Last Minute Trip to the Swift

I managed to con my mom into taking me up to the Swift River in MA for the day today. When we got there, there weren't many trout at all in the fly fishing only, catch and release section. I've been told by some that people are simply poaching the river, but that's another topic entirely. Anyway, it was also very crowded to my dismay because the few places with fish were taken by multiple anglers. After looking around for a while I decided to head into the feeder stream. There I noticed a few feeding trout and managed to get a nice rainbow on a caddis pattern of my own design. Higher up in the feeder stream i found what looked to be another feeding rainbow. However, upon fooling it into biting and after a good fight, I realized i had caught on of the Swift's native brookies. He was by far the biggest wild brookie I've ever caught; I estimate him at about 15in or so.
My rig was simple; a strike indicator off of which came about two or three feet of 7x tippet. At the end of that was a #14 caddis pattern, again my design, and off of that about 6in of 7x tippet tied to my newest caddis design.

It's a good feeling when you see a trout like this with your fly in it's mouth.

After a successful release, he went right back to his feeding lane.

This wild brookie really did give quite the fight!

Some days I get nothing in the feeder stream, but sometimes, it saves the day.

Finally some trout!

I was fishing on a warm, sunny day this past Sunday on a stream that i thought might hold some brookies. I had never fished it before, but it looked very promising as it had perfect gravel beds for spawning, some healthy vegetation, deep undercut banks, and deep clear pools. Upon arriving at this little stream, I looked out into a very slow shallow pool and saw three 10in or so trout feeding actively at the surface. On the surface were a few midges, caddis, and even a few mayflies. I also saw a few trout sipping something on the other side of the stream. There was a lot of activity so needless to say, I was excited because I haven't caught a trout or any fish for that matter in months. So I tied on a midge after several refusals of my elkhair caddis. Unfortunately, there was no affect. Realizing I had put off these fish I moved downstream to a deep, dark pool. There, to my amazement, I saw at least 30 trout in a school. Immediately I new that they must've stocked this stream. There I tied on my own version of Rob's Realistic Golden Stonefly with some splitshot. Just as I landed my imitation in the water, I got a hit, FISH ON! i set the hook on him and after a not entirely long fight, brought him(or her) to hand. I repeated this process for about an hour or two with my brother(the driver) and my friend by my side. I ended up catching 7 fish i think, browns and 'bows. I let my friend give it a go but he didn't do so well. He did however, catch 1 and 1/2. I say 1 and 1/2 because he second came off at the bank.
I realized that day, no matter how much you love wild trout, it's good to slam some stockers every so often as well.
I'll try to get some pictures later in the week.

Fly Fishing Shows

I went to a couple fly fishing shows in the last couple of months as i try to do at least once a year. I managed to get my mother to drag me to both of them. The first I went to was Th Fly Fishing Show in Marlborough, MA. While I was there I bought some much needed supplies, learned some new techniques, and made some new fly fishing friends. I met Rob Lewis who is an amazing tier who creates BUGS! He ties realistic patterns, a couple of which he gave to me to attempt to duplicate. I also Met an old friend who I have seen at many shows over the past four years or so. His name is Bill Newcomb. I always make a point of it to stop at his booth at the shows and say hello and talk fish. In addition, I always see him tying beautiful dry flies.
I also went to the Bear's Den Show in MA. there i met up with Bill and Rob and showed them a couple of flies that I tied. It was a great show and larger than I expected. I also caught up with the owner of Bear's Den who sold me my first Tenkara rod. Over all, i recommend going to these shows to see what's new and get some great tying materials.
Below are some links to sites Bill and Rob are on.

http://www.robsrealistics.com/about.html
http://www.riseformstudio.tv/fly_fishing_video_bill_newcomb.html

Tenkara at the Swift.

When i got my Tenkara rod, they warned me that bringing it to the Swift River in Massachusetts was a little risky for the rod, so what did I do? I went to the Swift and fooled an 18in rainbow trout into hitting my #24 nymph. One must use fairly small things on this river, i don't know why, but hey, it works! I hooked this lovely fish just below the Y-Pool. He was sitting behind a few branches in exceedingly slow water. It was actually a surprise when I saw him because I had been working some trout that had lined up behind me, as trout do in this river because they know that when we walk we kick up nymphs and the like. There were about three to four i was trying to fool, one must have been in excess of 20in; these trout are big. However, since I had no luck with them, I decided to cast to the area where this trout was holding. ( I had also just put a white foam indicator on) On the first cast, before everything had even settled, I saw the trout's tail and set the hook. I had him on! The fight seemed like nothing, I knew Tenkara could handle these guys. Meanwhile I was screaming to my dad to come down to the bank so I he could snap a shot, which he did with great success as you can see below. It's days like these where the Swift really is my favorite river.

Gearing up for the day

And of course, the day didn't stop there...I went on into the feeder stream and just missed a good size rainbow. A guy told me to use something the fish hadn't seen before, and so i did. I was using a florescent orange scud fly and some split shot under the white indicator. I threw it at this fish and it came out of its feeding lane, at least four feet, to smack this fly. I was in awe to the point that I forgot to set the hook, but by the time i did, the fish was off. I did the same to another trout, but there was no further success for the day. Oh well!

So here are the pictures from the post the other day. Self-explanatory...

Setting up, the right fly is key.

This little guy was at most six feet in front of me when he hit; he wasn't very spooky. 

The release of this beautiful little native

Tenkara Outings

So for Christmas I got a 13'6 Amago Tenkara fly rod, along with 10 feet of Tenkara line. I was very excited when my dad and I were driving down a woodland road and found a good looking stream. Naturally a pulled out my new toy and took a few casts with no success. However, I started moving downstream through thick brush and found a nice little spot where the water didn't quite rise over a small gravel bed. I rigged up and took three casts in this little stream. On the third cast my #20 adams fly went under in a small riffle; I set the hook and to my sheer delight there was a five inch brookie. As i did so i yelled to my dad and told him to venture through the brush so he could get a photo, which he did. I fished the creek for another hour or so with no results, But i  still left feeling good having had the chance to try my new rod on a wild brook trout.
I have the pictures from this in my dad's camera so I'll upload them soon.

Just a few more, famous last words...