Happy Thanksgiving

 Only 127 days until April 1st

Happy Thanksgiving To All of You!!!

Ken

Tweaking A Wet Fly: The Millers Flymph

 

Two wrongs do not make a right but three do! - Anonymous

Well, the dark season is upon us and I don't like it. I've done a lot of Winter fly fishing but it was only to have something to do. No way would I give up a balmy day in May to trudge through snow and ice to wet a fly.  The great flyfishing publisher Nick Lyons once said that yes, there can be great midge fishing in Winter, but he needed the downtime of Winter and the thoughts of Spring to recharge himself.  Nothing wrong with that!

Then there's fly tying. Earlier this Fall I stated that there is no fly tying season for me because I tie all year long. During the "season" I'm busy tying inventory but in the Winter I get to experiment.  I've come up with the Millers Flymph.

Hook - light wire scud hook sizes 12 through 16

Thread - 8/0 brown

Tail (that's right) very sparse partridge fibers

Body - brown ice dubbing (don't go to the hook eye with the body but to about where the wing would be.)

Hackle - partridge (three turns)

Head - a few turns of ice dubbing again slightly pushing back the hackles.

This fly is like a soft hackle on steroids and imitates all those bigger mayflies and caddis of Spring.  I'll be stocked up by the time April rolls around.

Ken

Brook Trout Study On The Swift

 

Please read the following:

HI Ken - as per your recent discussions of the Swift and its wild brookies this from the GBTU chapter: PVTU Embrace a Stream Project The Swift River tailwater in Central Massachusetts is the premier wild Brook Trout fishery in Southern New England and is fished by TU members from all ten TU chapters in Massachusetts including many from GBTU. The Swift River holds up to 4000 wild brook trout per river mile, estimated by MassWildlife. Yet, Brook Trout have not been stocked in nearly 40 years. It is a virtually accidental wild fishery, created after the damming of the Swift River and the creation of Quabbin Reservoir. Pioneer Valley Trout Unlimited has been awarded an Embrace-a-Stream Grant to study the population density, movement, mortality, recruitment and growth of these wild fish. Partners include the MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWlidlife) and the Massachusetts Outdoor Heritage Foundation. The core method of this study is the use of PIT tag technology, supervised by the MassWildlife and implemented with the help of TU volunteers. The Project will provide metrics on fishery status and viability and develop better strategies to protect Brook Trout and their environment. This study, at a total cost of $36,500, will inform not only cold-water fisheries professionals, anglers, and advocates, but the general public that support the preservation of this unique heritage. The PVTU goal for this fundraiser is $12,500 to complete the needed funding. Please support this project with a donation this week (November 7- 13) to maximize the match that PVTU will receive from TU National

Finally, we have some action on the wild brook trout population on the Swift, action that is long overdue. Let me correct a few statements mentioned above. 1. The Swift is the Premier brook trout fishery in not only Southern New England but maybe all of New England. 2. Yes, it is a tailwater (artificial) fishery BUT no other New England tailwater matches it's ability to produce large brookies. 3. It's fame is not just local as I have guided fly fishers from up and down the eastern seaboard, the mid west and Europe. They had all heard of the Swift.

Now, why did I include the photo of the monster brown from the Swift.?  That's just to remind everyone that we should be taking care of these trout too. I know that they are not NATIVE (They are European origin) but they capture the minds of all fly fishers and have coexisted with brookies in this river for decades. They are the perfect apex predator. They are needed to keep the brookies at a healthy level.

If both species are to be studied to improve their stream environment then I totally support this action and you should too.

Not The Fly Tying Season, Some Tasty Food And A Lost Fly Box

 "Fishermen who care too much about the size and numbers of the fish they catch are insufferable on good days and as harried as executives on slow days.  On the other hand, it's possible to be a happy angler who doesn't catch many fish; it's just that no one will ever say you're good at it." - John Gierach

I recently cruised through a fly fishing website that said that the fly tying season has begun.  "WHAT"?? The fly tying season has no beginning and has no end. When I guided I told countless clients that if I couldn't fly fish again I would still tie flies. That the tying of a henderick emerger or dry transports me to to that time of season, same with tying sulphurs or ants.  As that fly takes shape in my vise I begin to recall the great moments with that fly and that is almost as good as the actual fishing.

I tie flies almost every day, from streamers to tiny stuff. I tie flies that I only use on certain rivers because they only seem to work there and not really anywhere else. I have a small box for the Millers, the Swift and the EB which makes things very simple for me.  It also works well!!

Tuna On Thai Noodles With Snow Peas And Zucchini

Season the tuna really hard with pepper and some soy sauce and sear each side for a minute. I throw basil on the noodles and vegetables.  It's SO good!!

The Flows

Millers - 463 cfs Fishable

Swift - 122 cfs I'm worried about brookie spawning

EB - 98 cfs = It's good

Fly Box- A small grey fly box was lost above route 9. Contact me and I'll contact the owner.

Ken

The Copper Grouse Revisited

 

 

"Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded" - Yogi Berra 

This may be my best fly for Fall run brookies and browns. The Copper Grouse has all the right elements to be a great fly - sparse grouse or partridge hackle, a copper body and an orange fur thorax.  Sizes 14 and 16 get it done.  

The Rivers

Things are a little screwy out there.  The Millers is roaring at 760 cfs, the Ware is calm at 155cfs, the Westfield is perfect at 132 cfs and the Swift is too high for my taste at 122cfs. I've always felt that 50 to 60 cfs is best for that stream and it'd spawning brookies.

BTW, the USGS has launched its new, enhanced stream data site and IMHO it's a great improvement.  Check it out!

We have one month of Fall fishing left. That Fall season ends when the first snow sticks to the ground.  Then it's Winter and that's another season with its own rules and strategies!!

Ken

 

 

My Favorite Emerger And A few Hours On The Swift And Lost Glasses

 

The great fly tier and fly fisher and writer changed my approach to tying emerger flies.  His DHE (deer hair emerger) did it all for me. A light curved scud style hook, coarse rabbit fur body and a fine deer hair wing causes the fly to sink a bit on the back end but float on the front, just like an insect trying to break through the surface tension.

I can tie this fly in sizes from size 12 down to about 18.  That my be the size limit with deer hair.

Remember, most rises that we see are from a trout taking an EMERGER and not an adult insect.

At The Swift

It's been a strange year.  My usual 20 minute drive to the Swift is now a 2 hour slog, a situation that may need a remedy for next year but this past Friday was a good day. It appears that the bulk of the native brookies have not arrived at their traditional spawning grounds, something that seems to be the new normal for this river.

My flies of choice were soft hackles, of course, with a size 16 Partridge and Orange leading the way with some quill bodied soft hackles taking a few.

The main event was the BIG BROWN I missed exactly where two of my clients lost big browns on back to back days 2 years ago.

I'll be back for them.  You don't have to fish too far from the gauge to have a shot at them.

Lost Glasses

Prescription glasses on a bright green croakie were lost on the 20th somewhere from the Y Pool parking lot and the Y Pool. If found contact me and I'll contact the owner.

Ken

Quill Bodies

 Secretiveness, typical to some extent of many professional craftsmen, was contagious  among flytiers.  Christian caught it from Gordon: when his grandson asked to be shown how to tie flies, Christian said "Find out the way I did".  He untied and figured out in reverse how Gordon had tied his flies, just as Walt Dette, Harry Darbee and the later generations of Catskill flytiers did in order to learn the professional secrets of the old masters". - Catskill Rivers by Austin M. Francis

Wrapped quill bodies are an "almost" forgotten flytying material.  It was only a few generations ago that the best of the tiers such as Theodore Gordon and Art Flick commonly used this material to create realistic and beautiful trout flies.  But quill bodies fell out of fashion and were replaced with a mountain of dubbing material which works really well but doesn't look as good.

So, I've made a deal with myself to use more quill bodies.  After over 50 years of flyfishing and thousands of trout I don't need the big numbers and can afford to experiment a bit.

If you've been tying for a few years you have a good supply of quills on those worked over hackle capes.  Strip off the fibers, soak the quills for a a few minutes.  The next thing to do would be to dye some quills orange as in Partridge and Orange!!

The Rivers

As I write the Swift is flowing at 122 cfs which is too high for this time of years. Brookies need reduced flows to spawn successfully. Hopefully that flow is temporary.

The Millers is at 152  which is low but still fishable as is the EB although we need the rain.

Note: If you are flying down a pre dawn highway praying to be the FIRST at your favorite honey hole just remember this: someone else is probably doing the same thing. So relax and have a plan 2 and a plan 3. Stress and flyfishing should not mix!!

Ken