Last Saturday I took a day trip to the Swift River.  This is one of the closest trout streams to me, and it has the added benefit of a healthy flow and cool water temperatures throughout the summer.  We’re in the midst of a significant drought in Massachusetts, and wild trout streams are feeling the pressure right now.  For now, it seems the Deerfield or the swift will be the primary options for those of us targeting trout.

Big brown trout on a tiny size 20 nymph

For the first time in a while, I caught an equal amount of brown, brook, and rainbow trout on the swift.  Most of the trout were taking nymphs drifted along the bottom in a size 20 or smaller. I tied up a new nymph pattern that consists of a black nickel bead, black dubbing, and a couple wraps of blue tinsel flash over top of the dubbing.  It’s a very simple fly, and seemed to work quite well. It can be tricky to nymph the bottom on the swift river during the summer, due to the overgrowth of aquatic plants on the stream bed.  The brook trout seem to love the greener areas, and I’ve lost a few wily brook trout that decided to swim into the densely packed growth.  They tend to do so when first hooked, so I try to keep pressure on them to stay towards the surface.  The brook trout typically aren’t tippet breaking size (yet!), and can easily be brought to the surface.

They were really liking a parachute adams fly.

Later in the day, I was able to catch a few wild brook trout with a parachute adams.  I also caught one of the largest wild brook trout I’ve seen on the river, which evaded me by swimming under a sunken log.  I was glad to see that it was able to shake the fly out of it’s mouth in the process, so it can live on to grow even more.  All said, it was a relaxing day and felt nice to cool off in the stream.

Here are a few more pictures from the day.  I hope everyone is enjoying the summer and taking time to cool off in a stream whenever possible.