Untitled - Tom Keer

There were no bugs in the air, just a
splashbelow the rock and a flash ofgold.
In the distance, three turkeys gobbled
and the trout respondedsimilarly. A second trout splasheddownstream, then a
third next to the
bank, and a fourth
upstream from the
rock, and as the
splashesincreased,
the air began to fill
with tan caddis.
I tied on a small
elkhair caddis, slid
into the bank, and
slowlywaded downstream.My plan was
to catch the lowest
fish in the pod, work
him below me, releasehim, and move
upstream. I intended
to catch every fish in
sequence.It was a
grand plan as far as
plans go, and my
first castwas true to the mark. My caddis
drifted slowly, I gave it a rwitch, and the
trout smoked it as it drifted overhead.
I set the hook and tried to get him
downstream, but he would have none
of that. He shot over to the far bank,
cranked back across the current and
30
NortheastEdition
around the rock and stopped below the
rapid. When he came to the net he was as
beautiful as he was wild: a dark brown
color, black-as-coaleye socketsand bright
red spotsnearly the sizeof a thimblet top.
TheUpper
HousatonicRiver
and its tribular'
ies offer excellenl
trout fiohing.
However,there are
algo numeroug
olher opecieoto
larget,,guch as
emallmoulhbaee,
?anfioh,car? and
pike(left).laor,
year,an |O-pound
oikewas laken on
a fly belowGreat
barrington.
I revived him and let him go. \fhen I
looked up to survey the situation I saw
only flat water. That wild fish had foiled
my plan so I returned to the bank to sit
and wait for them to reappear.
The trout returned. Mike Flach, the
owner of RiverRun, a full-service fly
shop in Great Barrington and Upper
Housatonic River guide, saw the first
fish. Judging from my wild fish, Mike
went up and across. He made a reach
cast to the top fish and drifted his fly
into the strike zone. The brown took his
caddis on a downstream trot and kept
going. It zigged and zaggedseveraitimes
and when the fish finally tired, it was
17-inchesof beautiful, wild brown trout.
Once again, our water went quiet and
we quit that spot to move around.
T h e U p p e r H o u s a r o n i cR i v e r a n d i t s
tributaries offer excellent wild brown and
brook trout fishing. During the shoulder
seasonsthere are also numerous other
speciesto target, such assmallmouth bass,
pike, panfish and sight fishing for carp.
The source of the Housatonic River
lies in three branches: the East Branch,
the Northwest Branch and the Southwest Branch. The East Branch begins as
a small pond in'Washington, Massachusetts.The river flows north for a bit and
twists down through severalridges and
headssouth. The Northwest Branch gets
most of its flow from Pontousac Lake,
just off of Route 20 and northwest of
Pittsfield. The Southwest Branch begins
at Richmond Pond, southwest of
Pittsfield. AII three branches converge
near Route 20 below Pittsfield, and this
one branch flows all the way to Long
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Island Sound. There are miles of .
Housatonic River water to exolore,
The rwo branchesrhat areworrh fishing are the East Branch and the South- '
west Branch.The Easr Branch along
'
Route 8 is wadeable. There are riffles,
runs. pools and a lew pockets.There are
wild browns, native brookies and stocked ,
r a i n b o w s .D u r i n g h i g h e r w a t e r , s o m e
anglerswill canoe the Easr Branch and
drift the deeper pools. \When they find ,,,
shallow water they'll get out and wade. ',,,''
The cover is tight and 6- to 8-foot rods ,,
are preferred. In April, 5- and 6-weights '"
are typical. but by mid-May most anglersare using 3- and 4-weights.
The SourhwestBranch flows rhrough
West Pitrsfield.Most properryis private,
'
but accessis open around the bridges and
along Route 20. If you hike you'll have
miles of solitary fishing for wild browns
and native brookies. As rhe Southwest
Branch enters West Pittsfield, there are ,,
severalspots to cast to rising wild browns ,'i
and native brookies. The river is wider .:
here and 8- ro 9-foot rods are preferred.
As with the East Branch, early seasoh "'
'':
lines are typically 5- or 6-weights and
during the mid seasonmost anglersdrop
down to 2- through 4-weights.
As the upper Housatonic flows ,
through Great Barrington you'll want to
float the river. You'll find some trort, but ,
mostly pike, bass and carp. Use 9-foot ,r
rods and step up to 7-weights for pike ,
and carp. Last year an 18-pound pike was ,
taken on a fly below Great Barrington. '- ',
There is no closed fishing seasonin
Massachusetts.Wearher permitring, anglersstarrworking strearnersin March. In
April and May, you'll find quill Gordons,
blueduns, Hendrickons, BVOs and early
brown and black stoneflies.In May and
J u n e , c o m p o u n d h a t c h e so F C a h i l l s ,
sulphurs, and tan, olive and green caddis
p r e d o m i n a t e .B l a c k a n d g r a y m i d g e s ,
craneflies,and some dragonflies round out,.
the hatches.In the fall, blue-winged olives,"'
are abundant. Leech patterns and sffeam-:.
ersfish well ail seasonlong.
Mike Flach guides an averageof four'
days per week on the river. He's noticed
that the averagesizeof upper Housatonic
River browns is between 14 and 16
inches,and he has ample opportunicies
at fish in the 20-inch range. 'il4-rile the,,
river is contaminated with PCBs, there,,
is a naturally-reproducing trout popula- ,,'
tion. The fish are inedible. and catch-,,'
and-release
is the norm.
tVild trout are cagier than stocked
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Northeast Edition
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MikeFlachguidesan averageof four daya per weekon the river,He'enoI,edlhat, the averagesize brown
trout (above)io about 14 fo 16 inchee,but,there are am?le o??ort'uniiieoat tish in the 2O-inchrange.
trout, and casting ski1land fishing precisionis essential.Drop down to lighter line
weightswhenever possible.I use floating
lines almost exclusively on the upper
Housatonic with 1-weights being the
most common. I tend to choosethe longestrods that I can fish in each section, as
better line control is more manageable
with longer rods. I'll vary the amounts
and placementof my terminal weight so
asto properly swim or drift my flies. Sink
tips are helpful when fishing the deeper
healy
pools or during the early seasor-r's
water. I'll also tie flies with varying
amounts of weight and color code the
headsso that I can fish the heavierflies in
deeperholesand the lighter'flies ir.rshallower rifflesor in the fihn.
Mike Flach'sfavorite flies for the early
seasonare attractor patterns, especially
size-74 to -20 royal Wulffs and royal
humpies. I alsousea small,yellow stimulator or a Goddard caddis as a searching
pattern. For streamers,Mike likes size-S
to -12 rabbit or marabou leech patterns,
and size-8 to -10 black, olive and brown
woolly buggers with minimal Krystal
Flash.When fishing streamers,Flachuses
a stack mend to get his flies down on the
Northeast Edirion
bottom. I use a tuck castwith a pinch of
w e i g h ra t t h e t o p o F m y t i p p e t s e c t i o n .
'When
the hatches are on, Flach favors
appropriatecolorsofelkhair caddis,CDC
sulphur emergers,parachuteBWOs, light
Cahill parachutes,CDC BWO emergers,
gray Comparaduns, and white Usuais.
Smallmouth basslove black zonkers and
woolly buggers as well as small poppers
and sliders rwitched softly. Some of my
favorites for trout are size-76 rc - 18 stocking sedges,size-16to -20 Klinkhammers
in tan and sulphur yellow, size-18
Goddard caddis,and size-16to -20 olive
and yellow Comparaduns.
For caddis, Flach fishes a lot of tandem rigs with cream, ginger, and olive
Krystal caddis pupa. He'll typically use
a bead head caddis on point with an
.
unweighted caddis pupa above it. Flach
usually varies the size and colors of the
two flies, and he ties his dropper fly off
of the four-inch extended tag end of a
blood knot. His point fly is about 14
inchesfrom the blood knot. Ifhe needs
to add weight to the rig he puts a pinch
ofshot or Soft \Teight on the knot below his dropper fly and fouling is reduced to a minimum. Flach fishes these
nymph rigs with a tuck cast and highsticks them to achievemaximum depth.
The Berkshiresare beautiful. The architecture is superb, and Norman
Rockwell, Edith Wharton, Herman
Melville, Oliver Wendeil Holmes and
John Singer Sergeant'shomes are open to
the public. Live theater and music is at
Jacob'sPillow and the Barrington Stage
Company, and the Boston Symphony
makes its summer home at Tar-rglewood
in Lenox. There are great restaurants,the
Shaker Village, and galieries and small
stores in Great Barrington, Lenox and
Stockbridge as well as hiking and biking
trails, canoe and kayak rentals, and inns
and bed-and-breakfasts.
For more fishing and guiding information:
Mtrr Fl,+cH, RiverRun, 271 Main St.,
Great Barrington, MA (413) 528-9600.
Jov DonNt, Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, 362 Mair.r St., Great
Barringtor.r,MA 0 1230; (413) 528-1510.
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Tou KEen is a freelancewriter from Boston. This isTomt first contribution to FFA.
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