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

The Swift Comes Alive (That Means Stocked)

As you probably know the Swift got some trout last week and as occasional contributor Kozman said you just had to find them. Yup, they were ganged up in deep runs in the Guage/Pipe section were I fished late Friday afternoon. It was funny but the Pipe run was empty of trout (at least for me) and I waited around until the lone bait guy left the tree pool. He had caught one bow in his time there. I waded in and took 8 the last hour fishing to a pod of trout in the deepest part. A size 18 hotspot 18 inches below a micro shot did the trick.

We hear about bait and lure fishermen cleaning out rivers but over the years the vast majority of trout taken in this section are taken by fly fishers. I've seen two trout taken by other methods this year and that's not because of a lack of non fly fishers. Just an observation....

What I'd like to see is a stocking practice that scatters the fish on the Swift. Some years some sections have plenty of fish, the next year they are scarce. Again, an observation.

I've got the Millers on my Brain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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

The End Of The Connecticut River Salmon Restoration Project

As many of you already know, the 40+ year effort to "restore" Atlantic Salmon to the Connecticut River system ended in 2012 as the Feds pulled the plug on this "doomed" project.

I placed two of the above words with quotation marks for a reason. The project was "doomed" because you can't "restore" something that really, in all reality, was never there in the first place.

The were no millions of salmon surging up the Connecticut River in early colonial times. There were millions of shad and herring but the salmon was a rarity. Why do I say that? Because salmon remains do not show up in the archaeological record in the Connecticut Rive basin or anywhere else in Southern New England. Every other anadromous species does show up in the areas where indigenous people fished for them.

So what about the stories that came down through history of salmon abundance on the Connecticut. At worst these were tall tales to showcase this new land and to draw settlers from England and at best they were species confusion (shad became salmon).

Even the tale of the salmon's sudden disappearance is fishy. The first dams were built and in just a handful of years (by 1814) the salmon had disappeared from the ENTIRE watershed. First, why is the Connecticut River the only major salmon river to loose it's salmon so quickly? Other major rivers were dammed but held onto their runs for decades. The Penobscot had dams but still had salmon runs. Spawning habitat existed in the lower reaches of the Connecticut below the dams but no salmon survived there??? Shad and herring survived! Maybe there were no salmon in the Connecticut.

For more on this I suggest that you google "Catherine Carlson NPS Archeology Program" for a very good read. Carlson runs with the theory that the whole salmon restoration was run by a faith in folklore without any REAL scientific (archaeological)facts.

Now we can get busy saving the fish that have always been there like shad and herring.

Ken

Spring Is Here!!!

The last measurable snow to hit the greater Northampton area was in early February. That 20 inches is mostly a memory now. That can't be said about central and eastern Ma which has been hit with snowstorms for the last few weekends. 30 inches at Blue Hills!!!

Our streams are open and with temperatures climbing past 50 we have one of the first aquatic insects to make the scene. Little gray/black stoneflies are covering everything that's near open running water. In this case it's the Mill River in Northampton. These small stoneflies, (size 20) are a sure sign that the back of Winter is broken. We may have another storm but Spring sun will make short order of it.

In another month......

Ken

Post Evening Sun And The Fly I Skipped Over

First, We had a great Sunday at Charlies Evening Sun Fly Shop. The house was packed for my presentation, maybe too packed, but we got it off and it was great. Flyfishers: Charlies is the place to get what you need whether it's equipment or advice. I have bought rods from Charlie and have asked for advice. I'm a better flyfisher for that!!! Do your business here!!!

During my presentation a slide was shown which I kind of skipped past. It was a photo of a fly that I first tied 40 years ago. I caught lots of fish with it. NOTE: hatchery trout were as dumb 40 years ago as they are today but we don't want to use the same flies that caught all of those fish. Why? Because it's kind of "incorrect" to use a traditional "wet fly". What does it represent?? Consider that thought when you cast your wooley buggers this season!!

This fly in the photo has no name. It is a traditional wet fly. It works when I use it and I should use it more often. This year I will!

Hook - wet fly hook 12 - 14
Body - yellow dubbing
Rib - tying thread (brown)
Wing - brown grizzly hackle tips. I dyed these with RIT brown dye
Hackle - soft brown hen hackle

Another fast to choppy water emerger pattern. Late May and June evenings when the caddis are dancing is when I use it. I've caught trout decades ago with it. It still works.

Why did I skip past it during the presentation? I thought I might be too "incorrect"!!!!

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