Memorial Day Outlook - Millers, EB And The Swift

As I write this (Friday, May 24 at 6:30 pm) the Millers is racing along at 1560 cfs. The EB is RUNNING at 1270 cfs and the Swift is where it's been for months - the low 50 cfs range. Guess where most of the action will be!

The above comment is conventional wisdom. Freestones bear the brunt of heavy rains, tailwaters much less so. But one will have to keep an eye on the EB. This river rises like a rocket and drops like a rock as the rains stop. It peaked around midnight nudging 2000 cfs and then dropped 700 to where it is now. It will continue to drop if the rains hold off. Don't rule out 500 cfs by Sunday. 500 is very fishable on that river.

The Millers is in for a high water long haul. It will take the better part of a week to get this river down to the 500 range that I like to start at. If the rains continue it will stay high. In 2009 it hit 1500 around June 6 and didn't sink below 1000 for more than a month.

The Swift, in many minds, will be the only game in town but that's selling your chances of fly fishing this weekend short. If you don't want the crowds then hit the lower Swift in Bondsville. It's usually empty and is a different river than the Rt 9 area. Also, here's a chance to fish those smaller streams that you've always said you would fish. They will be the first to recede and you will be away from the crowd.


I'll be keeping an eye on the EB!!

Ken

An Update - The Swift And The EB

The rain came down hard Wednesday afternoon and I began to think that flotilla of Hendricksons would be hammered into submission by that downpour. Not a chance!! The section below the pipe was full of them and the trout were after them. I had to fish a suitable nymph (all of the appropriate flies were back in the car) and lost 3 before one came to the net. Then I lost that fly. My time to fish had also run out but I knew that if I had come prepared it would have been unforgettable. Those days will come again.

The EB - I hadn't been back to this old friend since late summer. I knew that this section would get its Trout Unlimited Fest stocking but I didn't know exactly when. A few casts into the Bliss Pool resulted in a bow. That's when I saw the rise. Not a feeding rise but a "gulping" rise, a sure sign of a recently stocked fish. I caught 3 more when I saw the stocking truck heading back up the road.

The thrill was gone. I discovered a pod of trout and took another 7 while testing new fly creations. Everything worked!! The usual large bows were there plus many large (12 - 14 inch) brookies. Looking down into the net one would feel like they were in Labrador but this is Massachusetts and we don't have brookies like that. Those fish will be gone by July.

I fished for an hour and a half before I began to get sloppy like one does when one gets bored. I began to think of two weeks from now when the bows will take a clue from the browns and wise up. I was also thinking of the Swift and its hendricksons!

The EB is full of fish. There you go!

Ken

Millers Update

The Millers is ready to fish. Water levels are great, the days have been perfect and the browns were scheduled to hit the Bears Den this week with the lower C&R getting its share next week. As you know by now I'm no fan of rainbows in the Millers and although I support the brown stocking I would rather like the browns to be stocked along with the bows throughout the stocking season instead of the "all at once" scenario.

Better then that, I'd like to see browns stocked ALL OVER THE RIVER, like other rivers, instead of just in the C&R sections. We know the old story about how browns, because they survive so well in the Millers, will accumulate toxins. Therefore they must be stocked in the C&R sections. WHY NOT MAKE BROWNS A CATCH AND RELEASE SPECIES and stock them everywhere on the Millers? One excuse I heard against this is that people will not know the difference between a brown and a bow (yes, I've heard that).

The Millers is a brown trout river, period! The VAST majority of it's anglers are flyfishers, period! Our anglers survey two seasons ago proved that. The browns draw the flyfishers, period, but miles of river have very few browns. The DFW should stock what we want, period!!!!

Have fun this week!

Ken

The Millers - Finally!!!!

It was fun to finally throw something much larger than something in the size 20 range. The Swift served me well over the winter BUT it was time to cast something "normal" like a 5wt and a fly with some heft to it. The Millers has been dropping and on Sunday morning made it's way into the 500 cfs range. Good enough!!

This trip was more of a scouting expedition. I hit four sections on the lower river and managed four of the 'bows that the DFW gives us. The fishing pressure was light with Wendell Depot having about four other anglers. The trout that I caught seemed to be holed up in certain areas. You would fish a section hard and get nothing, move 15 feet and then start getting hits. that's early season fishing on this river!!

Tomorrow is May 1st. By mid May the browns will go in and the real fishing will start. The 'bows will keep you happy until then.

Ken

Tiny Dry Flies For The Swift

A week ago I fished the overflow arm of Y Pool on the Swift. This "dead" water was full of very spooky rainbows that were rising to something small. Most likely chironomidae or something like that. I tied on a fly for the occasion. Sorry for the less than good photo (I'm not a photographer) but this is what landed three bows and lost two others in that hour that I was there (it was late. If I was there earlier I would have risen more trout) This works in the overflow arm and the Y Pool proper and in the tree pool downstream when I need a tiny fly.

Hook - size 26 (I could use a smaller hook BUT I can ADJUST things without going smaller

Body - ultra fine synthetic dubbing in BLACK

Wing - grey cdc

Tie on the wing first, clip the butt ends and dub on a slim black body. Put a turn of dubbing in front of the cdc to make it stand up. That's it!

This fly works well all season when we fish to trout that are rising to something that we can't see on this river. Now, we can make this a size 28 fly by NOT dubbing the back end of the hook. The body is smaller and the trout are not bothered by this. Try using just black thread for the body. It also works. Leave a tiny strand of black thread hanging off the bend of the hook. That works too. Just use a black body and grey cdc (not too much) and you will have a great time fooling trout on this river. 7x tippet also does the trick.

As I write the Millers is dropping below 1000cfs. It will not be long before one can fish this river safely!

Ken

A Good Guiding Day On The Swift

It was a good day today! We hit the PIPE section at 8am and were the only ones there mainly because the fishing on the Swift has been a bit "off" from it's recent past. But the trout are there and one has to really fish for them. We hooked 7 fish which included a monster sucker which made short order of our 6x but 4 good size bows were brought to the net. Fly fishers began to show up and I saw them hook land three during that time. We fished and scouted around, took a lunch break and headed for the Y POOL. Again, every few anglers. We worked the bubbler run but didn't even see a fish. The wind began to pick up as we hit the fabled Y Pool just as the last solo angler left. Now, things get interesting. There are no rising trout EXCEPT one. The bows had no interest in investigating the choppy surface except one fish which "looked" like a brookie from our vantage point. He just kept cruising the pool sipping the surface. My "client" wanted to throw a dry at him. I thought differently but tied on a size 26 black emmerger under a cdc post. Here's what happened: the trout came up, gave a look and then went down. But he followed the fly again and repeated the same act as before. Now, with only three feet of drift left the fish came back up, followed the fly for a foot and then gave us the TAKE. It was a brown of about 12 inches. Not a monster BUT a difficult fish caught under difficult conditions.

That's what is all about!!

Ken

Finally, A Spring Day On The Swift

Finally, Spring came to the Swift. Last Saturday I froze from 6:30 am to 11ish. I caught some but the wind was biting and I still had ice on my guides by late morning. I fish all Winter long on this river but it's SPRING and I want to see and feel it.

Today was the day. The temperature nosed 70 degrees and when I made it to the Y Pool at 5pm the trout were still rising. I rose four, broke off two and didn't land any BUT that was ok!! It was a warm Spring day and I got to spend 90 minutes working rising trout. That's what we have waited for!!

We will have a few nippy days ahead but the best weeks and months are right around the corner!!

The Millers - wait until the end of April.

The EB - wait until early May (hopefully).

Ken