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 Tenkara Instruction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tenkara Instruction. Show all posts
"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.
"There are people in my life who sometimes worry about me when I go off into the fields and streams, not realizing that the country is a calm, gracious, forgiving place and that the real dangers are found in the civilization you have to pass through to get there." - John Gierach
I drove down to check out the Swift knowing that Belchertown received 21 inches of the white stuff. The question is has any of it been moved to accommodate parking for fly fishers?
Here's the rundown by parking area as of 9 am:
Route 9 Main Lot - It has been plowed as of Friday afternoon
Route 9 across the street - A small area that may accommodate three cars has been cleared
The lot across from River Road - It has not been plowed
All three pull offs of of River Road including the Gauge lot - They have not been plowed!
Enoch Sanford Rd (the cul de sac road the turnaround has been plowed but the fisherman parking area has not
As it stands the areas have very limited or no parking available. Now, here's where YOU come in. If you drive by these areas in the next three days and notice that snow has been cleared just email me at: ken.elmer9@gmail.com or text me at 978-790-4320. You would certainly be helping a lot of fellow anglers plan their weekend!!!
A Simple Caddis
The caddis fly has always bugged me (pun intended) and many other flyfishers. I have been on the Millers, a great caddis river, in mid May and have seen a zillion adult caddis flies hopping around in the stream side bushes BUT see very little surface activity. That's because a good number of immature caddis do not rise from the bottom of the stream to the surface but crawl along the bottom and then emerge on the shore, dry their wings, and then fly to the bushes. It is a good strategy to fish any of the subsurface patterns available and save the dry versions for egg laying time.
DSM Caddis
You guessed it! A soft hackle fly dressed a bit stouter such as my DSM Caddis will fill this bill nicely. Just change the body color to match the insect if you like although I really don't think it will make too much of a difference.
When To Fish The Dry
Most of the important (big numbers) caddis of Spring will hatch/lay eggs during mid day hours. By late Spring this activity takes place during the low light hours of morning and evening, just like mayflies!
I don't like traditional dries that are supposed to imitate caddis because they look like a cartoon version of the insect and are too complicated for their own good. I like things simple. The above Simple Caddis is a breathtakingly easy tie:
Hook - standard dry 12 to 16
Body - fine dubbing of grey, tan or olive
Wing - (here's the tough part) use very fine deer mask hair and not a lot of it. Don't make the wing too long either. The neat thing is that you can color the wing with a sharpie if you like to get that grey or brown color of some of these flies. It may not be necessary but it's fun to do!!!!
They say you forget your troubles on a trout stream but that's not quite it. What happens is that you begin to see where your troubles fit into the grand scheme of things and suddenly they're not such a big deal anymore. - John Gierach
Yes, this fly does catch trout although most don't want to admit that they actually use it. I have used it with success BUT I have a problem with the way that it is tied. It's tied by lashing the chenille at the mid point to the hook. Some add a bead at this point because we just have to add a bead to anything that doesn't float. In any event this tying method causes the chenille to kink and fold over on itself. Aquatic and earthworms don't fold over on themselves but just wiggle around as the current moves them.
After looking at countless pictures of standard tied SJW's I found a photo of a length of chenille tied to the hook at the end. This made sense even if the tier had a bead attached. I ditched the beads and tied some up. The chenille moved in the current in a very natural way and the Swift Bows approved. I guess I was looking for something to do because I tied a few with tiny glass/plastic beads for eyes but I dumped that idea a while ago because the beads kept falling off after a fish or three. Now I just use black thread at the "head" to make it look like a head. I don't worry about "short strikes" just like a bass fisher doesn't worry about them with rubber worms. The trout just inhale them! I like the way it looks. BTW, I always use micro chenille. This is what happens when you are forced by Winter to spend early evenings thinking about fly fishing instead of actually doing it!! Actually it was fun!
Yes, it snowed as it does every winter. Is fly fishing done for the season?? Your answer is found in the last 12 years of this blog and that answer is NO!!!! It's the perfect time to book a three hour trip to a spot on the Swift that you've been meaning to get to. The air may be chilly but the water is actually nice. This past Saturday I guided a gent who had NEVER caught a trout on a fly. He took three and one was a beautiful brookie closing in on a foot long.
"Everybody is an expert in May, especially the first few weeks after they stock!" - Upcountry Website 5/24/19 This Blog
It doesn't matter whether you just started reading this blog or have been at it for a decade - the REAL fishing news is HERE and one only has to read my COMMENTS section to see that the MANY people who read this blog also share their success with YOU in the form of telling you where they fish (river name), where on the river they fish (pool name) and the time of day that they fish. They don't treat this information like it was a State Secret only to be shared with a chosen few. They know that after they leave others will fish the place too and they will hopefully catch trout and they know the trout will be there when they return. Kinda like a community I would guess, a term that is widely misused now a days! My readers know that this is a public resource and it should be shared. This blog does this and the others don't, period! That's why I've spent all of this god forsaken
month of May giving timely stream flow updates to help flyfishers prepare for all the high flows. So, many thanks to the COMMENT providers (all comments are volunteered and not coerced) and KEEP THEM COMING!!!
The Millers
Yes, the Millers has begun to recede breaking the 500 cfs barrier for the first time in months (it's at 541 as I write but it will go down with little rain in the forecast). We've taken some good browns and bows at Bridge Street and actually nailed some bows at Erving Center which always seems to be the last place to find fishable water on this lower part of the river. The Kempfield Run has yielded one lonesome brookie in two trips and the Upper Trestle is still too deep/fast to fish.
I know this river having spent 34 years fishing it. It's a favorite summer evening river!!!!
The EB Of The Westfield I'm beginning to feel that the lost TU weekend on the EB was a good thing. No camping party, no hordes of anglers, no schools of freshly stocked trout means a more natural experience. I've been catching trout, so far all bows, which is ok with me. This river has been fishable for two weeks (that means you can cross in most places) and it will only get better. Some of my best Summer flyfishing has been on the EB. BTW, I fish the EB about once a week from May through October. I know the place!!!
Make sure you are there on the first real sunny warm days in early June to catch the damselfly hatch. This insect in its nymph stage, looks like a dragonfly nymph and will act like one by crawling out of the water onto a rock or log to shed its case and become an adult. And what an adult!!! The drab two inch nymph transforms into a three inch long light green thing of beauty. It's not the dry fly that we are concerned with but the nymph. This critter moves rather quickly through the water and a small (#12 or #14) size brown or olive or a combination of the two wooley bugger cast up against the rocks or shore will get action. I've seen browns BEACH themselves trying to catch this insect. The EB and the Millers (especially the EB) are loaded with them.
The Swift
Talk to you when it gets down below 200 cfs. I could use a tailwater fix but the prospect of getting the time to hit the Farmie is out of the question with my guiding schedule. I have found that the best time to avoid the mob is in late July/August on a Monday, Tuesday Wednesday. Camp out and fish your brains out!!!!
The WARE My clients and I have been doing well here. It's a good river to split a day on between it and the Swift.
I love the quote (at the top of the page) from the folks at Upcountry. There's a lot of truth to that!!!!
Book A Trip
June is the top month for fly fishing in Massachusetts as far as I am concerned. The water has warmed to a point where trout are most active and the flows are still good (especially this year). Just email me to secure a date. I guide on seven rivers so there is plenty of trout to fish for!!
Hell, give me Greenwell's Glory and Campbell's Fancy, all wet and about size 12 and May on the Big River, and anyone else can have whatever else he wants. I won't need it" Sparse Grey Hackle on the Beaverkill River circa 1930
Well, there's a bright side to this crazy Spring and that is that we have been forced by conditions to fish "other waters" and those waters are not the marguee "names" or the "places-to-be-seen" but those hidden, quiet streams where you know you'll be the only one there. I've revisited some of these streams, caught some trout in a beautiful place and left feeling very good about it. I also feels good that these streams will probably have a good head of water going into the Summer so we can enjoy them longer. Take advantage of this condition. You will not have to throw weight to catch these fish.
The Flows The Swift is up again going from 823 cfs on Sunday to 886 this morning. I am so sick of that flow that I'm staying away until the flow goes below 200. See you in September!!!!! (well, maybe not)
The EB, MB and the WB have been a godsend to us because they will rise quickly BUT then drop quickly and that's where the action is. The Ware ticked up since Sunday but still can be fished from the edges and the Millers is the Millers, high but coming down.
The Quill Gordons are still on stage with some Hendricksons popping up here and there. Look for lots of action on the Ware and the Millers. A Brown Eel from the Farmington
BTW, Central/Western Ma have not been the only spot for swollen rivers. The Farmington, below Stillwater, is at 1164 this morning. The median average for about 60+ years is about 320 for this date. We will survive!!
"Above all,observe the fish. Better yet, observe the trout as if you were a predator that needs to catch it, not just a participant in a game. Edited-for-action fly fishing videos, won't really prepare you for approaching big, spooky trout. Watching your pet cat will give you a better idea of how a predator moves when stalking it's prey" Bob Wyatt,What Trout Want:The Educated Trout And Other Myths
Well, it was certainly a pleasure fishing in the midst of a genuine, traditional mayfly hatch, namely the Quill Gordons. We saw the first of these, in limited amounts, on the EB Friday and Saturday but the heaviest hatch was on the MB on Sunday during an all day drizzle with water temperatures in the high 40's and the air not much higher. The rainbows loved the feast with a traditional QC Wet and a size 16 Zebra Midge splitting the action. It was good to see that old, wet fly do its stuff!!
The MB is the smallest of the Westfield Branches and is about the size of the Mill River along Rt 9 in Haydenville and like the Mill is totally overlooked. There seems to be a growing population of fly anglers who thumb their noses at any river that isn't a Class A tailwater. GOOD!!! That means more great water for the rest of us!!! The MB and the WB are in the same neck of the woods. One makes a good 3 hour trip and together they make a good 6 hour trip. BOOK ME!!
A Quill Gordon
Tenkara Spring
This high water Winter and Spring have forced us to fish the smaller waters that have been been ignored in the past. These rivers can get into shape quickly and they are PERFECT for a Tenkara rod. Say hello to "Asian Nymphing" and book a trip!!!
Tenkara Water
State of the Rivers
The Millers - 1580 and dropping a 100 cfs a day. Without rain we will fish it by the weekend
The Ware - holding steady at 730 which is really too high
The Swift - slowly coming down at 1110 cfs as I write. It was at 1200 on Friday and this decline isn't FAST ENOUGH
The EB - 747 as I write but only 643 on last Friday means rain in the Berkshires!! WE WERE ABLE TO FISH IT IN SECTIONS and caught trout. We only need 48 hours of dry weather to make this river drop like a rock.
The MB - The top river of the weekend!!!!
The WB - This river should get some fish this week and I can't wait!!!!
FYI if you are fishing in either the Upper or Lower Fly Zones on the Salmon River in NY, you have to use fly line (no running/shooting/Euro lines) and no more than 15 feet of leader (as measured from the end of the fly line to your fly). The mono rig is perfectly legal on the rest of the river. Torrey from UpCountry. 4/19 (Sooo....maybe you can't use those rigs in the Fly Zones because it's not considered fly fishing.
There has been a lot of speculation regarding the effects of all this water in our rivers this Spring. There is talk of scoured stream bottoms and destroyed aquatic habitat. I say "Wait A Minute" because I recall events that were worse than this one.
In late August of 2011 Hurricane Irene flew in and dumped IN A VERY SHORT TIME about 20 inches of rain in Western New England in about one day. The Mill River behind my house went from about 30 cfs to 7500 CFS during that time with whole trees being uprooted and swept downstream. I thought very few fish could survive that beating but in 5 days the flow came back to normal and I saw hundreds of minnows feeding in the current. I caught a few trout too.
The worst event that can happen (IMO) is bulldozer effects of ice dams but the Ware survived a monster dam last year that tore up stream banks and dug out the river bottom. The Ware survived because its famous mayflies survived. The same with the Millers over the years.
I bet is that the Swift will do fine!!
I've spent too much time tying streamers and now want to fish large stoneflies. It's called stoneflies on the brain and I have it bad. I'm going to take the cure this afternoon on a smaller stream or two which are in my area.
The experts at Weather Underground are predicting only about a half inch of rain through Friday. That would be a relief!!!
