A nice day on the Miller's River

We need some rain in New England.  That's really hard for me to say, since we had so much snow this winter.  But water levels in the rivers are falling fast.  The section of the Miller's that I fished yesterday was ideal for wading, but any lower than it's current 200 cfs and many of my favorite spots will no longer be holding fish.

In a normal year, the level would be nicely down from many thousands of cfs to a manageable 600-650.  In a normal year, my fishing on the Miller's would just be beginning.  As it is, the river has been fishable for about three weeks.

The flies I used were weighted, and I fished deep.  Things were shallow enough that I used a floating line.

As I walked upstream with the same beadhead I reported on in my last post, and fished it under a foam indicator, I picked up several rainbows in fast water and a handful of smallmouth bass.  I was very happy, even before I turned around and fished downstream back to the car.

For something different than the typical early season black and olive woolly bugger (or similar weighted big fluffy fly), I put on a weighted yellow streamer.

I fabricated this a few years ago and don't have a name for it... yet.
10 wraps of thin lead under silver tinsel and copper rib.
Underwing: long calf tail material. Overwing: mallard
Collar:  I have no idea...  Well, maybe hen neck hackle.

I am not much of a streamer fisherman.  To be honest, I fished it the way I would fish a bugger.  Sometimes I would strip and sometimes I would let it swing.

I caught my two biggest fish this way.  The first was a 14 inch "chub".  Technically, I think it is a Fallfish.  To tell you the truth, they are pretty ugly.  But they are indigenous (I think), wild, stream-born fish, and they consequently have my respect.  I've seen fisherman on some smaller streams throw them up on the bank to die, as they represent competition for food these fishermen would rather have the stocked trout eat.  I'm not a fan of this. But I don't get bent out of shape about it, either.

The chub hit the streamer when it finished its swing below me and just in front of a boulder.  A very likely spot for a fish to hang out!

Note the bait hook stuck in the chub's jaw.  It was easily removed.

The second largest fish was a 12-13" rainbow.  In this case the water was deep, so I placed the streamer "up and across" and gave it slack until it was "down and across", to give it time to sink. I kept the line mended.  Then I began to tighten the line causing the streamer to rise and swing up.  That's when the trout hit it.

Thank you yellow streamer for a job well-done. BTW, I think that is 3x tippet.

First day out was a bust

Last Thursday seemed like the perfect day to start my 2015 trout fishing season. The water levels were perfect and the afternoon forecast was for gorgeous weather. It was definitely worth skipping out of the office early.

Path through a fine forest to access the Nissitissit River

No big deal, but I got skunked.  (The funny thing is that I mentioned this to a non-fishing colleague at work the next day and he seriously wondered how I was able to get rid of the smell so quickly. I forgot that "getting skunked" is a fisherman's figure of speech. Haha.)

Mayflies were all over the place but I caught no fish. Nor did I even see a fish. The water was still cold, at about 48F. Maybe that was the reason there was no (apparent) fish activity. Certainly, there was no surface activity other than mayflies coming off the water.

My never-fail riffle disappointed me on this occasion.

Perhaps (but I doubt it) my problem is that I fished the wrong flies.  I actually only fished a bunch of beadheads.  As I walked downstream I swung in the current what I thought would be irresistible beadheads.  I experimenting with sizes 12,10, and 8.  Walking back to my car upstream, I fished the same beadheads up-stream, nymphing-style, with a foam float indicator. I fished all the good looking spots and all the spots where I'd caught fish in the past... but with no results. Coming from one of my friends, "that's why they call it 'fishing' and not 'catching'!"

The above two images are the same fly.  Though I got skunked today,
I use a ton of these fuzzy beadheads.  This is a size 12 2xl, made from a single
quail rump feather.

Though I did not catch any fish, I did enjoy my new fly rod.  It's a 9 foot 4 weight built for me by one of my fishing buddies, Paul DiNolo.  If you've been a reader of my web site you'll recognize him as the author of several articles in the "Flies With a Story" section.   He started with a Shu Fly brand rod blank and added parts purchased from Jann's Netcraft. I've never had a 9 foot 4 weight before. In the past I've used a 9'5W for rivers and float tubing, and a 8'4W for streams. I now have a new option.

Paul's Parachutes

My friend Paul DiNolo has written another story for fishingwithfles.  Paul also has an upcoming article in the magazine "On The Water", for which the photos of his flies below were taken.

From Paul:

Parachute dry flies have been around for a long time (since the 1930's), but they didn't start gaining popularity until about twenty-five years ago. The main reason for this  is the degree to which “Catskill” styled dry flies were seen as the standard for dry fly design and usage. The fact that so many anglers used them so often practically insured that they would achieve a certain amount of success. 

In the late 1960's and early 1970's there was a great deal of time and effort used to closely investigate how trout responded to various fly pattern designs, and types of presentations. Out of this research came some dramatic results that seemed to challenge the conventional dry fly wisdom of the time. The work of angling authors like Swisher, Richards, LaFontaine, Borger, Caucci, and Nastasi, to name but a few, indicated that trout key in on the profile of the insect's body.

They also saw the differences of trout feeding activity as the insects passed through the various stages; larva, emerger, dun, and spinner. The parachute fly can be presented in ways that can offer a good chance of success during these different stages of the “hatch”.

While I employ streamers, nymphs, and traditional wet flies in my trout fishing, my favorite method is dry fly fishing in small mountain headwaters. In that type of angling, my first choice is almost always some sort of parachute fly. Coming in at a very close second place is the standard Elk Hair Caddis. When I first started using parachute flies, I didn't make the change all at once. It took me about five or six years to make the almost complete transition (Occasionally I still use “Wulff” patterns and “Stimulators” with the Catskill style “radial” hackle).

Over the past twenty-five fishing seasons, it seems as if I find some new and useful feature about parachute flies each year. Here are a few reasons why I like parachute flies so much:

• Parachute flies almost always land on the water right side up.
• Parachute flies don't twist leaders.
• Parachute style hackling can be applied to most standard fly patterns with good results.
• Parachute hackle need not be the best grade of hackle to work. In fact, you will  get better results with second or third grade hackle.
• Parachute flies can be found in practically fly shop or catalog. This was not always the case. When I first started using them, I had to tie my own.
• Parachute flies are highly visible because of the “post wing”. These day I use some sort of fluorescent polypropylene yarn for my wing posts. The ability to follow the first few inches of drift for any dry fly will greatly increase the number of “quick strike hook-ups you get.

Now that it is known that trout eagerly take naturals as they are about to break through the surface tension of the water, we will do well with parachute fly patterns like the “Klinkhammer” (above) with its abdomen in the water and its thorax on the surface.

The Parachute Ant (above) has proven to be quite effective during a swarming event or as a late summer searching pattern. And, in the last two seasons my friends and I have had good luck with parachute styled Elk Hair Caddis (below).

Some of my angling buddies expressed some concerns about the perceived difficulties involved in tying parachute flies. There are a number of different tying methods, all of which work, and there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube. Don't worry if your first few attempts won't win any beauty contests. It seems as though trout have artistic standards known only to them. I have had enough experience to believe that trout seem to prefer bedraggled flies. So, if you haven't given parachute flies a fair trial, think about doing so this year. 

2015 Fly Fishing Show

Yesterday I spent a delightful two hours at the annual Fly Fishing Show in Marlborough, MA.  I'm no longer particularly interested in the latest fly fishing gear, which wouldn't come as a surprise if you've read my "reflections" post earlier this month, here. However, I did enjoy meeting up with friends and talking with many of my fly tying acquaintances that were there to demonstrate their tying tricks and tips. The burgers and french fries at Longhorn Steakhouse weren't bad, either.

I did take my camera, and if you are a camera geek like I tend to be, then you might be interested in knowing that all images were taken with my new 70-200 mm-equivalent Panasonic zoom lens fitted to my Olympus EM-1 camera.  All were shot at F2.8 (wide open), aperture priority and auto ISO.

Since I was "people" oriented and not "gear" oriented at the event, you'll notice that most of these images are of people enjoying themselves.  Nevertheless, there are a few gear pictures.

You can view all 50 images on my photography Web site.  The images on the Web site are also larger, if you are viewing on a large and high resolution screen.

Below are reduced-resolution images of about 15 of the images:

Reflecting on 2014 - best trout days

My trout days last year were spent entirely in small cold streams flowing from the mountains of northern New Hampshire.  While fishing from my float tube in local farm ponds for sunfish (see prior post) were solo adventures, trout fishing for me means driving north for the day (a long day) with one or more friends.  It also means a (very!) big breakfast along the way, with fishing beginning in late morning and extending until dark.

I pulled the images below from several of last summer's trout trips.

All fishing was done with an 8 foot 4 weight.  However, the line weight makes little difference for this kind of fishing because rarely is there more than 3 feet of fly line hanging from the tip of the rod.  Add an 8 foot leader and that's plenty of reach for these small streams, generally. (8 foot rod + 3 feet of line + 8 foot leader = potential maximum reach of 19 feet. Realistically, that's plenty for a stream that is 6 to 12 feet wide.)

Warning:  The trout in the small cold nearly-sterile mountain streams of northern New Hampshire are small. A 9" brookie is always well-remembered.

So I can see them, I make my parachutes VERY bushy.
This is my first choice fly.  Body is peacock herl.
Tied with or without a tail,
I cannot tell a difference in productivity.

Paul

Jim

One of Paul's elk hair caddis parachutes.
These are my second choice fly.
When I run out, Paul ties up some more for me!

The Mount Washington Hotel