River Update And A One In A Million Chance

"Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery elements are made for the wise men to contemplate and for fools to pass by without consideration".  Isaac Walton

Ok, here are the numbers:

Swift - 530

Millers - 2060

Ware - 635
\
EB - 902

WB - 332

No, that's not the number of fish I've caught this year but the cfs for these streams. Yes, there's high water out there but the margins can be fished slow and deep. Think sinking tips or better yet, full sinking lines with 5 feet of leader ending in 3x or 4x and a weighted fly. Offended by the above rig?? Then go fish the smaller streams that are in fairly good shape (you always said that you wanted to now here's your chance). I'll be on the Mill River, a neat little freestone that runs behind my house that I try to visit at least once a year.and at 162 cfs it should be in shape for a while.

A Million To One Chance

I've been fishing the Swift for over 30 years and this was the first time this has happened: It's 9 am and I'm at the Y Pool with two clients and NOBODY else when a stocking truck pulls up and starts, well, stocking!! We fished for another hour before we saw our first flyfisher. It took a while for the trout to settle down but then the hits started. My clients didn't leave and ended up having a banner day!!!


Millers Stocking

Yes, the Millers was stocked yesterday and the trout and the anglers will have to put up with a flow of over 2000 CFS.  My advice is don't wade but look for spots on the shoe where you can roll cast from. Safe wading on that river starts at 600 cfs.

Nobody Asked But....

Will the camera carrying fly fishing community please stop with the "head shots" of trout and photos of your trout lying in a net that's on the ground.  By head shots I mean photos that just show the mouth to the gills.  They remind me of mug shots!!! Take your photo just before you land the fish, like the photo on the left, or while in the net  gently cradle the trout with wet hands for a quick release.


Leave the "famous" places alone this week and fish the thin blue lines!!!

Ken

Wet Flies And Spring So Far

"There Is No Greater Fan Of Fly Fishing Than The Worm" - Patrick McManus

No fly has been exalted and then vilified as much as the poor wet fly. The reason is simple: we like to dress flies that at least make an attempt at imitating the natural insect and not a cartoonish caricature of one. That's why your basic soft hackle is now held in high esteem and your Royal Coachman or Parmanchene Belle is considered to be skill test (quill slips are a bitch) of tying at best and a pointless exercise at worst, the final product best suited for the fly wallet as opposed to the end of a tippet.

Wet flies DO imitate natural insects if the right materials are used - soft, flowing NATURAL material and not the artificial day
glo chintz used in many modern attractor flies. Feathers like partridge, hen, starling and furs like rabbit, mink, possum, beaver
and simple colored thread make up my sample of wet fly material.

The above fly is a rather "busy" soft hackle and it works well over riffles during caddis time.

Hook - standard wet or dry sizes 12 through 16

Body - peacock, two strands

Rear Hackle - very soft hen hackle from the bend to the thorax of the fly

Front Hackle - Olive colored hen hackle (or any thing you want but make sure that it's darker than the rear hackle)

Yes, it can look like a mess but when it's wet and "swimming" in the current it is, as the old English writers would say, a "killing fly!!!

The State Of The Season

The first decade of fly fishing for me involved enduring the ritual of "Opening Day", a miserable time of high, cold water, rain, snow, icy guides and unbelievable crowds. I now have to remind myself that times are better now and that the old opening day was always on the third Saturday in April and we are not even there yet and we are catching some fish.

It has been a cold April so far and that has set things back a bit.  I can remember Quill Gordons popping up on this date in the past. Not this year!!!  It will be anyone's guess as to when the Swift will drop to its historical flow.  My guess?? Late May!!!

The Millers will be full of racing canoes this weekend so stay clear of it.

The Ware River is rounding back into shape as the cfs has dropped below 300!!!

Better yet, fish a smaller stream that doesn't get much attention such as the Mill River in Williamsburg and Haydenville. The River Rd. section always produces!!


Book A Trip
The strangest thing is happening. Mid week trips have always booked slower than Friday trips. Not this year!! Tuesday and Wednesdays have been flying off the self but I have Friday openings.  Contact me to grab one!!!

Ken

The Peacock And Black And My Possum Caddis Nymph

"We are so tied down to the pursuit of the essential dollar that we lose the best and most innocent pleasures that this old earth affords. Time flies so fast after youth is past that we cannot accomplish one-half the many things we have in mind, or indeed one-half our duties. The only safe and sensible plan is to make the other things give way to the essentials and the first of these is fly fishing" - John McDonald, The Complete Fly Fisherman: The Notes and Letters of Theodore Gordon

Simplicity is King especially in fly fishing and fly tying and the Peacock and Black is an example of this.  Friend and reader Gary Cranson, the Wizard of the Westfield, pointed this out last Spring and I became a quick convert to the "black Fly".  While going through book collect in search old old soft hackles patterns I found the Peacock and Black.  This fly works:

Hook - 14 to 18

Body - black thread from the bend of the hook forward.

Thorax - a half dozen turns of peacock herl lashed down with the black thread

Hackle - Starling

Fish this fly upstream and across the current on the dead drift.

The Possum Caddis Nymph

This fly has been with me for over 30 years and is a top producer on the Millers River which is a great caddis river.  I've been tying this with hackles as of late and fishing it as I would a soft hackle fly. The key to its success is that wonderful buggy possum fur.

Hook - size 12 to 16 wet fly hook

Body - loosely dubbed possum fur lashed down with fine copper wire

Hackle - Partridge of course.

One can weigh this fly with a bead although I've been very successful with simple split shot.

This fly works best when its gone through hell and becomes VERY buggy.

This Winter Season

It is pretty safe to say that I'm in my waders 5 days a week from early April through early December.  From December through March it's down to once a week and the rest of this "fishing time" is devoted to fly tying which is an activity that I would continue to pursue even if I could no longer fly fish.  It's safe to say that fly tying is an art form that has a couple of centuries under its belt and to understand and maybe even master the old techniques gives one a sense of accomplishment.  I can't extend that feeling to the current world of Junk Flies!!!!!

Watch The Clock

We have been gaining precious minutes of daylight every day this month. By the 31st we will have gained 48 minutes!!!!!!

Ken

Rating The Rivers 2018, Snow And Salmon

LL Salmon On An Egg

What a screwy year.  Two years of summer drought followed by one of the wettest summers on record. It didn't stop me and others from getting our waders wet and doing what we like to do.  I was able to guide and fish most of my favorite rivers until late September when the constant rain blew out the freestones and left us with the Swift. (not a bad option!!!)

Which brings up a point.  This blog reports on approximately 5 river systems and their conditions and recent fishing success.  I know whats happening because I was there. I've also been the recipient of some great fishing reports by readers. They are not afraid to share reports on rivers AND of locations on rivers.  This is something that you don't find much in the land of flyfishing blogs which may list many rivers but never report on them. In fact, this blog may be the only constant river report in Massachusetts. I know that it gets more page views by far than any other owner operated fly fishing blog in New England.

Now For The Rivers

5.  The West and Middle branches of the Westfield River (22 trips, guiding and solo)

I'm lumping these two beautiful rivers together because they are close enough that a six hour trip will give you plenty of time to fish both.  The topography of West Branch (WB) reminds me of a miniature
Deerfield without the float tube theme park scene.  The Middle Branch is a tenkara playground and where it flows into Littleville Reservoir you may run into great dry fly fishing.  Rainbows love the place.

4. The Ware River (26 trips, guiding and solo)

A very good Spring considering the ice jams of last January and what it did to the river.  It's still my top spot to be in May for Quill Gordons and Hendricksons and it held up right through June.  I was hoping for a banner Autumn but the flows killed that.  BTW, the Ware river has a high percentage of dry fly caught trout in my experience.  It's a dry fly river!

3. THE EB (East Branch of the Westfield river) 28 trips, guiding and solo)

The EB had a good Spring and a steady Summer and I was praying for enough rain to insure a Fall stocking.  I prayed too hard but we still caught trout in heavy flows.  Because of the conditions we had to WORK for our fish which is always more satisfying than catching 50 stockers in two hours. BTW, I've always seen big stoneflies in this river but not like this past August and September.


2. The Millers River  (54 trips, guiding and solo)

Last years top river looked like it was going for a repeat and then Mother Nature destroyed it. The Millers hasn't been at 400 cfs since early September and has been over 3000 twice. Last years Autumn dry fly action was unbelievable. This year = Nothing. It would have been #1 but.......

1. The Swift -  (62 trips and counting)

Ok, it's a tailwater and probably a bit unfair but what river offers trout habitat all summer every year? What river has a population of MONSTER BROWNS that are probably stream born and not swimming along with eye tags? What river has a stream born population of brook trout in outrageous numbers (this years numbers appear to be down but they are still higher than any stream in Southern New England. I've seen hundreds of brook trout in the past two weeks) and let's not forget our extra bonus of LL SALMON this Autumn.  That's why this river has been written up in national fly fishing magazines and has become a destination for fly fishers from all over the country.  That's why it's NUMBER 1!!!!

I wouldn't mind seeing a Trout Stamp purchased to fish this river and with the proceeds going into protecting this resource!

We got about 10 inches of wet snow last night.  That will not stop us.

I found this trash up at the Y Pool Tuesday morning. The dope was dumb enough to have dropped it on the shore and now we are on to him.  Keep an eye out for this bullshit especially with the brookies, salmon and browns in the middle of spawning.
Put the Environmental Police number in your phone.  (it's on the front page of this blog).


Ken

Big Brookies

Hi Ken - 

Was out on the swift for a bit Monday and had some luck with your partridge and orange size 16. There were 4 cars where we usually meet so I tried up at the Y pool and got one bow at the log just before the pool and then another in the pool. Never would have had the knowledge or the confidence to do this without your helpful teaching - much appreciated and many thanks !  - Client Comment

The Swift brookies seem larger this year with two in the 12 inch plus range plus other large brookies being spotted. The run hasn't reached Rt 9 yet (I have spies there) but it will. Remember, STAY OFF THE GRAVEL!!!!!!!

The brookie in the net was taken with a size 26 BWO snowshoe emerger. There has been a large steady hatch of this insect over the last few weeks with duns running down to size 30 (they say). I think that they are larger than that and I've been using 26 and 28 size flies and catching fish. Size 24 in that pattern took an 18 inch brown and hooked a larger one that threw the hook for my client. Dry fly fishing in October??  Don't miss it.

Some don't like fishing over these tiny flies but it is really a blast and a challenge. You should try it!!!

The "Other" Rivers



Just as soon as things were getting good the rains will come again. The EB is at 399 as of 7am 11/1 and will go up by tomorrow evening and then rise some more on Saturday. The Ware is at 288 and that will increase. The Millers? Forgetaboutit!!! The EB and Ware should be fishable by next Tuesday!  The Swift, as usual, knows how to behave with a nice skinny flow of 50 cfs.

The BWO Emerger

The magic is in the wing material because it will float the front of the fly while the back end sinks. I will use snowshoe hair OR very fine wing post material.  Olive thread and light olive dubbing for the thorax right down to size 28 and then no thorax on smaller sizes.  They are easy to tie but a bitch to tie to the leader in low light!


Happy November

Ken

The Rivers, Swift River Brookies And Book Me!

"Fishing in a place is a meditation on the rhythm of a tide, a season, the arc of a year, and the seasons of life" - Carl Safina

FINALLY, it appears that the rain has stopped and the rivers are coming down. As I write this morning the numbers are in: The Ware = 230 cfs, the EB = 407 cfs, The Millers = 982 cfs! All of these numbers are trending DOWN with the only real high water being the Millers. The Ware and the EB are fine AND there is NO RAIN IN SIGHT until a week from Saturday.

That means we will be on the Ware, EB and Millers this weekend for sure.

BOOK ME - There's been a lot of pent up demand to hit the other rivers and I think that I'm going to get some guiding requests for the next two weeks. If you want a day or a half day on the river EMAIL ME with a few dates that will work for you. This weather has been great with temperatures reaching the high 40's and low 50's just like in April!!

Swift River Brookies
I saw my first surge of brook trout rounding the bend down in Cady Lane this week. There were more of them on Tuesday then I've seen in months with a story of one of 14 inches being caught "above the Pipe". This is what we've been waiting for!!!  Keep them coming!!!

The Y Pool continues to produce in the strangest ways. One fellow lands a trout on a size 24 and another on a size 8 stripped through the water like a demon. My merganser fly and even the lowly wooley bugger got into the act. Also, check any rainbows in the Swift for clipped fins and mark the location. They want to know where these guys disappear too.

Note - All of the photos of trout caught on this post were taken by clients just this week. Get in on the action and book me!!!