Swift River, MA

[niveker 0]

Little article  about my home waters, though I seldom fish the areas they mention.  

https://www.boston.com/news/the-boston-globe/2023/04/26/swift-river-fly-fishing/

[Mlandry 0]

Just going to add more pressure to an already heavily fished river.

[niveker 0]

Fine with me, as I seldom fish the areas mentioned.  Tom McGuane must have been fishing there when he said tailwaters are the great theme parks of American fly fishing, which is exactly how that section of the fishery is managed.  

Not saying that's a bad thing, just not for me.  

[redietz 0]

I used to fish there frequently in the early 80's.  It was crowded even then.  I disagree that it's particularly difficult to fish, though.

[DFoster 0]

I love the Swift and fish it often, the well known pools are always busy and covid seemed to have doubled the amount of anglers.  But it is the best Brook Trout fishery in the state and fortunately almost everyone is after it's large bows and browns.   When I'm there I'm targeting Brookies and that usually results in me fishing where everyone else isn't. 

 Dan Trela is a great guy and a master on that river.  I've fished next to him many times at the pipe (week days when there are not as busy.) 

[Raleigh 0]

Any tips for a person just starting out fly fishing.

[Raleigh 0]

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step

[Mark Knapp 0]

On 11/23/2024 at 10:50 AM, Raleigh said:

Any tips for a person just starting out fly fishing.

Yep, go fishing.

[Swamp Fly 0]

Welcome to the site!

You might consider starting a new topic, more people are likely to chime in.

What he said.  That being said, you may want to narrow your question(s) down a bit.  It's kind of like asking how to be a surgeon, best to break it up some.  I mean the obvious answer on becoming a surgeon is to go to medical school, while true it's not really helpful.  To complicate things fly fishing is different things to different people all of whom are correct and all of whom are incorrect.😃  Are you trying to catch Blue marlin, panfish, or native brook trout?  If your screen name is also your location then all of those options are a reasonable drive away.  Do you want to focus on dry flies, streamers, or nymphs?  The list of options/techniques is just about infinite. 

In my opinion probably the most effective way to learn is from someone in person.  The internet, a book, or DVD can't look at your cast and make a recommendation.  Taking a class is also an option but unless you like that sort of thing try and find someone helpful and spend your money on gear and fuel instead.  I mean if you can find an into to fly fishing class for $20-$50 then great, that sort of thing might help you to figure out what to focus on first.  A lot of fly shops offer free or inexpensive intro classes, it gets people in the door who tend to buy things later.  I've also seen multi day classes for over $1000 or even much more if lodging and exotic(ish) locations/fish are involved.  Want to learn to fly fish on a famous steelhead stream or top tier lodge an ocean away, I'm sure someone will take your money.  But like Mark said, especially if you already have gear, go find some easy fish and learn in the best kind of classroom there is: The Outdoors

 

Swamp