GaryM wrote:
Friday was a great day to take a day off and go fishing. West Central
Mass was a bit past peak in color, but still glorious. Met Tim at the
Mickey Ds near George's house. He took me to a tributary of the Swift
that was a promising spot, but still a bit high to offer good
fishing. Noted for the future though.

Tim generously put me on some of his favorite water on the Swift,
which, while not quite impossible to find, still was not obvious to
the occasional visitor. At one spot I was swinging a muddler through
fast water, when it was taken viciously. A quick shake of the head
and it was gone. All a good guide can do is put you on fish. It's up
to the angler to make it happen, which in this case I didn't. I
believe this would have been a worthy fish and not a rock as Tim
opined.

After that, it was off the secret spot, which was as abstract a place
as always is. George was there already, but was just leaving. I am
sure the same people were standing in the same spots from my visit
the previous Sunday; that is, clustered around the outflow from the
hatchery.

Tiny flies filled the air and the number ebbed and flowed for the
hour or so that we were there. #32 midges George told me were
working. The flies were spinners (I think) as the water was covered
with these tiny white dots. But the fish were on them and I had
nothing that size to compete. One person above me, who was having
success, kept pounding the same spot over and over. His technique
consisted of letting the fly drift no more than 6 inches over this
one spot before whipping it off the water and putting it back again.
Does the fish just get so mesmerized by this that caution takes a
back seat and learning mode kicks in, transforming an artificial into
a hatch?

My whole time at the secret spot there was a 16" rainbow at my feet,
who fed unperturbed. Occasionally I would flick my line a leader
length upstream and watch how, 6 feet from his nose, he would side-
step it with an arrogant lean to left, like some troutish Frenchman's
Wave. That's the secret spot in a nutshell .

Tim showed me one more spot where I finally got a 10 inch rainbow
and saved the day ... Stan was missed.

Thanks again, Tim, for sharing some gorgeous water.

Gary

It was good to see you and Tim on Friday....wish I could have stayed
longer.
The technique you described where the guy was making many short casts
is often employed when there are a large number of naturals on the
water. The idea is to get the fly in front of the target fish when he
is ready to take, and the more casts, the better your chances,
providing you don't spook the fish. I fished the same area on Saturday,
and there were tiny grey midges, and a large hatch of tiny BWO's. These
were the really small olives, size #28 - #32, with a very dark body. I
had some success with a #26 sparsly tied black midge, but did much
better in the run where you saw me fishing on Friday, catching several
nice rainbows and a good brown on a #24 PT Nymph.