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 Ware and Westfield River system. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ware and Westfield River system. Show all posts
"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.
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!!
"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!!!!
