Good Decmeber fishing

[twillirish]

Hi Everyone,

As someone who spends most of his time fishing the Souhegan and Piscataquog in southern NH and the Squannie and Nisitissit in MA, I am looking for a little advice for fishing further west in MA.

I am thinking about taking a day between Christmas and New Year to wet a line and thought about getting out west of Worcester.

I am a newbie to that area and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. I am not looking for secret honey holes, just some ideas of where there is nice water to wet a line.

Thanks in advance

[JoeOverlock]

The Swift River isn't that far from you, and it offers some good fishing. Further our way you have the Deerfield with it's C&R areas and the Hoosic here in North Adams. If you decide on the Hoosic or Deerfied then send me a PM and I'll point you at some holes.

Anyone else have some suggestions?

[twillirish]

Thanks Joe for the suggestions.

I was thinking about the Swift as I have never fished it. I am hoping that mid-week it will not be crowded. It seems as though that is one of the biggest complaints.

I am thinking I'll try the Y-pool and work down stream if there are not a ton of people.

Thanks for the advice and offer of a PM for more information.

Scott

[bscanman]

Scott,

I fished the Swift last Friday afternoon, 12/15, for about and hour and half and didn't see a lot of fish activity (i.e. no strikes or stings) in my favorite spots. There were some fish showing, but I was too inept to catch any. I would have explored longer but the d**n waders were seeping and it gets a little chilly this time of year with wet thighs. I usually fish the downstream C&R section between Rt. 9 and Cady Lane so I can't tell you what things looked like from Rt. 9 up to the Y-pool. The Y-pool usually has fish, but they can be tough to catch. If you try the Swift do it before Jan 1st because the C&R section (downstream of Rt. 9) becomes Catch and Keep so there will be mobs of people throwing hardware all over the place.

A little closer to you are the Quinapoxet and Stillwater Rivers. I have NO idea how they're fishing, but I grew up walking distance to the Quin and it's a very pretty stream with a good population of fish. Good luck.

Brian

[twillirish]

Brian,

I had thought about the Quinnie, but I have not heard much positive about it lately. I have not heard of the Stillwater.

Thanks for the tip about going before January 1. I will be there Wednesday Dec 27th as I am burning my last vacation day of the year.

The extended forecast doesn't look horrible for that day high 30's with a chance of showers. At least there shouldn't be ice on the rod.

How big a stretch of water is it to go from the y pool down to Cady Lane? Am I better off going one way or another?

Thanks.
Scott

[bscanman]

Scott,

The entire stretch from the Y-pool to Cady Lane is around 2 miles, give or take a little either way. If you have a full day to kill you should have time to pick likely spots and try both.

If you haven't been there before it's not like your typical northeast freestone trout stream. For the most part it's a relatively small, slow-moving, gin clear stream with heavy bottom vegetation. There will be fish, but they'll be spooky. Good luck.

BTW, the Stillwater is the other main feeder stream to the Wachusett Res. It's about 10 minutes from the Q in Sterling.

Here's a Swift brookie. Did I mention the weeds?

[JoeOverlock]

That's a good sized brookie! Why do they open it up to the meat packers?

[twillirish]

Joe,

I can't say that I have ever fished that type of water. I am used to the freestone streams.

With it being that weedy, I take it you don't want to drag a nymph along the bottom.

What is the best way to fish it? Should I shorten the leader/tippet and fish off floating line, drop a fly below a strike indicator, or set up a dropper below a big dry?

Thanks for the great advice.

Scott

[yashuone]

nice brookie! he's so ashamed of being caught he's hiding his face

[JoeOverlock]

yashuone said:

nice brookie! he's so ashamed of being caught he's hiding his face

Must of been a real poorly tied fly. The brookie was saying to himself "Dam it! That's the worst bead head pheasant tail nymph I've ever seen! The body wraps where all loose and he had about 2 inches of head cement on there just to hold the bead in place! WHY THE HELL DID I BITE IT!

... I'm so embarrassed I could just die..."

;D

[bscanman]

Joe,

Regarding the meat packers...I don't know. I guess the state fisheries folks feel that the upstream side is FFO C&R all year long so you have to please the Catch and Kill crowd too-It's heavily stocked so all our license fees go into the effort. I bear no ill will to anglers who want to keep a stocked fish to eat, just lay off the brookies . Oh, and it wasn't a poorly tied pheasant tail it was a poorly tied royal wulff!

Scott,

You'll lose a lot of flies trying to bump the bottom. There are spots you can do it, but you'll probably be better off with droppers or just nymph off a floating line. Heck, depending on the day small midges may even be coming off the water so you could end up fishing dries alone.

Here he is without the mask.

[yashuone]

what a beauty, nice to his face.

[twillirish]

I will hit it the Swift tomorrow and let you know how I did. I have my stash of hare's ears all set and some tiny midges too.

I will have all day to fish it as the family has gone up to North Conway and I am only taking one day off from work.

I will be up and out early and fish til I can't see any more.

Thanks for all the advice.

Scott

[strbender]

Scott
Maybe we can car pool some time. I live in Danvers. Part of the reason I go up to NH (Lamprey R.) is it's only 100 miles round trip, or $25 in gas I would love to fish more in our own state.

[twillirish]

Fished the Swift yesterday with moderate success, missing more that I landed, but landed a half a dozen. I brought in 5 brookies that were similar in size to the picture Joe posted and one nice big fat rainbow of about 20".

I walked a ways down from the hatchery pipe and worked my way back up stream, fishing a size 12 caddis emerger with a size 14 GRHE behind. I got 5 of the 6 on the emerger. I got all the brookies well below the run that is below the hatchery pipe in the weedier sections.

The rainbow I got in the run that is below the pool below the hatechery pipe. He put up a heck of a fight, coming out of the water 4 times. I finished out in the pool below the hatechery pipe in the company of 3 other people. I managed to see 2 fish surface and 3 others swim by me in the pool but couldn't get any takers.

It was a beautiful day to be out. Although the morning had several snow showers, it did not slow the fishing any. As the morning turned in to afternoon, the sun came out but the wind picked up. Between the number of people in a small area and the wind picking up, I came off the water around 2 PM after being on for about 5 hours. It was a lot of fun, the action was good, and had I been paying more attention to fishing and less to enjoying the surroundings I may have caught more than 6. But, 6 is fine with me, it was a great way to finish off the 2006 fishing season.

Again, thanks to everyone for the advice. I think I was able to put it to good use.

Scott

[JoeOverlock]

Sounds like a good time!

[bscanman]

Thanks for the report Scott, well done.