Winter On The Swift

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Ok, it's Winter and the only game in town will be the Swift at least from late December through mid March but maybe even earlier. As you know the Swift is a neat tailwater that doesn't freeze over and provides good fishing through these dark months but some winters are different than others.

Last winter we started a flow rate of about 50 cfs which continues. This rate is fairly low which will cause the water to cool off more quickly than if the flow was higher. You saw ice forming around the PIPE section last year in places that it had never appeared before. This colder water will lower the trout's metabolism which will decrease their need for food. The Y Pool isn't really effected because the water hasn't had time to cool off yet. (We're talking about ice close to the current and not along the shore, shore ice is common).

Am I complaining? Sort of. Fishing seemed a bit slow below Rt.9 last Winter and I believe that's the reason. The remedy? Bring the flow up to 100 cfs. It's a good flow and most anglers like it better than 50 cfs. Will it happen?? No way unless we get pounded by rain but we are in a drought that doesn't seem to want to end.

Things are still doing well on the EB. Get there before it freezes over!!

Time to tie some flies.

Ken

Rating The Rivers And WCVB Chronicle Show

First things first. WCVB Channel 5 Chronicle Magazine will air a segment on the "Hidden Hills" of Massachusetts on Monday, November 11 at 7:30pm. It will contain a segment on fly fishing the EB in which I was able to contribute in a small way. I haven't seen it yet so we will all have a laugh.

This time of year I like to rate the three rivers that I write about. All rivers are good but some just have better "fishing years" than others.

Here's the list and my reasons.

Third Place - The Millers

This was an off year for the Millers and I can't find a reason for it. Most anglers that I met or wrote to caught very few from June onward and some got skunked every time. One stretch that has been a favorite of mine for 25 years seemed devoid of fish!! I did notice huge concentrations of browns back in May in certain deep holes and heard a rumor that the float stocking crews purposely dumped them in concentrations instead of spreading them out.

I'll be back there later today for another shot at the Millers.

Second Place - The East Branch of the Westfield

The EB was great through June, hung tough through the Summer when it usually gives up and has been my favorite river since Labor Day. I ranked the EB number 1 in 2009 because we had a wet Summer which resulted in great Summer fishing that year. 2013 was not that far behind. The browns, pretty much absent in 2009, were the prevailing species this past Summer and they were gorgeous fish. Second place but just missing First Place for the EB.

First Place - The Swift

First place is not a "given" for this river. Things can go wrong like a high water year or a yo-yo water level but this year things stayed at 50 cfs for months at a time with only a bump in the flow in late Summer. It was very manageable. That 50 cfs flow also kept the tuber traffic at a minimum and it seemed to create some very steady and lengthy fly hatches right through the Summer. And of course, there are many trout!!! I'll be there all Winter.

All rivers are good and all rivers should have friends and be protected.

Ken

The "Dark Time" Is Here And My Favorite Swift Fly for 2013

It happens Sunday morning at 2:am as it does every year. We turn the clocks back and evening fishing, as we like it, comes to an end. The Dark Time is here and we have to put up with it until March. I hate this moment because it puts a simple pleasure of someone (me)to an end: evening fishing. November and some of December will give us some glorious days with warm temperatures and willing trout BUT it will condense the traffic on some streams (Swift) to a 7-4 schedule and my evening trips to the EB are gone until Spring. I should stop complaining because I am old enough to remember when ALL FISHING ended on the last day of February and didn't start again until the 3rd Saturday in April. Now I'll fish right through the Winter on the Swift which makes me grateful for living close by to this wonderful stream but as I fish these coming months I'll be thinking of Spring, those balmy days, those rising trout.....

Anyone who has followed this blog will remember the Hot Spot, a personal favorite, which continues to catch many Swift river trout. But I like to play with ideas and in doing so made up with another fly that worked very well over the past year and a half.

First, I am sold on the theory that trout like some contrast in the color makeup of a fly. The Hot Spot proved this but this fly, using the same theory, seems to work better. I call it the Turkey Top.

Second, It looks like another fly that has a foam "bubble" tied into the top of the fly. I admit that but I wanted to tie something quickly and in good numbers and this fly does it. The foam part doesn't seem to make a difference and it's easy to tie in quantity.

Hook - size 18-22 scud hook (choose your brand) Experiment with this. Use any size you want.
Body - olive/brown rabbit dubbing tied in fairly loose
Wing cap - a strip of WHITE turkey flat or any white feather material. I like turkey because I have a mountain of it!

That's it! No science required. It fooled Swift trout all season long and I believe it always will. From the Bubbler to the Pipe it catches trout! If you look closely the rainbow in the photo has one in its lower left jaw.

Now, off to a weekend on the Millers and the EB before Winter sets in!

Ken

Squeezing Out The Last Of Summer - The Swift, The EB

It gets so dark early now. We who are luck enough to live close to trout water have about a week and a half to fish those increasingly shorter evenings. Sundown occurred before 6pm this week and I'm making the most of it.

Monday at 5pm found me playing around at the PIPE. I met a friend who was getting it done with surface feeding trout. He had to leave which gave me the tree pool which was full of rising bows. The air was full of knats which covered my waders within minutes. The air also had a good population of BWO's or something that looked like that in a size 22-24. I took three bows in that hour on the appropriate size cdc olive dry before I had to leave. Someone else arrived and he had the place to himself.

Tonight was an hour spent on the EB. I took two rainbows at the exact place I had been dreaming about taking bows since this past weekend and they were taken with the trusty grouse and orange which has worked so well on this river in the last two weeks. I can't stress enough how YOU should fish this river before the hard cold sets in. I'm hoping for a mild November. I want to squeeze every opportunity that I can get on this river. If we don't get any floods and if the weather stays somewhat mild this place will be awesome.

Keep Fishing!!!!

Ken

The EBEBEBEBEBEB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, it's a post about the East Branch of the Westfield River or the "EB" as we now seem to call it. I spent the last three days working this beautiful river ending today at mid day. It was very good.

Sunday I guided two flyfishers who landed one fish but missed others. It was a day that seemed perfect but the trout just wouldn't cooperate. Monday I went out alone for three hours to see if things were different. They were different!! I took five bows working the same spots as the day before swinging and drifting soft hackles (grouse and orange). I met two other fly fishers who said that Sunday was so-so but Monday was so much better. Why?? Who knows. Both days were identical with bluebird skies and the water levels were the same.

Then came Tuesday (today) morning. I guided a camera crew from a Boston TV station for some morning fishing on this great river. The trout couldn't wait to get hooked!! I'll fill you in on the station when I find out when their program will air.

Fish the EB!!! It's loaded with trout, it's uncrowded and it is the most beautiful trout stream in this State! We have another month or two before Winter hits this part of the State.

Fish the EB!!

Ken

Where Have I Been

Where have I been over the last two weeks?

First, I got MARRIED and then spent the better part of a week in Bermuda. My wonderful wife and I spent days just enjoying the wonderful climate of this sunny island (80 degrees every day)and just doing what newly weds do. I did not go fishing BUT I met a good guide for bones and tarpon which is on the list for next year. I plan to be there.

It took less than 24 hours for me to get a three weight in my hands after we touched down. The Swift (yesterday) was sublime with just the right amount of Swift frustration to bring back reality. I took two bows from the gauge downstream until I ran into Dan (the best flyfisher on the Swift) who was working the occasional sippers below the Pipe. He caught some and missed some just as I did in that area. My #20 bwo rose some, landed two but most of the time the trout rose and then refused the fly. I also hooked some tiny (4-6 inch) brookies that seem to be everywhere. This has happened over the last two months. Hatchery escapees? I don't think so.

So, who is this woman that I'm involved with? She's GREAT! She's also very good with a tenkara rod, VERY GOOD. She loves the Swift and loves when I fly fish and guide. I'm a lucky guy!!

I also went to the EB and did nothing in three hours today. It's on the Fall stocking list but.... Does anyone know anything about the EB.

Fall is here. October and November are great months especially on the Swift as they always are.

Keep Fishing!!

Ken

September Browns On The EB, The Swift And The Millers Stocking

Mid September and fly fishing has been good, mostly.

The browns on the EB survived the Summer and have been rising at dusk for me. Sunset is around 6:50 now and these fish didn't start to dance until about 6:30. I took two at the Bliss Pool this week between 6:30 and 7:00pm. Two browns came to the net on size 14 olive comparaduns which seemed to match the large mayfly (maybe a cream cahill)that was hatching. One brown went 18 inches, a very good fish and the other was about 14 inches. I live 15 minutes from this gem of a river so I can time these evening trips pretty well. I was there for only an hour. It was worth it.

The Swift has been producing as usual despite the flow changes. Just adjust your tactics. One fly fishing site said the dry fly fishing on the Swift was off. Think again!! Low flows bring the bows up and it's been like that all Summer.

The Millers - This is my 30th season on this river and it has been sub normal. Normal means rising browns when flows are good and the flows have been ok through July and August but things are, to me, different and the reports that I've received back that up. If you have been doing well then that's very good for you but for me it hasn't been that good. An "off" year?? Maybe but why? Things seem the same as they have been but the action just really isn't there.

Maybe the Fall bow stocking will wake the browns up. We have another month or so to find out.

Let me know how your're doing on the Millers. Maybe it's just my luck or.....

Footnote (9/23)- Heard that the Millers will get stocked with Browns this Friday.

Ken