Fly Fishing Information On The Millers, Swift, Middle, West and East Branches Of the Westfield River and the Ware, and Mill rivers. YOUR BEST SOURCE FOR MA. FLY FISHING INFORMATION, the top ranked fly fishing blog in Massachusetts! WHAT FLY FISHERS READ!!
"There is certainly something in fishing that tends to produce a gentleness of spirit, a pure serenity of mind" -Washington Irvin
It came down in buckets Sunday night and the Millers watershed hit the jackpot. Royalston got drenched with 3.69 inches of rain and Orange got over 2 inches. And the Millers went up and As I write this the Irving gauge is about 300 cfs with S. Royalston flowing at 100. This is more than enough of a flow for the DFW to stock this river in early October. I mention that because one of my commentor s (Tincup) had heard that only the Swift and the Deerfield would get a Fall stocking because of the drought. That was then but this is now. The Millers gives up it's water s-l-o-w-l-y and with low September evaporation and the leafy biomass going dormant the water will stay in the ground and in the river. Trust me, the flow will be fine.
The EB is running great now and if one more rain event hits that watershed it too will be stocked (or should be!!)
Ok, I have scuds on the brain. All Spring and Summer I forget about this pattern because it's always been a Fall and Winter fly for me. Now I've worked up a few dozen for October but I just don't want to tie anything else. Not a bad rut to be in.
I love September as I've mentioned on this blog many times. The water is low (sometimes too low) but cooler, the days are usually in the 70's, the mosquitoes are gone and I don't have to wait around until 9pm to hit the evening rise because it now occurs at 7pm. There are plenty of insects to keep the trout active AND it is the realm of the "fine and far off" school of fly fishing. The coarse methods of the earlier season are left in the truck and replaced with long fine tippets and light, sparsely dressed flies. It's an elegant style of fly fishing that lets you use that high priced rod the way it was meant to be used - CASTING
It's been a good September so far (on the Swift) except for this long drought.
But spring creeks are famous for snooty trout and still still possible to get into that old routine where the fish are feeding but they won't bite and you're changing from one pattern to another while fighting off a sense of impending doom" -John Gierach Another Lousy Day In Paradise
I get a lot of pleasure when one of my clients gets into a BIG trout especially when it's the first fly caught trout for that person. That happened today using a tenkara setup (a size 14 soft hackle) upstream from the Pipe around the Gauge. There are trout there and you don't have to hike down to the Pipe or the Tree Pool to find them. It was fun trying to land this MONSTER but we did it!!!
It was a GREAT fish that fought hard but was landed and released without harm.
One can feel the change of the season. The days are shorter, the nights are longer and the Swift's bows are beginning to move around. Soon the brookies will be on the spawning gravel....
And that reminds me what commentor "Falsecast" said earlier in the week: "try not to walk on the spawning gravel". This is easy to do below RT 9 by just standing on the weed beds where they don't spawn. Above Rt 9 I'm afraid that there's some needless trampling going on. Actually it's way too many fishermen and too little river!!
NOTE: Found another BIG DEAD RAINBOW in the run below the Tree Pool. That's 3 big trout in a week. We know what's happening- you play it FOREVER on 8X, then take a ton of photos usually with the fish out of water, then you release it thinking you've done the right thing. What you did was play that fish to death. 1. Stop using ultra fine tippets. The bow in the photo above was caught on 5x. 2. How many photos do you need? I can net a fish, take a photo and release the fish in 30 seconds and it never leaves the net. If you can't follow this advice then stop fishing catch and release areas!!!
"I would rather cast nightcrawlers from a pier at Lake Michigan then ever, ever cast a wet fly" From Robert Traver on concerning the merits of the sunken fly
On Saturday night the weather guy on NECN said a FRONT would blow through by mid morning on Sunday with rain, high winds and some lightning. What to do on Sunday morning? Answer - beat the front and that's what I did. I was on the river down in Bondsville at 7am and not the first but the first were not in my favorite spot so things were cool!
A dozen casts with my self proclaimed "favorite dry fly for 2016" produced NOTHING and I can't believe it. The water is high and it's not my favorite flow down there but it should of done better. Then I saw it - a telltale flash just below the surface 25 ft away. Off comes the big, bushy terrestrial and on goes a size 16 BWO cdc dun BECAUSE there is something ready to hatch and the reliable BWO will get their interest. No need for a nymph. Then another subsurface flash only 15 feet away. I cast for the closer fish first and got it and then got the the further away fish a cast or three later.
Then the "guide" in me took over from the "flyfisher" in me. The "flyfisher" launched a 40 foot cast to the head of a riffle and lost a perfect rise. The "Guide" in me said "what the hell was that 40 foot cast for? Are you showing off to yourself? With all of that line and with the currents you stood NO chance hooking that fish. Move up and keep your casts 30 feet or shorter". NOTE: I don't say this to clients, only myself.
I never rose that fish again but I did catch others, all beautiful brookies in the 10 to 12 inch range. About 8 in all until I noticed that it was getting dark and the wind was blowing the drought weakened leaves into the river. I made to the vehicle as the skies opened up. I drove up to the PIPE parking lot to see a large branch blocking the road. I moved that and then saw a local guide sitting on the tailgate to wait out the storm. Out on route Rt9 there were two road blockages heading west towards Amherst.
I got home, cleaned up the yard from the blowdowns, threw down some grass seed, grilled up 20 inches of spare ribs and watched the hated Jets eat defeat.
"The two best times to fish is when it's raining and when it ain't" Patrick McManus
I love September. The weather is starting to cool down, and dry fly fishing can be spectacular as it was this morning down by the horse farm on the Swift. Some #16 ants and some #20 BWO kept the the trout coming to the surface. Lot's of brookies, a rainbow and a brown came to the net with the rainbow reminding me of the fish landing limitations of a Tenkara rod. Anyway, I got there at 7am and didn't see my first angler until 11 which is exactly the way I like it.
There were some strange sightings yesterday morning. First there were the "fighting browns"! Two browns in the 16 inch range spent a good portion of the morning chasing each other up and down a 100 yard segment of the Swift. They were not spawning or playing but really attacking each other. It would be interesting to see if anyone else has seen this behavior.
Now for the dead trout! A large dead pine fell into the top part of Cady Lane within sight of the Tree Pool last week and suddenly made this section even more interesting than it was. It was just below this log that I saw the 20 inch rainbow lying on the bottom. It had just enough life in it to fin away when I tried to net it. I got a good clear look at this fish and could not see any visible wounds. Then, while fishing above the log, I spied a large dead brookie. This fish was over 12 inches I was able to net and examine it. (See photo) Again, no visible predator wounds, no monofilament hanging from it's throat. Just a dead trout!
What killed these trout? The evidence points to careless prolonged handling of these fish. The evidence is clear. These were TROPHY trout that probably spent the summer in the tree pool, lost a long battle with a fly fisher, had a dozen pictures taken while out of the water (these were BIG trout so pictures were taken) and then were released to become that 6-7% mortality rate that they say we have in C+R waters. I've seen a lot of celebrations that clearly take too long. Net the fish, take a photo of the fish while it's in the net and then release the fish. Try not to grab the trout with your hands. If you have to grab it do it while the trout is in your net and your hands are on the OUTSIDE of the net.
Too bad that brookie will not be spawning this Fall.
"The Blue-winged Olive is my favorite mayfly if only because I've fished the hatch so often and for so long. I think it was the first mayfly I identified and I know it was the first dry fly pattern I got into after deciding that maybe a guy should have something besides an Adams in five sizes." John Gierach
Ok, this is for all of you that currently have a Tenkara setup or for anyone who is ready to take the plunge: Consider using a very long leader INSTEAD of the accepted Tenkara lines. Those lines are the furled line and the level line. The furled line casts very well but gets heavy quickly making it kind of difficult keeping it off the water plus it's bulk will contribute to drag on long casts which is to be avoided. The level line (straight monofilament) stays off the water and contributes nothing to drag but can cause some accuracy concerns especially with any wind. Well, the topic came up in a conversation with my friend Brad and he mentioned that the is a new TAPERED mono casting line for Tenkara. That statement caused the wheels to spin in my head and out came the question: what about using a LONG leader for a casting line? It just so seems that I had a few 15 ft 1x salmon/steelhead leaders kicking around. So, off came four feet on the tippet end to be replaced with a leader ring and five feet of 5x. Would it work?
The next morning (today) found me at Cady Lane laying out the MAXIMUM distance that I could cast with my new "line"! And when a hatch of Olives began around 11 am I could put that size 18 dry fly exactly where I wanted it. And without the floating fly line I had no drag concerns. I was able to paint the bankside with a fly that landed like a feather on the water. I decided to really test this set up by tying on three feet of 6x. The fly STILL turned over!!! It will be my line of choice for Tenkara fishing going forward.
BTW, I caught fish above and below the surface and had a ball. In fact, dries on a Tenkara rod may be the most efficient method of playing with brookies down in Cady Lane. Contact me if you want to give it a try.
Autumn is coming and so are the Blue Winged Olives. You will find them everywhere including the Swift (a good hatch this weekend), the Millers and the EB. The Swift group is small from #20 through #24 whereas the Millers family comes in from #18 to #20. The EB tribe just seem to be bigger from #16 to #20. A size #20 will get it done anywhere. Look for a cloudy cool day. That's BWO weather!
Today I saw someone doing what a lot of anglers do. This fly fisher walked quickly along the high bank, would stop for 20 seconds, walk another 100 feet, stop and stare for another 20 seconds and then disappeared downstream. In a short while he reappeared and repeated the scenario. He finally left. I don't know what he saw or didn't see BUT the spots where he stopped for a quick look were home to some big trout but big trout that are not in clear view. My advice would be to SLOW DOWN as you walk the bank and really scan the water. TAKE YOUR TIME. The best fly fishermen that I know are very quiet and they all walk slowly as they scan the water. They see more fish and catch more fish. If the guy I saw had actually seen what I saw when I got down to that spot he would of fished it.
"Do you need a 50-fish day dredging the depths with three jig-head nymphs drifting under an indicator? Or will half a dozen trout rising to dry flies prove equally fulfilling? - John Shewey, Editor In Chief of Fly Fishing Magazine, September/October 2016 edition
It seems that there is some "conventional wisdom" being cast upon the waters that dry fly fishing, outside of #28,#30 and #32 midge fishing, is at some kind of low spot during September here in New England. This is a half baked idea that doesn't stand up to even casual scrutiny. For starters let's look at what UPCOUNTRY FLY SHOP, (Farmington experts) suggest for a late summer, early fall dry fly selection:Tan Caddis 16-18, Light Cahills 12-14, White Flies (good on the Housy too) - 12-14, Ants #20 and Blue Wing Olives 20-24.
These are not midges. These are the flies that hatch throughout New England (fewer white flies, very many BWO's) and give September the reputation of being, next to June, as the BEST dry fly month of the year. And let's not forget the terrestrials because September is the best month for them. Grasshoppers, crickets and ants rule the month. Take a walk up the railroad tracks to the Upper Trestle Pool any day during September. You will see hundreds of grasshoppers in that short walk fleeing your approach. In June you could sit on your back deck in the evening and the landscape would be fairly quiet. Now it's September and you will hear a million crickets. I've had my best ant action in September when ant colonies split up, sproat wings and end up landing in trout streams.Terrestrials mean surface action!! It happens in September!!
The Blue Wing Olive is the MAJOR hatch of the Autumn and the Millers is a great place to see wonderful surface action to these insects. My best dry fly day was in early October on the EB and it was to the BWO. The Millers still has Cahills in September and that is a size 14 fly. The Pumpkin Caddis drifts in WAVES over the Millers in late September and it is best represented by a size 12 or 14 imitation. I still see Cream Cahills on the Swift in September. Never a populated hatch it continues from late May into September and the trout like them. I remember casting size 14-16 Light Cahills on warm September days years ago on the Squannacook when it seemed that every trout in the river was rising to SOME fly that my limited entomology failed to recognize. The Cahill matched what the trout wanted. They were not after midges.
In short, carry midges because you may need them but don't start dredging the depths because you think that dry flies with "meat on them" are through for the year.
COMPARADUNS - It's my favorite dry fly pattern and I have now tied most of my standard dries(including BWO's) this way for 30 years while giving up on the standard hackle patterns. Why's that? It's because it puts the body (the most important part) down in the film while hackle patterns really do not. And most rising trout are going after the insect caught in the surface film and not the dainty little sailboat floating downstream. Look at the comparadun photo above and you will see a small ball of dubbing in front of the deer hair. It's used to anchor that hair in place. I'm still surprised how many of these flies don't incorporate it. What about the Parachute?? I love to tie them because they look so nice and the body is in the film BUT caparaduns are easier to tie and are more durable. Dubbing and deer hair and that's it. What about the small sizes? Ultra fine deer hair works to about #18 then go to poly yarn or even better CDC. Kill the tail, use a curved light wire scud hook and you REALLY have a great emerger pattern.
Another BWO pattern that I like in #18 and #20 is nothing more the a wispy tail, olive dubbing and two turns of green dyed grizzly hackle (shown above). The green dye comes out a nice shade of dark olive on a grizzly hackle and it's mottled too. It's a dun or a spinner. I have to do something with all those hackle capes!!!
The Swift - up and down goes the flow. We need a stable flow for successful spawning of brookies and by stable I mean 50 cfs. That's perfect. To get that we need RAIN to jump the Connecticut River to lower the Swift. In the meantime keep fishing this river!
"I go fishing not to find myself but to lose myself" - Joseph Monniger
Ok, this past Friday I booked five guided trips for this Fall. I guess the rush is on and soon openings will become scarce. Do yourself a favor and contact me with a date, preference of a full day or half day trip and a river selection. Remember, I guide on the Swift (not just the crowded spots but the hidden spots), the EB of the Westfield, the Millers and the Ware River. All of these rivers are on the FALL STOCKING LIST and I know where to go. I require NO MONEY DOWN and there is NO CANCELLATION FEE! So contact me and reserve a date!!!
Saturday morning found me at Bradley airport at 7:30 dropping my wife off for her month long retreat at the Esalen Center in Big Sur. I waved goodbye and then made a bee line to Bondsville which took me about 50 minutes and gave me an appreciation for the miles that many of you put on in the pursuit of trout. In any event I was on the water by 9:00 am.
Some observations: 1. I would see only TWO OTHER ANGLERS in the 3 and a half hours that I was there which was perfect!! 2. Although the flow had dropped from 115 to 45 cfs since my last trip on Tuesday there still were many holding areas with knee to waist high depth. 3. I had left my thermometer in another pack but I could tell that the water was in the low to mid 60's and would stay that way because this section of the Swift is in constant shade. In short, this is a nice place!
I decided to start down at the Cabin Run (you'll know it when you see it) and work upstream to the Cul De Sac Pool (you'll know it when you see it). It was going to be a big dry fly day with stimulators and a few size 10 Wulff patterns. Launching these offerings would be a 6 foot Paul Young bamboo fitted with a 3 wt double taper. I found the value of the shorter rod last week when I kept getting my 7 1/2 foot Swift River bamboo caught in overhanging foliage. I didn't feeling like snapping a bamboo tip so the 6 foot rod was the perfect choice. I will tell you that this section is a good place for a shorter rod. A 9 footer will get you into trouble in Bondsville.
I caught trout in every run and pool that I fished. All were brookies, all were between 9 and 12 inches and all fought like hell!!! They were also free of any obvious hatchery scars although they probably were hatchery born because of the uniform size.There were a few in the 4 to 6 inch range which has always been the case but not in the numbers that you see at Cady Lane.
I ended the day at the Cul De Sac pool where I saw my second fellow angler. I decided to wait him out by taking a lunch break on a streamside rock because I REALLY wanted to work that pool. He was making some long casts over to some slack water and then after a while moved on. I always fish this lower section of the Swift from the left side facing upstream and this pool would be no exception. I got up to the head of the pool and worked the fast water and took more brookies which put me over the 30 mark for the day.
It seems strange to me that some fly fishers actually look down on these wonderful fish preferring to chase something non-native like a rainbow. I love to fish for all trout but brookies are my favorite. We are lucky to have the Swift!!
On the way home I drove past the usual hot spots. THE RIVER WAS PACKED!!! I guess some prefer shoulder to shoulder to solitude. I like solitude and it appears that my clients do to! The fact is many people hire me to show them uncrowded places and I'll introduce them to sections that have fish but no fisherman. Bondsville is a place like that.
