Two Mornings, Two Rivers And Off The Beaten Path

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

Thursday morning found me hopscotching around the Millers and checking out some of my old haunts. I was also checking out how the trout weathered through the Summer and that answer is FINE!!

First stop was the Bridge Street Pool which looked enticing as usual but my hour there produced nice scenery and that was it. Next was the Erving Center Run that produced the star of the trip - a 6 inch brown with fins and a tail that showed no signs of hatchery markings. The pectoral fins really stand out on a fish like this. They are long and wide and look like a set of oars. A rainbow around 14 inches made its appearance before I moved upstream. Both fish fell for my possum nymph. The Center is a great place and is totally overlooked by fly fishers, fly fishing groups and the fly fishing media. It does have its "regulars" and I've been one for over 30 years. Orcutt will always draw the crowds which will keep the numbers down at the Center.

The last stop was to say hi to the Kempfield and that decision worked out fine as there were two browns working the surface and I got them both. They weren't bruisers but required careful casting under conditions that got windy.

The EB - I had to somehow make up for that T'Storm shortened trip of earlier in the week by putting in a good four hours working this river. The storms changed everything by bringing the water up considerably, knocking down the "rise" but not turning off the trout. The possum nymph, which actually looks like an insect instead of a day glow extraterrestrial ruled the day with 7 hits, 6 hooked and 5 landed.

The browns didn't make an appearance as the stage was occupied by rainbows and one gorgeous male brook trout, in full autumn colors, of about 13 inches long. It was a beautiful trout!!

Now some notes - This post and the previous post dealt with three trips totaling about 8 hours where 15 trout were landed. "What's so big about that?" you may ask. But wait a minute!! This is mid September and I was fishing over trout that were stocked over 4 months ago. And these trips were on the backwaters of freestones like the Millers and the EB and not on the popular tailwaters of our area. In short, why wait for the stocking trucks to roll in late September or roll the dice on some future date that could be rained out anyway. FISH NOW if you possibly can. YOU DON'T HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE EVENING to fish. We are in EARLY FALL (sun angle in the sky is the same as late March/early April) and the temperatures reflect that. The freestone trout did very well this Summer and they are active.

Check out my COMMENTS section for the last few posts. Some readers are gracious enough to tell you where they have done well and that is a very good thing!!!!!

My possum nymph was a size 12, tied on a wet fly hook, and it fooled those holdover trainees!

Ken

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Y Pool Revisited, The Dorotheas And Changing Brookies

"All I can do is keep reminding myself that Lee Wulff once said, " The last thing you should change is your fly", which is good advice that's easier to follow when you don't have five hundred flies to choose from".  John Gierach

First, let's talk about the brook trout. Our Swift River brookies are beginning to color up and it's only late August. They don't appear to be moving upstream yet but that will happen in about a month and that's when you will see a show that's unequaled in New England. Our wild brook trout population in the Swift is almost an embarrassment of riches and even though it's not a hidden mountain rill known to only a few it still has its own charm and magic. The magic being that 15 years ago the brook trout population was nowhere like it is today. We are fortunate!!

I finally made it to the Y Pool for the purpose of fishing it and I believe that it's the first time since February. I've brought some newcomers to the place over the Spring and Summer to show them what it's all about but now I have some more time to hit the place during "off" hours and days. One thing is You will never be alone at the Y!!

My Y Pool strategy is simple: fish it if there's plenty of room (usually there isn't) or head to the Bubbler Arm where there's always room no matter how many times I write about it. And there are trout. Not the pods of trout clearly visible in the Y but trout that appear out of nowhere if you are patient enough. Yesterday I met a guy up on the Arm who said that he hadn't even seen a trout. As he spoke I could see one bow just 10 feet behind him. I saw more after he left and took one plus a brookie of about 10 inches. The photo shows my favorite pattern for the Bubbler and it's a zebra midge knock-off from size 20 to 24. (notice I said knock-off instead of that hideous, overused term "variant". Changing a component of a fly, say color or one of the materials doesn't change the fly. It's still the same fly but just tweaked! If you don't think so just google "golden ribbed hare's ear" and see how many styles and colors pop up.It's still a GRHE!!)

After working the Arm I found plenty of room at the Y so I stepped in and joined the list of those that hadn't caught any of the rising trout that could be seen. At least I got a good hit on a size 24 Dorothea which was a fly recommended by Dan Trella. I thought that it was a bit late in the season for this fly but a few naturals began to pop up and the trout seemed to rise for them. I ended up the next day at the Pipe and the brookies and bows were all over that fly!

The pattern is simple - yellow or olive thread for the body,possum for the thorax and snowshoe rabbit for the wing. Don't get discouraged with tying the wing on this tiny fly. The less material the better.

Speaking of the Swift - I guided two well traveled anglers from New Jersey to the Swift this past week. They were astounded by the numbers of trout that they could see in this river. I explained that the general belief is that the stockings were on the light side this year. They said that we are fortunate to have this river. They are right!!!

Ken