" Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction"-Steve Mathewson Yes, some of the rivers are receding and some are not.  The Millers dropped 690 cfs in the last two days. At 2550 cfs it's in tough shape but heading in the right direction. The Ware has dropped 156 cfs over the same time span and as I write it sits at 345 cfs which is fishable if you are a good and careful wader. The EB and the Swift are a mess!!! The great news is that there is no real RAIN in the forecast for the next week. Ken ..read more

In "normal" years we hit the rivers by late March, toss leaden flies to stupid hatchery trout and then by late April Spring is upon us with shrinking flows, warmer temperatures and rising Trout!!! That will not be the case this season. There's just too much water on our part of the planet to recede that quickly and before we know it the shad will start charging up our coastal rivers followed by striped bass. That's when the real fishing starts!!!! I'm getting to the point where if the fish I catch was stocked I'd just as soon fire up the grill and enjoy it.  It's probably a rainbow wi ..read more

  I could see the trout working the choppy surface and I really wanted to take a shot at it BUT made it almost impossible to float a dry amidst the chutes rapids and the boulders. I came back 3 days later with a fly that would take the abuse and still float. 1. Size 10 or 12 standard dry hook 2.Wing - white deer hair 3.Body- Senyu Laser dubbing (a light color)  4. Tail - Golden Badger hackle fibers 5. A long Grade A golden badger hackle This fly really shines on rough pocket water ( Millers in Erving) or the EB but is only so so on glassy water like most of the Swift.   ..read more

  There's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore like an idiot" - Steven Wright The great deluge may be over.  Rivers, which have been busting their banks for two weeks, seem to be in retreat. Here are the numbers for today and where they were last Wednesday, the day with the highest flows this year. Millers (today) 1670 cfs, last Wednesday 3000 cfs EB (today) 1080 cfs, last Wednesday 1830cfs Swift (today) 650 cfs   Last Wednesday 716 cfs Ware River (today) 690 cfs  Last Wednesday 841 cfs Don't start fooling yourself that it's safe wading because i ..read more

  No, I didn't catch this brown recently because the rivers have gone crazy.  As of this morning the river flows are as follows: Millers - 3000 cfs Swift - 716 cfs EB - 1830 cfs Ware - 841cfs I believe that this is the highest I've ever seen these flows and I'm not being overly cautious by saying that you shouldn't even attempt wading flows as dangerous as these.  These rivers could drop by 80% and they would still be too high. I could suggest a "thin blue line" but they may be flooded too. Hold your horses and take a deep breath, Real Spring will be here shortly followe ..read more

   "The two best times to fish is when it's raining and when it isn't." Chesterfield Gorge Access Road I've had a couple of flyfishers sniffing around to see if any streams are producing, the EB in particular. The answer is NO, especially the freestones. As of this morning (3/8/24) the EB is flowing at 348 cfs and that is with them reducing the flow in half yesterday. With more rain this weekend.........!!!   The Millers is at 1790 cfs. Forgetaboutit!! Freestone temperatures are hovering at 40 degrees.  Your best bet  would be to hit a blueline this weekend. B ..read more

  Thomas Ames Jr. calls them the White Winged Curse. They can hatch by the millions on sunny warm Summer mornings and it appears that every trout in the river is feeding on them except they will refuse YOUR finely crafted Trico offering every time. Welcome to the Trico hatch in sizes 22 to 28. Some anglers will draw swords with these critters but after a while will be scanning the surface to find insects that are more accommodating or at least something that you can see!! How do I fish a Trico hatch?  There are two times. One is in the very early morning. The males hatch before fir ..read more

  "Maybe your stature as a flyfisherman isn't determined by how big a trout you can catch but by how small a trout you can catch without being disappointed." John Gierach You are looking at what may be my favorite dry fly water on the Millers River. Look at the photo! The first thing you can see is that it is NOT early Spring after the stocking truck has left. The foliage is in full summer bloom. It's also not October with leaves falling after the stocking truck has left again. It's high Summer!!  This is the time that the "old masters" waited for. They were not ready to flog the wa ..read more

"Trout aren't naturally as selective as they've become in crowded tailwaters - they've been trained to be like that by too much fishing pressure.  I've seen tailwater fish that are so hysterical they'll refuse naturals. You wonder how they get enough to eat." - John Gierach Let's face it. If you have a 6 fish outing it can be considered a good outing. A 12 fish day can mean a round of applause. But a 20 fish outing most likely means the hatchery truck beat you there!!  This is a condition that seems to exist in the Carolinas and in northern Georgia where THOUSANDS of trout are st ..read more

"I think I fish, in part, because it's an anti-social, bohemian business that, when gone about properly, puts you forever outside the mainstream culture without actually landing you in an insitution."- John Gierach   It's almost mid-February and I've been tying flies, well, nonstop for the last year (it seems like it's the same every year).  I consider fly tying to be a separate activity from fly fishing as tying is separate from painting your house.  I love fly tying and hate painting houses!!  But something else enters the seasonal picture and that's going over my col ..read more