4th Of July - The Good And The Bad

Early last week I had plans for a July 4th weekend hat trick: The Millers, the Swift and the Westfield. If you remember I made a prediction that the Millers would kiss the 500cfs level by 7/1. Fat chance!! It blew out that Wednesday and came close to 2000cfs by the 3rd. I fished the Swift very early Friday morning. Fished it hard but had only one brown taken by the gauge on a sulphur to show for my efforts. That leaves the East Branch of the Westfield. I hit that in the early evening of the 2nd. The water was high but not unfishable. Two good rainbows came to the net thanks to a #10 soft hackle with one more breaking me off. I was there for two hours.

Now, while I was at the Swift I ran into a friend who has been getting the rainbows and browns of the Swift to chase his streamers!! When I got home I tied up a few small marabou streamers to hit the East Branch with the next morning. Sunday morning found me on the Westfield swinging streamers through the currents and landing rainbows. The rainbow in the picture was my second that morning. All told, four bent the bamboo and one threw the hook after a brief aeriel display.

I don't know when the Millers will be back to normal, whatever that is. It has been very high (+500cfs) since 6/11. Say a pray!! I'll be back at the Westfield this week.

Ken

The Swift -June 27

I got down to the "Pipe" section and made my first cast at 6:30am. The size 18 scud did the trick as two browns and two rainbows came to the net within the first half hour. Finally I had some company so I moved to the slow water downstream hoping for some rising fish. I saw one working the surface but it wouldn't take the tiny bwo that I offered. I then worked that wonderful stretch by the gauge and took a rainbow and missed another. All casts were with that tiny dry, working all likely spots. By 8:30 I was out of the water and the parking areas were filling up. It pays to live close to the Swift!!

The Lower Millers has dropped into the 700cfs range. Without heavy rain it should drop into the 500's by 7/2. That will make it THREE WEEKS since the downpour of the evening of 6/11 sent the river into flood stage!! 2008 was crazy with high water events and 2009 is right behind it. Hopefully this will be a great LONG weekend on the Millers. Remember, it's an evening stream right now with early mornings a good bet too.

Good Luck!!

Ken

Millers River Browns - Before And After

I was wading through my photo collection while waiting for the Millers to become wadable and ran into these two photos of browns from the Millers. The photo on the left is of a brown taken about two years ago in late May. It was stocked about three weeks before. Notice the light color of that fish. Now check out the other photo. This brown was taken in late May of this year and is surely a holdover fish. All of the browns stocked in the Millers will darken up as the summer rolls on and if luck is with them they will survive the winter and will have that dark golden hue the next season. The neat thing is that I'm seeing more of the darker browns as the seasons roll by.

The Millers is at the 1000cfs level as I write. Still too high for the kind of fishing that I like. I'm thinking that the 500 level will be reached by July 1st. Until then it's the Swift River.

Ken

Finally - The Swift Low and at 55

The drop on the online flow gauge Friday was a dead giveaway. 140 cfs to 20cfs meant only on thing (hopefully). The "bubbler" was back in operation. I didn't take the walk to the "Y" pool to confirm it with a visual sighting. All I needed was to check the temp at the "pipe" this morning and it read 55 degrees!!! The above left photo is what it looked like two hours ago. Look familar?? I hadn't planned to fish but I was there with an hour to kill so in I went. The chill from the bottom release felt great. The water was actually a bit too low and it took a while to adjust to it. After a few casts at the pipe I went upstream to the gauge section and cast a size 18 BWO dry to a rising fish. He took, bent the bamboo, then came to the net. He was the first of two browns from that skinny water. I have to admit that I have dry flies on the brain and I don't think there's a cure. With the Millers blown out for the next two weeks the Swift has come back to form in the nick of time.

Finally!!

Ken

What A Difference A Day Makes!!!

It was a perfect day on the Millers. Thursday, June 11th was cool with a hint of mist rolling off the ridges that border the lower river. The air was full of tiny BWO's and large tan caddis and the trout were giving chase. The most important thing was that the river was flowing at 250cfs. The fellows that I guided took trout everywhere - Erving Bridge, the Upper Trestle, the Kempfield Pool. It didn't matter.

Now forward cast 24 hours to Friday the 12th. Overnight rains swell the Millers to 1000cfs by mid afternoon. Now the rains of last night blow the river past 1500cfs!! My guess is that the river will be in a bait fishing, hardware slinging mode for a week. Keep an eye on the links that I provide to various flow rates. When the Erving section gets into the mid 500 range then you will have good wading and surface action.

Time to go to the Swift!!

Ken

The Millers And The Swift

Spent a few hours Saturday afternoon on the Millers with my girlfriend in tow. She's a beginner but shows real promise even though she did fall in. Took three browns on dries. I think I'm becoming a purist!!!!

Hit the Swift at the "pipe" early this morning to check out the new low flow. The water temp. was 62 degrees at 6:45 which seems to say that the water is still coming from the spillway. Fished for an hour and took a small rainbow. I saw nobody until I was leaving.

It's not the same river that we are familiar with. Let's hope things get back to normal soon.

The above photos are: girlfriend, bad shot of me with a brown, a brown on the business end of the leader.

Ken

The Kempfield Pool Again

Thursday night, June 4th, found me back at the Kempfield Pool on the Millers. I shared the stretch with Al from Mansfield and we both caught fish. Everything was perfect. The water level was in the 300cfs range and the bright sky of mid day became blurred by cloud cover by 6pm. I fished dries and took 8 browns again and broke off 2 more. The largest, taken at the head of the large rocks at the beginning of the main pool, was a dark holdover fish of 18 inches. The killer fly was a size 16 dark olive cdc comparadun. I left at 8pm feeling very good about the last three hours.

Back at the car I met a fellow from Worcester who was knocking them dead just below the Wendell bridge. Al had fished the Upper Trestle Pool earlier and caught fish. GET OUT THERE AND FISH!!!!

BTW, the above photo is of the Millers River in Erving just above Farley Flats. The top part of the visible river is the end of the C&R section and the lower river is just above the trestle at the flats. The photo was taken at the top of Rattlesnake Mt. after a nice hike. One does not live by flyfishing alone, at least most of the time.

Ken