night which brought the flow up to almost 300 cfs. It has settled down to about 230 which should last through the weekend. That river will start cooling down and having the sun set at 7:45 pm will help a lot. In short the surface action will be starting earlier.
Also, don't forget the ANTS. The last two weeks of August ALWAYS produces major ant swarms in New England. Black in a size 20 usually works.
