My Favorite Trout And Crowded Water

The greatest enemy of "good" is "better" Voltaire"

 

There are three species of trout that live in the Swift. I love all of them but not to the same degree. Let me rank them from worst to first. (I hate saying something is "worst" but it rhymes in a nice way). Number 3 is my least favorite and number 1 is the best.

Number 3 - The Rainbow Trout

"Wow, I just caught a 20 inch rainbow!"  We have all heard that statement but what does it mean?  I'll tell you what it means. If you are in Massachusetts or in most of the streams  in the eastern U.S. you have caught a hatchery raised  rainbow trout. The river that you caught it in probably doesn't have a ghost of a chance of "raising" a bow of that size let alone  one of them holding over through the winter into the next season.  The vast majority of rainbows in this country (except the Rockies and Alaska) are the product  our hatchery system(s).  Massachusetts raises some very big bows and I have clients from New Hampshire who fish this state because "the rainbows are bigger".  It's  not that our rivers are any better it's just that the hatcheries are and there  lies the problem.  One day the trout are few but the next day they're swimming between our legs! There is an artificiality to this reliance on rainbow trout which is a trout that is fairly easy to grow and and grows large but does not reproduce in most Ma. waters.

I'd like to see fewer of them.

Number 2 - The Brook Trout

  

We are the luckiest anglers in New England.  The Swift carries a mother lode of Brook Trout that is hard to duplicate in the northeast. Where else can you catch 8 to 10 inch brookies as a common occurrence? I took 16 this morning.  Where else can you have a good chance to nail a 15 inch brook trout without travelling North for 8 hours?  20 inch brookies are caught every year!

Now some may thumb their nose at an 8 to 10 inch brookie and that is too bad for them.  I for one would rather catch a 10 inch brook trout than a 15 inch bow ANY DAY.  Why??  BECAUSE IT'S WILD and catching them on a 7 foot 3wt bamboo rod just can't be beat.

Number 1 - The Brown Trout

This is truly the Ghost of the Swift.  They are there and in fairly good numbers but they  play it safe by hiding next to logs and under cut banks AND avoiding full sunlight.

Our browns can thank the huge brook trout population for their monster size and there is not a brook trout in the Swift that would be safe from  the 22 pounder sampled by the DFW last year.  I've seen them over 10 pounds and have caught one about 5 pounds a few years ago.

It appears that reproduction is low and I'm wondering if some additional browns stocked instead of the clonebows would help.

Just thinking!

Crowds

If you are fishing crowded water and feel that you are being squeezed by other anglers then you have nobody to blame but yourself.  Crowded water will always bring out the worst in many people so why be part of the problem.  I know that many really relish the "herd mentality" and probably feel safe with people around.  I look to avoid them.  That's easy on the Millers and the EB and is actually easy on the Swift except for the kayaks.  EXPLORE, EXPLORE, EXPLORE!!!!!

Ken

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

A Favorite Millers Spot

"Tailwaters are what Thomas McGuane called "the great theme parks of American fly fishing," with their more or less stable water temperatures and artificially inflated populations of insects and fish. They are irresistible for all kinds of reasons, but all of those trout breed the peculiarly postmodern sense that anything short of a 20 fish day is a bust, so when things are slow there's the temptation to lie about numbers or to vaguely allow that you are "getting your share" - John Gierach

One of my favorite spots on the Millers is the "Gorge Pool" approximately a half mile below the Rezendes area in the Bears Den section. I call this the Gorge Pool because that is what it was called over 60 years ago by legendary Millers Fly fishers, the late Bob Rouleau and the ever present Rodney Flagg. They told me that this pool was known as the Gorge Pool when they fished it as kids and young men. Attempts have been made to rename it but they would have none of it. In homage to them and the generations who fished this pool I continued the name when I wrote the Fly F

ishers Guide to the Millers River. (FREE on this site). It's the Gorge Pool!!

Actually it's a double pool with the first section occurring after the long riffle below the Third Run (see the Millers Guide) and then running into another pool after a short heavy riffle.  Both "pools" are DEEP, almost in the swimming hole category and are PERFECT dry fly water. That perfect dry fly water is best visited in the evening when the place really comes alive. Before that it's the land of the deep drifted nymph. In fact, I've never taken a trout on a dry unless it was in the evening in this place. Trout, especially brown trout, love this place and I remember the monster that broke off my 4X leader as I fished a large stonefly and another time when I lost a bugger on the same rig. This pool is a sanctuary for the Summer and the Winter for this rivers trout. I've seen deer prints crossing this river while cross country skiing years ago. It may have had a foot of ice BUT there was many feet of running water below = that's winter holding water!!

When To Fish

Fish it when you can BUT if you can get there in late May through mid June you want to start around 6pm. Follow the path on the north bank down to the first pool but keep going to the tail-out of the second pool and start fishing upstream. Your dry fly drifts will be drag-less (perfect). I work larger flies here with stones, big caddis and the wonderful March Brown. I've never done it but God knows what a mouse pattern would do here!
Looking down at the "first" pool

There are blogs out there that give a flaccid overview of this river including other rivers. That doesn't help you. I can tell you where to fish and also how to fish it to catch trout.

Ken

Rating The Rivers 2017

"There are no dams on it, and it runs clear, cold, and clean for most of the year. This attribute attracts trout from the main stem and other branches when the water levels there are high and roiled in the spring and again in the summer when the other waters can warm to dangerous levels". - Tom Fuller on the West Branch of the Westfield in Trout Streams of Southern New England

Rating The Rivers, a yearly feature of this blog, is now going into its 7th season. Things change on a river from year to year and one can see it in how it fishes. This feature is basically a review and a casual ranking of the rivers that I fish and guide on. Much of the ranking is based in comparison to the ranking of previous years. Here we go!

6TH Place - THE MIDDLE BRANCH OF THE WESTFIELD

I should have a category for seasonal streams and if I did the MB would win it every time. First, It is beautiful. Second, it runs clear and cold and third it is fun to fish. It's one drawback is that it does get bony by late June during a dry spell and that is the time that one just drops down to where it empties into Littleville Reservoir especially on June evenings. Put the MB on your April, May list.

5th Place - The EB

Ok, it's beautiful, wild and scenic and six miles of catch and release BUT it seems like it's been treated like a redheaded stepson the last year. First, It's not stocked from the Gorge downstream until the 3rd week in May and when it is the fish are dumped in two or three spots which will give a lucky angler a 50 fish day. Second, it got left off the Fall stocking list this year because the DFW said it was "too low and warm". It wasn't and I told them that. How to improve things: First, kill off that 3rd week of May TU stocking and stock this river in late April at the FIRST TURNOFF below the Gorge in high water. The trout, mostly bows, will drift down through the entire C&R instead of ganging up at stocking points which is what happens now. The fishing experience will improve.

Was it all bad this year? No, actually late August and early September were very good with a flow around 60 cfs (too low according the the experts) and water temperatures between 55 and 65 degrees (too warm according to the experts). We had good evening fishing and the early morning outings were fabulous but what few fish we had were concentrated in summer holding areas. A Fall stocking would have given a fishing opportunity for many before the season winds down.

4th Place The West Branch Of The Westfield

First time on the list for this gorgeous river!! The WB reminds me of the "New Girl in School", the head turner that makes everyone else become an afterthought! Tom Fuller's quote at the top of this blog talks about the physical qualities of this river. I'm astounded by the beauty of it and began to ignore some other streams last Spring just to spend time here. I did some scouting, was given the chef's tour by Gary and ended up catching fish up and down the river. It is an average size river with all the trappings that we look for: deep pools, riffles and runs. It is a CADDIS river for sure. Fish it in 2018!

3rd Place - The Ware River

Best Hatches of 2017 (Quill Gordons and Hendricksons)
Best flows of Spring 2017
A Spring stocking of browns that were still around being caught in October.
A river that is much cooler than one thinks it is. (temperatures are online)

While the Millers was running high during May the Ware stayed in its banks and provided GREAT fishing. This fertile stream is a mayfly heaven and it produced the best looking, dark browns to be caught during October (the DFW didn't stock browns in the Fall, just bows). One of it's charms is that it will probably never be overfished because that other river is just over the hill and grabs all the attention. Good for us!!!

2nd Place - The Swift

Sorry, but tailwaters are held to a higher standard. While freestones are in flood a tailwater has a fishable flow (mostly). When freestones are running warm a tailwater is in the high 50's and it's trout are dancing in the open current while freestone trout seek springs and undercut banks (another reason to like freestones). What's not to like about tailwaters? Nothing mostly, but since I brought it up:
1. Crowd control is an issue. Why do people flock to the same spots on this river?? TRY ANOTHER SPOT!! You might surprise yourself. 2. Stocking of trout - Stable flows and stable temperatures don't give trout much incentive to move around and we see this year after year. A little effort at stocking the 2nd turnoff on River Rd and FINALLY stocking at the gauge would buy some goodwill.

How was the fishing? The June 30 stocking below RT 9 WAS BELOW the numbers of fish stocked in previous years. (This was stated in an email exchange between one of my readers and the DFW) Word has it that 2016 and 2015 had surpluses of fish stocked. 2017 didn't. People were used to the higher numbers, complained and began to stay away. IT WAS WONDERFUL!! That pesky problem of crowd waters was diminished a bit. It was weird to show up during a Summer evening at the Tree Pool and find NOBODY there. The Brook Trout - they keep adding to their numbers and also getting bigger all of the time. There will be a tipping point in the future and that may be due to the expanding BROWN TROUT population. A 17lb brown was recorded by the DFW and numerous 5 to 10lb monsters are seen frequently. The brook trout provide forage which will also help their population too.

The Swift is a gem without a trout management program as advertised in Connecticut and that's very cool!


1ST Place - The Millers!

Most of May was a washout but then this river whipped into shape and gave us a June and July that was memorable. Evening fishing held up all Summer and the browns that were stocked in early May were still there at Labor Day. October had the best mid day, dry fly fishing that I've ever experienced on this river in over 30 years of fishing it and that lasted until Mother Nature shut it down. Still, it was the best and made the best memories. That's what it's all about, right??

Ken

Autumn On Our Rivers And Book Me

"Some people who fish here will do just that with a brace of nymphs dangled under a strike indicator, letting natural drift provide all the movement that's necessary. I've tried that, and it works - especially on slow days when nothing much seems to be going on - but I can't stay with it for long.  It's possible that I'd had enough of staring at bobbers by the time I was twelve" - John Gierach

It's the best time of the year to be in New England especially central and western Massachusetts. Imagine hitting the Ware, the Swift and the Millers all in the same day and landing fish. Imagine not having to pile up windshield time to go to a crowded destination. It's all here from the Ware to the east and the Millers to the west. What about the EB? It needs rain before it's stocked. Hopefully the forecast this time is right and we get a good, rainy day and the DFW extends that Columbus Day deadline for stocking. I believe they did last year.

The Color Brown

Hats off to the DFW for raising the largest number of beautiful brown trout that I've ever seen. The color of these fish is amazing. As I said in an earlier post these trout have the color of butter that has been left in the sautee pan too long. These fish are almost iridescent and appear to almost glow in the net. I've seen some photos of stocked browns from other states and they pale by comparison.

Millers Update And A Question

We caught fish everywhere from Orcutt to Erving and to the Kempfield Section BUT we got blanked at the Bridge Street Pool. Now, there are new (this Summer) restrictions to entering Bridge Street from Route 2 - YOU CAN'T DO IT- and they have the signage to prove it!! That means that you have to bushwack through the back roads of Wendell to legally get there. (I say "legally" because some people are ignoring the signs and turning off Route 2 anyway). Here's my question. Did the DFW stock these section or did the signs/restrictions and the six mile detour scare them off?? I know someone was there because of the wet footprints in the sand. Any info??

BTW, Soft hackles (of course), possum nymphs and my mini buggers all took fish. Translation - use anything as long as it's small.

I still have some openings in October but they are going quickly. Grab one and it's yours. A good idea would be to book a morning (3 hour) trip and then spend a few hours going solo revisiting the spots I introduced you to!

Ken

The Millers And It's Browns,The Swift And New Stuff

"There's a story that the cylindrical deer-hair Bomber fly was invented on the Miramichi River in New Brunswick when a wealthy sport tossed a cigar butt into the river and a salmon ate it.  You assume it was an imported La Gloria Cubana instead of a rum-spaked crook bought at a gas station" - John Gierach


The Millers is loaded with browns. The comment section mentions it and my last two solo trips took these fish. There are no drag burners here, just a good head of 10 to 14 inch fish that hit on the surface and down deep. A recent stocking?? No way. These guys made it through the Summer and are found at Orcutt, the Upper Trestle, Kempfield and in Erving Center and some have caught them in between. My fish were taken at mid day which was cool but not unexpected because the air temperatures have been in the low 70's, it was cloudy and the sun is at the same strength as it is in late March. Comparaduns in tan around size 16 and any soft hackle will do.

Don't wait until the stocking stocks to arrive and then crowd into the usual places. Fish now especially on a cloudy day.

The Swift flow went hog wild on Monday and the expected rain didn't arrive. If you like high water this will be your place for a week or more!!

New Stuff - 8 years ago I was selling my flies on this site and got totally buried in business.  My full time, 50+ hour job took all the time so I had to let it go.  I'm going to be back with this (flies you can't find anywhere else) and some new, unique products.  More to come!!!!!

Ken

A Storm Shortened EB Trip And This Weekend

"Controlling micro drag is far more important than reducing the diameter of your tippet, which can never be completely invisible. Fine as they are (tippet), their presence is magnified by surface tension in the same manner that the feet of insects create tiny lenses. Wetting agents, including saliva, make short work of this problem, but keep the last few inches of tippet dry, lest they counteract the buoyancy of your fly" Thomas Ames, Jr. - Hatch Guide For New England Streams

"Damn the forecast, I'll just chance it!" That was the start of my 1 hour trip to the EB. The weather wizards said a "good chance of thunderstorms for western Massachusetts" which I like to think of as a good chance of "nothing" happening. So the trip was on.

I was looking for ants because the weather was perfect for them: warm, humid and early September. I saw only one of those winged critters all day so it certainly wasn't what was driving the trout to the surface! Trout were at the head of the pools slashing away at something on the surface. From where they held in the stream I figured some sort of mayfly which certainly hadn't gone beyond the emerging insect stage. Time to experiment!

First, I used a partridge and orange SH thinking that it would be perfect during this early stage of the hatch. Nothing doing!! I then tied on a BWO parachute emerger and struck a good brown on the second or third cast and then took a bow right after that. It began to look like an epic session until I heard that distant drum roll of a turbulent atmosphere. I kept casting and catching trout while hoping that the storm would disappear. No such luck. I retreated to the safety of the car. In all, I fished from 3pm to 4pm and took 2 browns and 4 bows.

The Swift dropped like a rock yesterday and is now back to a civilized 50 cfs. It will be interesting to see if the high water of the past week moved any of the fish around like the last high water event.

The Millers and the EB - keep an eye on the flows! The EB is in the 300's and the Millers is in the 200's. These are good conditions but the forecasted T'Storms can blow them out quickly especially the EB. BTW, the Millers is fishing well.

My guiding calendar is starting to fill up. Don't get left out!!!!

Ken

High & Dry With The Millers Bivisible, Your Comments And This Weekend

"Then I wrote it off as one of those days when I went fishing just to go fishing, not caring whether I caught anything or not - until I was on the water" - John Gierach

Note: a pair of Ovis sunglasses were lost by a reader down by Cady Lane. If you find them let me know!

Years ago I highlighted this fly on my blog as a sure fire way to bring trout UP during the Summer months. It got a very good response as fly fishers told the tales of good catches throughout New England while casting into the riffles and even pools with this creation. It still works as I took trout tonight on the Millers. It has the reputation as a riffle/pocket fly BUT it does well in calm sections of the river that you will fish. It will imitate caddis/stoneflies and land based insects that tumble into the water but it seems to work best in heavier currents because of its construction.

Hook - size 12 to 16 standard dry fly hook
Body - Gray works good and bright yellow seems to work better
Hackle - Any darker hackle from the rear to lighter hackle up front
Wing - Very fine deer hair tied straight up

The Bivisible name comes from two different colored hackles palmered in with the lighter up front. I've used darker up front and a lighter color throughout the mid and rear of the fly with good results. I've even taken a sharpie to color sections of the hackles and that worked too. Sometimes I've use the same color hackle for the whole fly. Color aside, it's a high floater with good visibility that looks like a living insect, stream born or terrestrial.

Note - don't crowd the hackles as you wind them in. Keep them sparse. It will float better. Use the dry "shake" powder and not the liquids or gels and stay away from the powder that comes with a brush. I'll explain that later.

My last 10 posts generated 129 comment and 70% were from YOU READERS!!!!! My platform, and all others, will not differentiation between your comments and mine and they get lumped together in the same total but I keep my words at a minimum (will answer questions directed to me) which means the comment section is YOUR section to respond, agree or disagree with what I say and you do this in great numbers! In short, this comment section is a blog within a blog with lots of information and insight. There's information in this blog's comment section that is invaluable and it is being read!!! There's no other regional source of fly fishing information that can claim this. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.

This weekend - Fish the Swift whenever you can but fish the others at dusk.  That's when the action starts!!!!

Ken