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

The Swift - It's Ups And Downs

The Swift ran at 50 cfs since last Fall and then made the jump to 125 almost three weeks ago. Then it fell back to 50 on on Monday but jumped back up to 125 eight hours before I wrote this. That low flow on the Connecticut River controls much of this but it doesn't put a damper on the trout fishing. It's been good regardless of the flow although 50 cfs requires more finesse than 125.

Earlier this week I spent a short evening below the gauge just hours after the tap was turned down. There were plenty of trout and I caught my share on a size 18 nymph that I will write about in a later post. That nymph will work now even when the flow is higher.

"Spent a short evening" were the words that I wrote. The evenings are getting shorter. Sundown that evening was at 7:06 pm, light enough to fish but not for long. I was fortunate for the two hours on the river but I kept thinking of the light at that time two months ago and the long cold season ahead. Short evening trips will soon be a thing of the past. Soon the trips will be full daytime trips much like anglers that have to put on the miles to find good fly fishing. I guess I'm lucky to live close to good rivers.

The Swift is fishing well. Fish the Swift!

Ken

The Swift - Late August Into September

It's that time of year again. If you are unfortunate enough to not live close to trout streams then you may not realize that shorter days are here. If you can only fish from 8am to 4am then you will only know that the sun rises later each day and that full sunlight in very early July means that you can fish at 5am and may need sunscreen. Not now. Fly tying light without a flashlight is after 6am and the evenings are much shorter. I live close to trout streams and my weekends are there BUT my evening trips are getting shorter. 8:30 in early July meant sunlight. Now it means darkness. The dreaded dark season will be here soon.

The Swift has been a charm and I'm talking about below route 9. The whole place is full of trout. Since the flow increased from 50 to 125 cfs the trout have moved around and are not stuck in the same places that we saw them when the flows were lower. Last Sunday morning I was the only one at the Pipe at 6:30 and saw only one other flyfisher until 10:30 when I left. I hooked about 14 and managed to land 9 and they were all strong, eager rainbows except for a 3 inch brookie that decided to get into the act. It was good fishing from the Crib Dam to the Pipe. The trout fell to a swift serendipity and (mostly) to a fly that I will mention later.

The Swift is this State's only tailwater trout fishery. We have to realize what this means to us and protect it. There are those who would want to see this as a "multi-use" recreational water resource but we are the dominate recreational user and have been for decades. Let's keep it this way.

Ken

The Rise Of The Swift

This was not expected although it should have been. The Swift has been flowing like clockwork at 50cfs since last Winter. And then today it jumps to 125cfs and levels off. I was always interested in these Summer jumps and was given an answer on this blog a few years back. When the Connecticut River hits a certain low flow at the gauge at Montague water HAS to be released from Quabbin by mandate. This will last until we get rain anywhere from Montague to northern Vermont which will raise the river and then turn down the Swift tap to a normal flow. This condition could last two days or two weeks. We will see.

Now, this flow may have some anglers waving the pom-poms BUT I like that 50-60 flow which is why I spent last night working up a bunch of size 22 to 26 emergers to continue the low flow, tiny flies for large trout battle from the week before. Yes, it's funny that I didn't bother to check my own blog for the flow reading at 4pm when I left to hit this river but the flow had not changed even with this mini drought UNTIL TODAY.

The flow was up and so was the angling pressure from the gauge downstream. I worked the riffles in this section with a monster size 14 grouse and orange 24 inches below a micro shot (take no chances during flood conditions) and took 3 'bows and missed another in an hour and a half of fishing.

The tiny flies never got wet but they will as things get back to normal. As I write the rain is coming down hard which means the BIG river will come up and the LITTLE river will go down, hopefully. Hopefully the drift boys will stay on the Deerfield and not force us to reel in as they go by on the intimate Swift.

BTW, Have you noticed the DCR intrusion on the Swift gauge site. Two very uninspired photos of the Swift and a BOATING SAFETY/REGULATION poster!! One would think that they should of got their camera crew downstream at the PUBLIC BOAT LAUNCH instead of implying that the C&R/Special Regulation section is a boating destination. It's a WADING FLY FISHING DESTINATION and not the place for pleasure seeking flotsam!! I think that they have no problems in turning the best small stream, year round fly fishing river in Massachusetts into a theme park.

I may be wrong but.....

Ken