Tiny Flies For The Swift

Things will change on this river. Five seasons ago a #16 olive soft hackle made dark colored trout go nuts during the Fall. Since then it's been a second tier player. Scuds and hot spots have had great days and always will BUT something has surpassed them at least for this season. The above photo shows what I have been using up and down the river. Size #18 through size #26 works and have produced 43 trout in my last five hours on this river. Early morning or late afternoon seem to work best for this pattern. Maybe it's because these hours yield the least fishing pressure or maybe because the air is full (especially in the late afternoon) of tiny flies. In any event this fly works! I like it!!

There is the occasional post concerning my generosity dealing with naming locations on certain rivers. It has now spilled over to my sublime posting of fly patterns which work on the Swift, Millers and the Westfield Rivers. Frankly, I don't understand it. I really want people to do well on these rivers! I'll continue to post locations, conditions and patterns on this blog because it's my blog. But for this pattern I'll give the pattern instructions to anyone who emails me on the email address that I have on this blog. If you want to tie this fly then just email me. If you don't want to know about this fly then keep fly fishing and have fun!!

Daylight Savings Time ends this Saturday night. Sunday morning (11/7) will have light at 6am but darkness around 5:30pm. Bummer!!!! The "Dark Season" begins!!

Ken

The Swift - 10/18 to 10/23, What Crowds??

A lot has been said about the crowds on the Swift. Lots of fish and lots of fly fishers!!! Here's my experience over this past week.

Monday, October 18th found me stepping into the pipe section at 5pm. There was one other fisher down by the "tree" and that was it for the hour that I was there. I took 16 'bows mostly on a tiny creation that I worked up the night before.

Thursday, October 28th I scouted the same spot around 5:30pm. Only one fly fisher!!!

On both of these days the Y Pool parking lot was full.

Saturday (yesterday)found me sleeping until 7:30am (that's considered "sleeping in" for me), eating breakfast, doing a 40 minute hard walk, picking the last of the green tomatoes and then a full raking of the backyard. Then came lunch followed by a trip to the Swift.

The Y Pool lot had a dozen cars but the Pipe lot was almost empty at 2pm!!!! On a Saturday????? The lone car belonged to Marla Blair. You can make out the car on the extreme right of the photo. It was a temptation to stop right here and take advantage of the rare elbow room but I had been thinking of one stretch at Bondsville (above photo) so downstream I went.

I fished Bondsville for a a little less than 2 hours, caught two 'bows, and then went back to the Pipe. It's still a ghost town and now Marla is leaving. She said the place was empty when she got there at mid day and remained so. Very odd!!

I fished the pipe totally alone from 5 to 6pm and took 20 'bows on that same creation I used Monday. The fly was one of a two fly rig and it was the only thing they wanted. It worked in sizes 18 through 26. More on that latter.

I can't think of a reason why the Pipe would be as lonely as Bondsville on a Saturday. Maybe it was just a fluke. It may be a good bet to hit the Pipe in the LATE afternoon to avoid the "practice green" atmosphere that we usually see.

Ken

The Millers/EB - This Past Season

How do I explain this season on my two favorite rivers. 2008 and 2009 were mid season washouts for the Millers with great May through early June fly fishing followed by flood conditions that thankfully ended by late August which gave us very good Fall fly fishing. The EB of the Westfield was heaven during those past two seasons - dry fly HEAVEN!! This season, the driest in the last twenty years, brought these two rivers to their knees!! Browns survived in the lower Millers, rainbows in the EB are another story. Things like this will happen. In over three decades of fishing the Millers I know that some fish will survive although the number of survivors will be fewer than years past. The rivers are running at strong levels as I write which should help for winter refuge on the Millers. Let's hope so. I keep thinking of the dozens of Autumn trips on this river where we fished and fished for rising trout. Not this year.

The Swift - steady flow, cold water, lots of fish. Also lots of fly fishers. Take a break and go downstream to Bondsville. Steady flow, a good number of fish and very few anglers. It's soooooo... different from the tee time atmosphere that you encounter up by RT9.

Check it out!!

Ken

What They Are Rising To...

Here's a short post. I was fishing the pipe section, catching a few, while watching a local fish hawk hammer one 'bow after another. The fish are there. Sometimes we will wonder what the trout are after when we see the surface action which was evident. Well, a good indicator can be found on the new leaf deflector panels that the DFW have installed a few feet from the intake building above the pipe. (the photo is an old one, minus the leaf deflector panels) The panels are just a few feet into the current.

The panels are made of pexiglass which seem attract mayflies. On an early Thursday evening (yesterday) the panels were covered with blue wing olives duns running about a size 20. And I mean COVERED!!

There you go!!

Ken

September Review - Early October

The rains finally came. Not in a series of wet days but in a 4 inch deluge which brought the lower Millers up to the 600cfs level and the Westfield EB roaring at 1800cfs. When it rains it pours!!!!!

The Millers needs this deluge. The rising browns that we caught last April need some depth of water to make it through the winter again. This recharging will do that, I hope. Those fish are still there and they survived this horrid Summer but they need water for the Winter. Hopefully they will have it.

The Swift - The flow was reduced from 112cfs to the mid 40cfs range just prior to the storm. This morning the Bondsville section was low, clear and wonderful. And I got skunked!! Trout were rising but in a very odd fashion. Two and three quick rises and then nothing for as long as 20 minutes. I couldn't get them to cooperate whether it was to a small olive emerger or to my trusty soft hackle flies. That's ok!! The Autumn sun was warm, the flow was perfect and two and a half hours just drifted by. Not a bad day for me.

The attached photo shows the location of those rising trout. You may recognize the spot or if you are new to the lower Swift you can easily find it easily.

Time to think of seasons past. Just one year in this case. Check out my post for October 23 of last year. It tells a tale of a warm cloudy day on the EB when dark colored 'bows took in my dry fly offerings in a way that leaves memories for fly fishers who look for memories. It was a perfect day but it was after two perfect Summers with good flows. We didn't see those conditions this year. It is something to feel sad about. Hopefully next year things will return to normal - everywhere!!

Last night I had a vivid dream of catching stripers with Jim off the mouth of the Merrimack. Some dream of other things but.....

Fall on the Millers and the Swift - I'm looking forward to it!!

Ken

The Millers - It Has Survived!!!

This past week was hard. Sometimes personal things change everything and they did. Fly fishing was something far from my mind as my drive back home found me near Wendell Depot. I needed a break and the chance to check out the Kempfield, take some low water photos and the idea to just chill a bit seemed right. With only my camera a took the walk over the trestle, into the woods and down the hill to the top of the Run. The island at the top of this run is now connected by dry land. (see above photos) I've never seen that before. The big, slow pool at the end has a large rock breaking the surface. Never seen that before either. I've never seen such a low water condition on this river!! I hadn't been here since early July. I saw the low flow online, heard the stories of dieing trout and even began to believe that my brown trout would not make it. Like I said, I've never seen it this bad before. I sat down and spent a half hour just taking it in.

In a while the sun sank below on of the tall pines on the opposite shore, putting me in the shade. The air felt cool. It was 6pm with an hour till sundown and that's when I saw it - A RISE!!! Back to the car I went for waders and a 4wt (never leave home without it) and then back to the spot.

Here's what happened. The water felt cool and a quick temperature check registered 67 degrees - the same range as every 20+ years on this river on an early September evening. The air was filling with a small (#18) yellowish mayfly and rises were beginning to mark the surface in that beautiful glide above the large, slow pool. I fished for a half an hour and took three dark, beautiful browns on dries. I could of fished longer but after snapping the leader on the last release I called it a night. The browns fought hard with that bulldog "nose in the gravel" battle that browns are known for.

I've fished this river, this spot, for 26 seasons and have never seen such dry conditions. Even I, who have waved the pom-poms for browns for all these decades, began to lose faith in their survival. I STAND CORRECTED!!!!!

As I say on my home page - Browns are the ONLY trout that belong in the Millers!!

There's your proof!

Ken

Labor Day Weekend On The Swift - So Far..

I was the first at the "Pipe" at 7:15am this Labor Day Saturday. What a difference a week makes!! The flow at the mid 40cfs range should not have mattered. It didn't a week or so ago when big, dark rainbows charged the fly. My hour alone produced one middle size 'bow. So I walked upstream just below the gauge and cast a few dry fly casts to those riffles. Above me was a young father, a dog and a young daughter. Dad had a fly rod and both he and the girl waded wet across the stream to fish that set of riffles. Dad hooks a trout, the girl is spellbound and the dog even seems interested. It reminded me of years ago when I would take my girls on trips such as this. That dad is doing the right thing!!

Upstream I go to the crib dam. A land a "triple" - 'bows, browns and a brookie!! All are on an olive parachute, size 16. All are small. The rainbows are between 5 and 7 inches, the browns run 7 to 8 inches and the brookie (so beautiful)made the 10 inch mark. For a while I forget that this is a tailwater where cold water means lots of trout, even big trout. For a while I was in a Northern New England state-of-mind!!! I'll take those small fish. They remind me that I am damn lucky to find rising trout at the tail end of a horridly hot and dry Summer here in the Baystate.

You will know when you get there that this water below the "dam" is best fished from the left side, looking upstream.

I've highlighted this section before. A number of you have commented on it (thank you) but I usually still have the place to myself. Then again, I fish during the early morning and in the evenings.

I posted a photo of the short section that is directly across from the hatchery intake. Last year it was the home of rainbows. This year it's the home of brookies!! Here's the catch - there are a lot of 5 inch fish here but if you work the water carefully and totally the 10-12 inch brookie will show. I fish size 18 CDC emergers on a short line. These fish are beautiful and a lot of fun.

I hope to be there tomorrow (or maybe Bondsville)

Ken