WHAT’S WITH THE SWIFT?

May 13, 2004 - Many anglers fishing the Swift River watershed have been perplexed by the lack of fish both up and downstream of the Rt. 9 bridge. One SR devotee, Howard Shainheit, recently contacted a state biologist to get the poop on just what was going on. The biologist (sorry I don’t know his name) explained that the area north of the Rt. 9 bridge had yet to receive its initial stocking due to the poor road conditions. The sector south of the bridge had received 3 stockings totaling about 900 fish. The contributing factors of cold water and heavy precipitation during the month of April leads many theorists to believe that many of the residents have migrated south to seek more hospitable habitat and the balance have fallen prey to the catch-and-kill crowd.

It’s comforting to receive more recent reports that the river has been restocked and fishing potential is slowly returning to normal. We would expect conditions to continue to improve over the next few weeks as water temperatures begin to moderate.

HATCHES
Three insects continue to dominate the local fly fishing theater as we enter the middle of May. A well-armed angler would be wise to inventory a selection of Hendrickson’s (14), Red Quill’s (16) and Blue Wing Olive’s (20) when venturing about. These insects should remain very important for another week or so before hatching begins to wane. Round out your box with a few caddis drys (14-16) and a few prospecting patterns… olive and black wooly buggers (8-10), pheasant tail nymph (14-16) and maybe a hare’s ear (14-16) and you should be good to go.

DOWN CONNECTICUT WAY
We just received a sterling report from a few of Jack Smola’s (www.jacksmola.com) clients regarding the Farmington River in Connecticut. It seems like the guide put the twosome onto countless numbers of fish in the TMA of the watershed. Due to inclement weather the afternoon Hendrickson-Red Quill hatch never materialize forcing the anglers to vary their tactics. Modest sink-tip lines in conjunction with a streamer pattern, the likes of which puzzled even this 40-year veteran of the long rod (Hook: streamer #8 3X, body: gold sparkle braid, underwing: pearl krystal flash, wing: lemon wood duck, collar: grizzly hackle), was just the ticket leading to their double digit success.

Good fishing and safe wading,
JB