Home Waters

I live well within an hour of the following rivers: The Millers, the Swift,the Ware,the EB, WB and the MB of the Westfield. What does that mean? It means I'm a lucky guy who can pick a different river for almost every day of the week and sometimes I do. Sometimes I'll fish the same river 3 days in a week BUT I'll fish 3 different sections which can be like fishing 3 different rivers. The Bears Den and the Lower C/R of the Millers are almost like fishing different rivers. And please don't forget Bondsville on the Swift which IS a different river from what's above. The same is true of the MB of the Westfield. We realize this after a few years casting over the same water, we learn what it's like and we learn it's secrets. And most important of all we, if we love to fish freestones, usually have the place to ourselves. I'm beginning to think that freestone rivers, if they have a spirit to them, actually repel the "it's all about me" angler who must be seen AT and be able to talk ABOUT destination tailwaters like they are the only rivers that count! (Yes, I fish tailwaters but my BEST moments (and fish) have been on homely, old freestones).

This season one should take the path less traveled. Find a new spot or get reacquainted with an old one and try to learn its secrets.

River Reports

Yup, the trucks are rolling as is the Swift and the Millers - with water that is! Both rivers are flowing at full bank and that has been going on since early October.  Don't pray for rain if you can help it!! What I would love is a normal Spring and Summer and not like the last 3 years (flood or drought). I think that it needs to warm up a bit to get the insects going (that's why we call it flyfishing.)

Ken

                                                                                                                                                                 

 

Blow Out Strategy - Smaller Waters - The MB

"Really, the only thing a psychiatrist can do that a fishing guide can't do is write prescriptions" - John Gierach

Shit, another day gets wiped out because of the high flows EVERYWHERE.  As a wading guide I take safety first and 400+ in the Bears Den and 1000+ in Erving means I am not guiding the Millers this weekend. I was up at 3:30 am Friday morning to check flows and make decisions and then I had a LONG day ahead. No lawn mowing (thank you rain god) and the Tomatoes will wait a few days.  I began working up a good breakfast and then started tying flies to fill the holes in my boxes.

By 8:30 I was getting anxious. Maybe the local or maybe some western rill would not be running bank to bank. My backyard river, the Mill, was in flood stage. Head west, middle age man, head west!!!

The Middle Branch (MB) of the Westfield was high but CLEAR and that was a good sign as I headed down to Littlefield. It's a totally different river than what you see along River Road. Some choppy riffles, deep runs, slow glides and Gary.

Gary is the Dean of the Middle Branch and the Dean of the West Branch and hell, he knows more about the Westfield River system than most people put together. He's fished it all of his life and he is very generous with his knowledge unlike others who sometime name rivers but will  never name locations even on heavily fished rivers. He even gave me a select section of a run where I then managed to drop two trout! I'll let YOU ask HIM where the good spots are and you can't miss him because he's always working the MB and he may be the only one there (maybe me too).

Because of high water and the need to work weighted flies I brought my 6 weight (found a 6 wt line last night) to make it easy. Gary did  too. Decades before a 6 six weight was standard trout gear and it can still be. The weighted flies cast like a dream. Very easy casting.  It was a  definite old school  experience!

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Gary took two healthy bows and then I hooked up and landed a good bow in some skinny (what passed for skinny) riffles and then I went upstream.

Up stream is a place I call Twin Bridges (you'll know it when you see it). My fly was a concoction I call the little Marabou Ghost. I took 5 bows(the prettiest bows this year) in a short while and then went home to shop, vacuum, laundry, stuff like that.

Watch the River Flows on this blog. Small streams will come down quickly. For you Eastern Ma. flyfishers who don't mind smaller streams Willard Brook in Ashby is pretty and full of trout.  So is the Fort River in Amherst, So is the Mill Rivers in Amherst/Hadley, so is EVERY stream in this state and it's all on their website.!!!

Little Marabou Ghost =  a size 10 SCUD hook
body -                      = olive floss or anything you want
under wing                = 4 or 5 peacock strands
mid wing                   = grey marabou
Top wing                   = olive marabou or your choice

A bead if you need it. No bead if you don't.

Ken

Dry Fly 101 - Some Helpful Advice And The Drought

"When I die I want to come back as a Montana fly fishing guide" - Jane Fonda

Much of my instruction time is devoted to explaining and demonstrating dry fly strategy. There are those in this sport who have turned dry fly fishing into a form of rocket science which it shouldn't be. Let's examine the basics:

1. We either cast a dry fly to a rising fish or to a spot where we believe a trout may be. Let's concern ourselves with that rising trout.

2. It is a rare occasion where we see a steady parade of newly hatched mayfly duns floating down a river and being picked off by a trout. Most of the rises that we see are rises to the emerging insect that is in or just under the surface film. That is why comparaduns (my favorite dry fly pattern) and parachutes do so well. The body is in the surface film looking just like an emerging insect. That is why the two above tying styles have somewhat replaced the classic hackled dry fly. More on that later.

3. Always try to position yourself downstream from a rising fish or a place that you want to cast to when fishing a dry. Imagine a large clock surface and a trout steadily rising at the 12 o'clock position. You want to be below him at the 4 or 8 o'clock position. Why not 6 o'clock? Actually that's the worst place to be. Your leader or your line will land on top of him. At the 4 or 8 position only the tippet will be in play.

4. Fishing a dry downstream or down and across will limit your presentation window because of leader drag. Remember, drag occurs when the leader is traveling faster than the fly. You avoid this with an upstream cast but there are times when you have to fish at a downward angle. This is where you lengthen your leader with extra tippet length and throw a Check Cast above the rise. A Check Cast is nothing more than suddenly stopping, or "checking" your fly in mid cast so the fly falls to the surface amid some loose, uncoiled leader. Your leader needs to be pretty straightened out for drag to set in. This will avoid it.

5. Manage your line when fishing upstream with a dry. The line is floating back to you and you must constantly strip in this slack or hook set will be impossible.

6. Forget nonsense like "parallel drag" or "diagonal drag". Drag is Drag and the remedy is the same.

7. 90% of your dry fly fishing will be done with size 14 through size 20 flies which means you will be using 5x and 6x tippet. Don't believe that you need 7x on a size 14 or 16 dry unless you like leader twist.

8. Hackled dries still have a home in riffles and pocket water where they float well and are visible.

In 2009 I fished the EB from Memorial Day through September with nothing but dries and I caught a lot of trout. It is my favorite style of fishing followed closely by the swing of a soft hackle. Both styles represent a stage of insect life and I believe a higher stage of fly fishing. A Millers regular once described what we now call straight line nymphing as "bait fishing with artificial bait". To each his own.

2010 was the driest summer that I remember but I'm afraid that this summer will break all records. The long range forecast appears to be unchanged. Let's wait until September.

Ken

Conventional Wisdom And A Weekend Preview

"Many of the standard flies on the river came from his vise (including some rustled patterns that now bear other peoples names). His flies were always admirably spare and simple, but now his patterns have become totally minimalist. The last batch he showed me consisted of nearly naked hooks with a little thread and a wisp of wing or a half turn of hackle: just the barest suggestion of an insect." John Gierach

One of the books that has reshaped my thinking on fly fishing and our attempts to imitate insect life is the great What Trout Want: the educated trout and other myths by Bob Wyatt. He lays to rest the notion of the SELECTIVE trout, instead throws the blame for fly refusals on poor presentation and/or the habit of trout to key in on the dominant species as the ONLY food source at the moment.

But there is a startling revelation that is in this book that seems to be purposely overlooked and that is the sacred Sparkle Pupa Theory by the late Gary LaFountaine. His theory was that prior to emergence the pharate adult stage of the caddisfly expands it's outer cuticle with gas to help it in it's ascent to the surface and in the splitting of the cuticle. LaFountain believed that the gas would reflect sunlight and give a glowing or sparkling quality to this stage of the insect. That spawned his Sparkle Caddis Pupa flies which are VERY successful in catching fish.

Ok, it catches trout so whats the problem? The problem is that there is not a caddis fly in the world that emits a gas under it's shell to rise to the surface and that is a fact according to Wyatt. So what does this mean? It means that this great attempt to "match the hatch" didn't match anything but created another effective ATTRACTOR Fly.

There are a lot of attractor flies out there which includes ALL beadheads and we will be doing and reporting on an experiment within a week on this.

This weekend should be the prime time for the emergence of the of the damselfly. I've included two photos: one of the nymph snd one of the beautiful adult fly. It's the nymph which is of interest to us because it emerges onto the shore or protruding rocks to hatch. It's a fairly swift swimmer and a small, lightly dress WB in brown will do the trick. I once saw a brown beach itself chasing these nymphs.

The Millers is still fishing well and trout are still being caught. Early morning and evenings are best with the Bridge Street Pool producing well. Also producing is the big pool at the end of the road beyond Pete & Henry's in South Royalston.

The EB is prime right now but people have been asking me about the flow since the gauge went down. I have a formula to predict what the flow is up by the gorge when the gauge reading is not to be believed because of impoundment releases.

1. Go to the EB gauge site and in the upper right hand corner click "United States".
2. Choose Massachusetts from the list of states
3. Go to the map of Massachusetts and click the WB and record the flow rate
4. Go to the MB (right next to the WB) and record that flow rate
5. add the two together and you will have a very good picture of the flow upstream on the EB plus/minus 10%

NOW,WHAT OTHER FLY FISHING SITE WILL GIVE YOU THAT KIND OF INFO = NONE!!!

Charlie Shadan reports that the Squannacook and the Nissitissit rivers are low but very fishable in the early a.m. and in the evenings. (the same as it was 40 years ago!!) Some rain will fix things nicely.

I'll be on the Swift this weekend. I would guess that some trout were thrown in and now the PIPE section will be crowded again. I will miss the solitude!!

Ken

My Third Favorite Pool On The Millers - Bridge Street And Beyond

"Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after."
~ Henry David Thoreau

I had to laugh a month or so ago new someone wrote a primer on this river without knowing anything about this river short of the Millers River Guide that I sent him. Even then the info was sparse, next to nothing. If he fished it it was a brief scanning of the river and any intelligence wasn't gained from the "Guide". If he actually fished the Millers he would of mentioned the great Pool and Runs that are making this river worthwhile. Bridge Street is one of them.

I ALWAYS take new comers to the Bridge Street Pool. It's below the C&R sections which will turn many off but for no reason. This Pool has it all. My second largest brown (browns are not stocked here) was caught here. It is the BEST place on this river to really learn to fly fish. Imagine a large pool with big riffles at the head, slowing down to some depth and the a large deep pool at the end. It is perfect for textbook fly instruction.! This Pool has equaled any of the upstream C&R sections when it comes to the trout to the net.

And then there is the river below. We have 5 miles of NOBODY fishing but there are fish there. Contact me if you want to go exploring. There are trout there and smallies that will top two pounds easily. Let me know if you want to find them.

Now a word From Charlie Shaden From The Evening Sun Fly Shop:

We are still a few weeks away from our onset of the Hendrickson hatch on the Squannaccook. When it does happen it can be a very rewarding time to be on the river.In the afternoon around 12:30 - 1:30pm is when the first appearance takes place and in the evening their emergence is usually around 1hr. before dark.The Quill Gordan will be the first mayfly to show itself within the next 2 weeks. We need several warm days to begin the parade of mayflies.
Regards,
Charlie Shadan
Charlie is right on with this. I can remember an early afternoon just above the Arch Bridge in West Townsend (when it had water before the dam broke in the mid 70's) when the river exploded with hendricksons and the dry fly fishing was something that left a young flyfisher dreaming of hendricksons. Still dreaming about them!!! Hint - work Townsend Harbor in the afternoon/evening in May!!

Ok, 6 inches of snow AND 30 degrees for a high. After 70 degrees on 4/1 it is a bummer. Don't worry. Things will get better quickly. I remember a TU camping weekend at the EB of the Westfield on the 3rd weekend of May, 2002. A beautiful Friday night to be awoken by 3 inches of wet snow. It got better. Our streams have fish, insects will be hatching and we will MISS that gigantic trout that will fill our dreams through the next winter!

Ken

Up And Down The Swift River

"Flyfishing does have its social aspects - on some of our crowded trout streams it can get too social - but esentially 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

It was freezing on Friday morning with a days long northwest wind that was trying to create wind knots which are the sole creation of some bad casting. Few were at the PIPE parking lot which is a good thing because it meant that the bait boys would not be there and maybe a bad thing because the hatchery truck hadn't come down the chimney with gifts. Anyway, I started at the run above the gauge (I always tell you where I fish as usual) and ended at the Tree Pool.

I fished that run above the gauge hard and took two smallish bows - nothing like the bigger fish that I saw nymphing a week before. The rig was partridge and orange on top with a swift serendipity below. Each fly took a fish.

I made my way down to the wider section below with the good riffle at it's head (I need a name for this great spot. Any suggestions?) and took the most gorgeous rainbow I ever caught on this river. 16 inches and slim with a dark red stripe, green above and below with an almost yellow (brown trout like) under belly. He (always a "He") took the soft hackle and fought like hell. It ended up making my day and certainly wasn't just dumped into the river!

I could see nothing in the water from the Pipe to the Tree which may be way I saw no trout taken.

Sunday morning and it's time to explore. 10:00 am finds me in Bondsville below the lower dam (Yes, I tell you every time) ready to go. It's freezing again!!

First observation: There's nobody there not even a bait slinger. Second observation: There's next to no litter (bait containers, coffee cups). Conclusion: This place hasn't been stocked. Third observation/feeling: THIS IS GREAT! If I can catch trout here then maybe the are holdovers which would feel so much more rewarding than fishing over a pod of truck trout.

The first 15 minutes were a blank so now I know it's not been stocked. As I swung the flymph (still have them on the brain) towards the tail of the pool I get the TUG. A few minutes later a 14 inch brown came to the net. It was the color that caught me. Dark brown on top with sides that looked like butter that was in the saute pan a bit too long. Freshly stocked?? I don't think so.

More casts as I work downstream. It's after 10am on this first day of Spring but my guides are still icing up in this semi shaded area. Another cast into a calm area across the stream results in a second hit. A 12 inch brown that had been to the same makeup artist as the first came to the net.

What's the story here? Simple, there are holdovers in this river everywhere. They're not ganged up to be exploited but are spread around and you have to find them. Is the lower Swift brown trout land?? Go see for yourself? They will make your day.

I've gotten a lot of emails over the years thanking me for giving locations where I and my clients have done well on the rivers that we fish. I've never named an unstocked stream and never will BUT I will name spots on public water because it's YOUR water. I still fish a few hundred times a year and unless I find myself at the Y Pool (a good spot) or the PIPE we are usually alone. There are those who have read and commented and asked all kinds of questions on this blog about the spots that I fished AND then got mad that I named the spot again AFTER they fished it!!! (yes, it's true) The great rivers of the East, the Catskill Rivers and even our Farmington, have reams of published memories where pool are named. This adds to the legacy of flyfishing. I guess some people don't like that!!

Happy First Day Of Spring!!!

Ken

New Fly Shop And Another Swift Outing

His name is Mike Didonna and he is the proprietor of the DEERFIELD FLY SHOP, a brand new "essential" location for those you ply the long rod in Central and Western Massachusetts. Ok, we all like to talk about shopping local but we end up going on line to get stuff or traveling many miles to get what we need and some advice as to what the local rivers are doing lately. That now has changed. The Deefield Fly Shop is well stocked and is no more than a double haul from the Swift, the Deerfield and Westfield River systems. What we need is in this well stocked shop and the advice is first hand and only hours old. Everything is here and more is coming including, from what I here, Tenkara rods and equipment. Western/Central Massachusetts has been in a vacuum as far a having a retail location, a "hub", for fly fishers. Now we have one and we should support it.

As some may be aware, I don't give recommendations often and don't festoon my blog with manufacturers hit buttons. I want to know the guy like Charlie at Evening Sun or Gerry in N.H. Add Mike to the list.

The GRAND OPENING is Saturday, March 7th and there will be tiers and talkers and bug experts all day. Check out his site at: deerfieldflyshop.com. The store address is 8A Elm Street, South Deerfield, MA 01373 and the phone is 413-397-3665.

The Swift - Friend Brad and I worked our way through the snow today to the Pipe. Almost two hours and almost froze our toes. Caught nothing and saw nothing but had fun anyway working my fiberglass rhythm while Brad christened a new Tenkara rod. I needed a break from the vise anyway.

Ken

The Millers On Memorial Day Weekend

The gauge in S. Royalston read 400 cfs at 10 pm Friday night and 400 again at 4:30 Saturday morning. The cloudbursts that hit my neck of the woods overnight spared the Millers Watershed and although a I would have liked hitting the lower river THAT flow was still too high.

Off to The Bears Den!

We had "brown trout skies" (overcast) when I met Brad at Pete and Henry's at 7am and then drove down the short road along the river to our destination - the stretch upstream from the trestle which includes that big beautiful pool and the riffles above. That's where I took "the brown". If any brown could be considered a "native" it would be this fish. First, it was almost black instead of brown, a sign of spending considerable time in the Millers. Second, ALL fins were intact especially the pectorals that were as large as oars. Third, it was about 16 inches which is the largest brown that I've caught in this section that fits the above description. That's important because I've caught more 4 to 8 inch browns in this section than anywhere else on this river. The DFW doesn't stock 4 inch browns in the Millers. This is an area that holds native browns!!

We spent 3 hours working that part of the river and did OK with the chunky hatchery browns (no rainbows). Then I took Brad to the Bears Den epicenter - Rezendes. We took a short upstream hike to the riffles below the trestle, found a somewhat safe section to cross the river and then fished downstream through that beautiful piece of water until we were across from Paul's house. The place is full of browns and not a rainbow to be found.

One note about crossing that section of river. At 400 cfs it is an adventure and I will recommend it only for those with a wading staff sturdy legs. I was at my limit in a few places.

Now let's stop here and let me ask the question - where was everyone?? This is Memorial Day weekend and all day long we saw only 3 people in the water and one going in as we were leaving after 7 hours. It was almost as empty as it was 20 years ago. Yes, the flow was a bit high but still wadable and it is loaded with browns.

As I write the flow is still at 400 but it will come down. You have no excuses!!

Ken

September Browns On The EB, The Swift And The Millers Stocking

Mid September and fly fishing has been good, mostly.

The browns on the EB survived the Summer and have been rising at dusk for me. Sunset is around 6:50 now and these fish didn't start to dance until about 6:30. I took two at the Bliss Pool this week between 6:30 and 7:00pm. Two browns came to the net on size 14 olive comparaduns which seemed to match the large mayfly (maybe a cream cahill)that was hatching. One brown went 18 inches, a very good fish and the other was about 14 inches. I live 15 minutes from this gem of a river so I can time these evening trips pretty well. I was there for only an hour. It was worth it.

The Swift has been producing as usual despite the flow changes. Just adjust your tactics. One fly fishing site said the dry fly fishing on the Swift was off. Think again!! Low flows bring the bows up and it's been like that all Summer.

The Millers - This is my 30th season on this river and it has been sub normal. Normal means rising browns when flows are good and the flows have been ok through July and August but things are, to me, different and the reports that I've received back that up. If you have been doing well then that's very good for you but for me it hasn't been that good. An "off" year?? Maybe but why? Things seem the same as they have been but the action just really isn't there.

Maybe the Fall bow stocking will wake the browns up. We have another month or so to find out.

Let me know how your're doing on the Millers. Maybe it's just my luck or.....

Footnote (9/23)- Heard that the Millers will get stocked with Browns this Friday.

Ken

The EB - A Second Chance

I was tired of the crowds. After a few weekends with the alarm sounding at 4:00am and making it down to the Swift at 5:00am only to be the third angler at the Y Pool and then sharing the joint with six others by 9:00am and God knows how many others by 10:00am I was due for a break. And the Pipe wasn't going to do it after being third on the water at 5:30 am last weekend. I like some solitude and I had to find it.

The EB had treated me will through May into late June but then the storms hit and the flows rose way beyond comfortable fishing as they did on the Millers. Then came the heat wave. That's why I was on the Swift for so long. But the flows came down and it was time to try the EB and to see if the trout had survived the crushing heat wave of the last three weeks.

I gave the East Branch a shot last Thursday evening with a friend of mine. The easy dry fly fishing of late June was replaced with a river with low flows and no surface action. Just before my friend broke his fly rod I saw a good healthy rise. I worked that stretch but to no avail. My friend was through for the night so we headed to the Brewmasters Tavern in Williamsburg. The special was prime rib for $14.95 all you can eat.

The next two days had me thinking of that one rising trout. This river has a reputation of being dead in mid Summer with the exception of 2009. Was this going to be another average Summer? I had to find out.

Sunday morning,(7am)under overcast skies,(perfect) had me on Slate Rock Pool, a very reliable spot. I rose nothing which was scary because this run always produces. But at the head of the run I saw a trout rise. I made the casts but came up empty but at least I knew that one trout was there.

Then there was the Bliss Pool. A half a dozen casts with a #14 hairwing Adams landed a very healthy 14 inch brown. Two more browns came to the net. All were healthy, fighting trout that quickly swam away when released. One brown was a bit over 16 inches. I nicked a rainbow that decided to get into the game and made a zillion casts over another rainbow that did a yo-yo act whenever he saw my fly. Very frustrating!!

At 10 am the sun began to strip the fog away and the trout began it hide. I felt that if I wanted to fish subsurface I would have continued to fish and be successful but I'm a dry fly guy if I can get away with it. Anyway, I got what I wanted: rising browns and fishing solitude.

I'll be back at the EB!!!

Ken

Summer - The Half Way Point

It's been a horrible July! From July 1st until the 27th we have been blasted by high heat and humidity. The heavy rains of June (appox. 10 inches over average for Massachusetts) kept the rivers from getting too low BUT the temperature kept the trout from wanting to feed except during the dark hours. Even visiting my favorite summer haunts like the Millers and the EB during the evening seemed too much like a chore with temperatures still in the 80's. That's why I spent so much time on the Swift from 5:30am on some days and until dark on others. The water temperature ranged from 54 to 62 degrees each day during the hot spell, very easy conditions for those trout.

Now things have changed. As I write this on Wednesday evening the temperature is 73 degrees and will drop to the mid 50's by morning. Tomorrow the temperature may hit 80 and that's it. We've lost close to 35 minutes of sunshine since the first day of summer (June 21) and the loss will average close to two minutes a day going forward. Although we will still have a heat wave or two historically the hottest time of the year left us last week.

What does this mean? First, the rivers have a good flow of water going forward into August. The hottest days are behind us AND the days are shorter which means that the evening rise will be sooner. I've had wonderful evenings on the Millers in August with the sun setting sooner and the evenings being cooler.

We have months of comfortable fishing weather ahead of us here in central Massachusetts. Make the best of it.

Ken

It's Hot!!!!! A Three River Update

Well, first we go from a flood condition to a heat wave all within one week. If there is anything good about all of this for the central New England fly fisher it is that the rivers are still fairly high and the watersheds are saturated. The trout(browns) will find the cool spots and survive this heat. They did in 2010, the worst summer ever.

There's a new feature on some of the flow sites and that is a temperature gauge. The Swift site has one and so has the site for South Royalston (bears den). Don't freak out when you check the bears den site. That's what the temperature has ALWAYS been on this river during the height of summer. As I said, the trout survive.

The Swift got stocked at the PIPE section last Wednesday. Actually, it got stocked just above the "intake" house (see photo) and a hundred or so trout are still sitting there smacking wb's, leeches and other things that in a week they will have nothing to do with. They did hit my sulphur dry before I left.

I would like to see the hatchery folks drive up to the gauge and stock there but they never seem to even when requested. It will take some time but those new fish will begin to move around and provide some real sport.

The EB is down to 230 cfs as I write but I'll leave it to the swimmers this weekend and hit it next week during the evening. The Millers is heading downward! It's at 670 cfs as I write and should hit 500 (where it hasn't been in a month)by Monday. It's fishable now but your best best is very early morning and at dusk.

Ken

Millers Update

The Millers is ready to fish. Water levels are great, the days have been perfect and the browns were scheduled to hit the Bears Den this week with the lower C&R getting its share next week. As you know by now I'm no fan of rainbows in the Millers and although I support the brown stocking I would rather like the browns to be stocked along with the bows throughout the stocking season instead of the "all at once" scenario.

Better then that, I'd like to see browns stocked ALL OVER THE RIVER, like other rivers, instead of just in the C&R sections. We know the old story about how browns, because they survive so well in the Millers, will accumulate toxins. Therefore they must be stocked in the C&R sections. WHY NOT MAKE BROWNS A CATCH AND RELEASE SPECIES and stock them everywhere on the Millers? One excuse I heard against this is that people will not know the difference between a brown and a bow (yes, I've heard that).

The Millers is a brown trout river, period! The VAST majority of it's anglers are flyfishers, period! Our anglers survey two seasons ago proved that. The browns draw the flyfishers, period, but miles of river have very few browns. The DFW should stock what we want, period!!!!

Have fun this week!

Ken

The Millers - Finally!!!!

It was fun to finally throw something much larger than something in the size 20 range. The Swift served me well over the winter BUT it was time to cast something "normal" like a 5wt and a fly with some heft to it. The Millers has been dropping and on Sunday morning made it's way into the 500 cfs range. Good enough!!

This trip was more of a scouting expedition. I hit four sections on the lower river and managed four of the 'bows that the DFW gives us. The fishing pressure was light with Wendell Depot having about four other anglers. The trout that I caught seemed to be holed up in certain areas. You would fish a section hard and get nothing, move 15 feet and then start getting hits. that's early season fishing on this river!!

Tomorrow is May 1st. By mid May the browns will go in and the real fishing will start. The 'bows will keep you happy until then.

Ken

From SPRING to WINTER - 2 Hours On The Swift

Ok, it's 53 degrees at 3pm on Monday so I'm off to the Swift for a couple of hours. I get there at 4:30 and the car thermometer reads 45 degrees. When I leave it's 41 degrees with a full blown gale ripping across the water. My goal was to put in time at the Y Pool with the feeling that I might be able to squeeze into a spot. The last two anglers were leaving as I got there so the place was all mine.

It's been a while since I've had a forward cast fly back at me. That was courtesy of the wind that was whipping off the Quabbin. I fished for 45 minutes, caught one bow and froze to death!!! What happened to Spring??

A little Millers news - The River Rat Canoe Race, an event that floods the Millers for three days, is scheduled for Saturday, April 13th. Forget fishing that river on that weekend. Stocking usually starts after that "event". If one can't wait then test the river on Friday the 12th. That's because water is held back at Birch Hill (a bad thing!)in the days before the race with Friday flows being very low. You may have a chance at some holdovers.

Ken

Some Soft Hackles To Kill The Time

What's going on? A week ago we had only remnants of snow piles to deal with. Then a new storm comes through and dumps six inches on us with a cold blast that had preserved that snow. In the meantime we tie flies and I have soft hackles on the brain. Here are a few: A brown soft hackle is what I call it and it's a good early season soft hackle especially when Hendericksons start moving around. The color of this fly is perfect for that insect.

Hook - size 12 standard wet or dry hook
Body - brown floss(hard to find)or brown ultra fine dubbing.
Rib - copper or gold wire
Hackle - natural turkey flat tips. Place a SMALL bunch on top of the hook, points extending beyond the eye about 3/4 of the hook Shank. Secure to the hook and fold and tie back towards the tail. Trim butt ends and dub in a thorax if you want.

I included a photo of a worked over turkey flat.

The next is a generic Sulphur/Cahiill/any light color soft hackle.

Hook - size 12/14 standard wet or dry hook
Body - yellow floss
Hackle - light brown hen hackle (thorax is optional.

So, that's what I've been doing this week. Word has it that the Swift was stocked last week. I'll try it late tomorrow afternoon if it's not snowing!!!!!

Ken

Sunday At Charlie's And Another Fly

Ok, next Sunday, March 3rd 2013, I'll be giving a presentation on the Millers, Swift and if time allows the Westfield River at Charlies Evening Sun Fly Shop. The show starts at 11:30 and will run to about 1 pm or so. It's always a good time so get there early for a good seat!! Questions and Answers are part of the show and are always welcome!!

The Grouse and Flash - don't leave home without some!!! This is a very good soft hackle fly that was highlighted in Tom Ames book "Hatch Guide For New England Streams". Ames says that it represents a caddis or two but it seems to work just as well when the Mayflies are hatching. In fact, it works well when nothing is hatching. It's a "go to" fly for the EB and works well on the Swift in smaller sizes.

Hook - standard dry or wet fly hook sizes 10 through 16. (tied some on scud hooks a year ago - don't bother!)

Body - thin strip of mylar wrapped through thorax area.

Thorax - something olive and very buggy. Olive Australian possum works well.

Hackle - dark grouse

There it is. Easy to tie and very effective.

Ken

Dreaming Of The EB

It's freezing outside, pure and simple. The wind is gusting to 50 mph here in western Ma and eastern Ma is getting hit by another coastal storm. I never even considered hitting the Swift today. Actually my thoughts were about the East Branch of the Westfield and in particular the EB on a June evening!!

If I had one place to fish on a June evening the EB would work for me. First, it's the solitude and this is strange because catch & release areas get crowded quickly. But the EB has miles of water to absorb the fishing pressure if there was any real pressure. The only time I ever saw crowds on the EB was when TU would hold it's annual shindig in May. I believe that event has ended. I have a handful on "secret" stretches that work very well for me and I am usually always alone.

Second, It's the fish!!! Primarily a rainbow river the EB got a good dose of browns last year and they made it through the Summer.
The rainbows will too if we would have a fairly wet Summer like 2008 and 2009. 2009 was the best year that I've had on the EB. It may have been the best year on any river that I've fished!!

So, back to tying some flies and thinking of Spring. Believe it or not - the days are getting longer!!!

Ken

This January And The Grouse And Orange

What a difference a year makes. Last January we had days in the 60's. This January we are in a deep freeze. My January started off with The flu that lingered for a week and a half. I did get to spend a week in Florida with it's 80 degree days which were perfect. And now back to the arctic where I've been hunkered down restocking my fly inventory. Today, the 27th, was my first fishing trip of 2013. It was 2 degrees at 7am and not much more at 10am when I quit. Two small 'bows were all that I got from the Swift. February will be better.

The Grouse and Orange - An ancient soft hackle fly that gets a modern makeover. Ditch the silk or floss for the body and go with orange kevlar. This glass thread gives a waxy shin to the body that the traditional materials don't.

Size 10 to 14 hooks (you can go smaller if you like)
Kevlar body
rusty brown natural dubbing for the thorax
Grouse, chicken hen or any soft material for the hackle

Many times we have a grouse cape that has been picked clean of the popular size hackles and all we have left is an abundance of hackles that are to large to wind on the fly. Here's how to use these feathers.

Pluck a large feather from the cape. Strip of the fibers from one side of the feather and position them on top of the hook, concave side on top, and enough fibers extending in front of the hook eye to equal about 1/3 of the hook shank. Do this before you wrap the body. (don't use too many fibers, keep it sparse) Then wrap your thread loosely around the hook and fibers allowing the fibers to encircle the hook. Now wrap the body and thorax (covering the butt ends of the fibers)and tie back the hackle fibers.

With practice your flies will all have that "wrapped hackle" look and you will be using all those feathers.

Ken

Time To Tie Flies (And Fish The Swift) The Swift Serendipity

This is the time of year when we tie flies, mountains of flies!!! For those of us that live within two hours of the Swift we can tie those flies and not have to wait until April to get them wet. I finished 2012 working a Swift Serendipity below the Pipe. It works anywhere that you have riffles or choppy water.

Here's the recipe:

scud hook - size 14 through 20
Body - red kevlar for the body. I like the waxy shine of kevlar. Keep it slim.
Wing - a tag of white turkey flat
head - dark red or reddish brown dubbing.

That's it!! A very simple fly that loves fast water

Ken