Home Waters

Sometimes it's right in your back yard. I live in Northampton and the little Mill River flows right behind my house. I've heard of this stream - a seasonal catch and keep flow that serves the Spring time bait and hardware guys for two months before it's forgotten. I've never seen a fly fisher on this water and I have ignored it for better fare on the EB, Swift, Farmington and the Millers rivers. Three years ago I saw a rainbow rise right behind my house on Mothers Day. I thought "dumb 'bow, soon to be the victim of warm water" or something like that. No fly was cast.

But things began to change. On a muggy, hot afternoon last July I saw a bait fisher below one of the dams that cross this river. I threw out the "catch anything" question only to be answered with a stringer of two 14-18 inch rainbows. Hmm.......the fly fishing guide that I own states that the river warms up too much for trout survival during the Summer. I made note of it but didn't fish the river that Summer. This winter I thought that some effort should be made here but May found me on the big waters. Then came Memorial Day. I had some time on my hands at midday so I took a walk along the Mill River. This place is a favorite swimming spot for the locals so it took some time to find undisturbed water. I found it, at noon with the temperatures in the high 80's. I also found RISING TROUT throughout this section!!!

Forward cast to 8am this Saturday morning. Into the Mill River I went with boots, swim trunks and a pocket full of flies and leader material. The first thing that I noticed was that the water was COLD! I've waded wet before and know what Summertime water feels like. This was cold. This water also had a RISING TROUT mid way through the section that I was at. Three casts later the #16 sulphur was taken by a 'bow that ran up and down this this small pool. It was released and swam off like a rocket. Two more trout were seen rising at the head of this section. My first thoughts were "this will be easy" BUT I managed to put both of these guys down.

This was fun. A little 3wt, small flies, short casts and nobody around!!!! It was almost like having my own private trout stream!!!

I'll spend more time here this Summer. If we have normal rainfall this season this place will be very nice.

Ken

The Millers In Summer Mode

Maybe it was the string of thunderstorms that rolled through the Millers valley on this Memorial Day Saturday because the parking spot at Wendell Depot was EMPTY at 4pm. The threat of lightning kept me car bound for a good half hour before I headed upstream to the Upper Trestle Pool. Conditions were perfect but the trout, with the exception of one rainbow, didn't want to play. Two fly rodding gents waved and headed upstream. I, in turn, headed for the Kempfield where I had the place to myself. Nothing was working the surface at the head or middle of the stretch BUT trout were making some splashy rises in the calm water of the big pool. The rises said "caddis" but there certainly was a lack of this insect in the air. Then I noticed that the shoreline on my side of the river was swarming with dark caddis. The logical choice was made and for an hour I threw adult and emerger imitations with no results. These fish were cruising around with no set positions which gave the game a "chuck and chance it" feel.

I was about to throw in the towel when I saw a rise in the current. One rise and then another = a trout in a feeding location. Off came the caddis and on went a dark tan cdc dun. It only took two casts before I set the hook. A few minutes later I was admiring the brute, a beautiful brown that ran about 18 inches. It was well worth the wait!!!

The Millers has entered it's summer phase. Mornings and evenings will be the rule until September. I love Summer evenings on the Millers. So do the Browns!!

A Really Nicely Looking Hatch On The EB

It was Tuesday evening and it was HOT as most of you know. I figured that it would be a good idea to hit the East Branch to tempt some trout to rise or at least just cool off. That's when I was fortunate to glimpse the rare EB hatch that I had only heard about. It's a hatch that only occurs in the hottest weather. As I drove down the dirt road by the first turnoff there she was. Twenty something, good looking and totally sans clothing!
Her and her friend (in swimwear) didn't seem to mind my rubber neck response or the fact that the Gorge had a good number of people in it. Sorry, no photos!

Now for the fly fishing. The Bliss Pool was occupied so down the road I went to the Slant Rock Pool. I made one pass upstream through this gem of a stretch with my dry offering but I knew that the blazing sun would have to set a bit and put this pool in an evening shadow before I'd see any surface action. The sun left the water and at 6:30 I saw my first rise. A second rise came a few minutes later. That's when I and a #16 olive cdc dry began to ply the water.

Forty minutes later I took my fifth trout. Four 'bows and a nice brown came to the net and then quickly swam away upon release.

The water dropped below the 100cfs mark today. The flow is still adequate for the fish but we need some rain. A good, local thunderstorm will bring this river up. A good day and a half of light rain would be better.

Ken

Another Millers/Westfield Update

Things couldn't be much better on these two rivers. On the 19th I took two hours in the evening on the EB and had great dry fly fishing for rising rainbows using a hendrickson spinner. That hatch, which is over on this river, still produced. I guess the trout have good memories!

The Millers, with it's LOW WATER, is doing very nicely! Browns and rainbows are hitting the surface and March Browns are beginning to make their appearance and should be doing their thing for the next month. Times are good!!

Something to watch - we could use a little rain. Just a light, steady rain that would last for a day. Not the monster downpours of the last two years. That would be good!!

I'm starting to think of the Swift again. The flows have become reasonable which gives us a third option. I'd love to hit all three this week. That would be GREAT!!

kEN

The Millers And The Westfield - An Update

It probably can't get any better on the Millers right now. The browns are in and with the holdover browns that we have been catching a great Spring and Summer are in store as long as the flow levels stay reasonable. The surface action has been great this month which is an added bonus since May has always been "average" on this river as far as dry fly fishing is concerned.

The Westfield - I know that the EB gets a big slug of 'bows a few days before TU's weekend jamboree but I decided to check the place out anyway Sunday morning. The Gorge seemed empty which leads one to believe that angling was not up to the usual standard. But I was on a mission to get those quill body drys that I tied up this winter off my brain. As it turned out I began to see the occasional rise from the Bliss Pool. Six trout came to the fly and I landed three in the two and a half hours that I fished. It was great watching those #16 drys gliding back towards me with the occasional 'bow rising from the depths to make contact!!

That's dry fly fishing!!!!!!

Ken

If A Tree Falls Into The Kempfield Pool.......

Word had it that a giant pine blew down into the Kempfield a week or so ago. My first thoughts were that it had hopefully fallen into the quite water below the mouth of Whetestone Brook and NOT ABOVE IT. That would ruin the best spot on this stretch. Thankfully it landed below the mouth of the brook across from the large boulders marking the beginning of the slow water. In fact, it probably IMPROVED the flow by channeling floating (flies) material away from the south bank and closer to the north bank where the approach is ALWAYS best.

The browns are in at the bears den and folks are catching them. The lower section gets their browns on the 14th but we have been catching holdover browns and stocked rainbows regardless.

Hit the river. It's prime time for the Millers!!!

Millers Sunday

I guided a fellow from New Hampshire on his first Millers trip on Sunday. We started at the Bridge Pool in Farley where he lost two good fish. After a while we headed upstream to Erving Center and fished below the end of the C&R. Again we had a good fish on but it throw the hook. Finally we made our way to the Kempfield Pool where we were greeted with a good number of rising browns. My client caught his first two trout on dry flies!! The first holdover brown was an easy 18 inches, the second just a bit shy of that. They both fell to a size 14 BWO dun. After the guiding session I went back and caught one of the two remaining browns that were still rising. They were all dark, beautiful fish!!

It was a good way to start the season.

One note: there's no such place as the Power Station or Power Pool on the Millers. The real name is the Kempfield Pool and it is a name that was used in the 1940's and that is documented. The "Power" label was thrown at this beautiful stretch about ten years ago by people who park near an electrical sub-station and fish from the WRONG side of the river.

Ken