Westfield River 11-27 & 11-29

After eating more food on Thanksgiving than I thought possible, I felt a hike to work off the extra calories was well needed. Friday morning, I found myself alone on the Westfield River with a light rain, but very manageable flows. I fished pocket water created from large boulders and deep pools with little success. Hiking further downstream I discovered a large bend pool with a set of riffles at the head followed by a tight current that hugged the steep rocky ledge. I nymphed the riffles, and hooked a colorful rainbow retrieving an olive BH woolybugger. Unfortunately, this fish was caught before by a fisherman that did not use barless hooks. The fish suffered from a damaged lower jaw, however this happen to be the most fiesty fish caught that day, tailwalking like salmon. I fished my way down to the corner where the wide riffles formed a small feeding lane along the rocks, hooking another rainbow (~13 in). Strike indicators seemed to spook the fish in the crystal clear water, as most of my fish hit on the retrieval of the wooly bugger and egg double rig system. A large submerged boulder suggested a prime hiding place for a large trout. I dead drifted the nymph rig in front of the boulder and "BAM!", big fish on!. These strong fiesty fish made long fast runs, until finally brought to hand, where a quick release from barbless hooks left them swimming healthy back into the depths of the pool. As the rain continued and the afternoon sun approached, I worked my way back upstream to the head of the pool to cross back over the river. Slowly wading in the slippery fast current, I flipped a few casts along the riffles, when all of a sudden I feel a large thump and "fish on"! A strong fish and a strong current provided an entertaining fight with another large rainbow landed (~17 in).

This morning, my father and I fished a similar stretch of the river. Bright sun and temperatures hovering ~50F, brought trout to the surface, sipping tiny midges off the surface in the tailout of pools. Most of the rainbows caught today were on wooly buggers and egg patterns dead drifted in the current. Although many fish were rising, the gin clear water allowed them close looks at their prey, thus matching the hatch and absolute perfect presentation was needed.

An above normal warm day on November 29 was well spent and the surfacing trout was just an added bonus.

Deerfield River - 11/7/09

A scheduled canopy tour at New Englands' largest zip line park located at Berkshire East, Charlemont NH allowed for a couple hours of early morning fishing on my homewater, the Deerfield River. After a short hike, I arrived to a stretch on the lower section of the Deerfield around 0630 with temperatures hovering around a "mild" 25 degrees and flows at ~1500 CFS and dropping.
The mountaineous terrain prevented the early morning sun from melting the ice that filled my guides. I was even unaware of my reel iced over until I hooked into my first trout of the morning, when my line was frozen to the reel.
Patiently waiting for the water level to drop and expose the larger boulders that created the slack water and seams which eventually would congregate the trout, the morning silence was occasionally broken with the distant vocalizations of mallard ducks flying up the river. The dropping water level allowed easier wading to the middle of the river. I fished a two rig system: Copper John (dropper) followed by an egg pattern. A strike indicator was used to help keep the flies on the edge of the seam. After a few quick strikes, I hooked into a large rainbow, which took me a little ways down river, until i finally netted the fat 17 inch. Dead drifting the same run, I hooked into another nice rainbow. Although not as big, the very sharp shaped fins and distinct color patttern indicated a wild rainbow born in the river. A cold but exciting morning lasted until 0830 when I had to leave for the canopy tours.