DEERFIELD RESURGENCE

July 28, 2007 - It wasn't that long when fly anglers considered the Deerfield River to be the crown jewel of trout fishing in Massachusetts. That being said, there has always been a love-hate relationship with this watershed. It was common to plan a day on the river, call the flow hot line (that often promised limited water releases) only to arrive at your destination and find the river blown out due to excessive water discharges.

Speaking with many fly-fisherman that visit the Deerfield, this has not been the case during the current season. While there will always be discharges emanating from Fife Brook Dam, the releases (almost always in the 1000 cfs vicinity) have occurred during the early afternoon hours allowing fly-fishermen to take advantage of low water conditions from pre-dawn on. Since downriver sections (in the Charlemont area) aren't immediately affected by Fife Brook releases, it's not uncommon to enjoy nearly perfect water throughout most of daylight hours.

In my many, many hours on the river it has always been my experience that the watershed simply does not fish well during excessive water releases. Aggressive sinking lines (or sink tips) must replace floaters and wading is often a exercise in futility often leading one to surrender to the rising water level.

I spoke with Deerfield river guide and FFF Master Casting Instructor, Dave Benoit recently about the prospects of the watershed. The brief conversation led Benoit to pitch the comment, "there's a lot of fish in the river, Jim." Pressing the issue I was able to extract valuable hatch information one could utilize if planning a visit during the latter part of July and on into August. Caddis (16-18) have dominated the theatre with BWO's (20-22) and black ants (16) a close second. Round out the arsenal with a selection of terrestrials, hoppers (8-10), black beetles (14-16) and crickets (10) and you should be good to go. As we approach the end of the month another, often neglected, insect you may incur is the trico (22). This is commonly fished in its spinner phase, offering selective and challenging fishing.

THE SWIFT
At last check the river has gone dramatically low (62 cfs). While there has been no problem locating fish since the July 3rd stocking, an extreme technical element has presented itself. You will achieve a lot more success when planning your visits during the early morning or early evening hours. Unless your nymphing, 12 to 14 foot 7 or 8X leaders are standard terminal tackle during the mid-summer months.

Good fishing and safe wading,
JB