I fished the Westfield River, in the Chesterfield Gorge area. It was a beautiful day. Not too hot, water at 63 degrees and running at about 200 cfs.
Landed six. Two 14″ browns were the highlight. Hooked about 12. Still having problems hooking well trout on the downstream swing. And, for fun, I was super-aggressive with the trout to push my tippet to the limits.
The winning fly today was a streamer, the JT Special. Nothing on other streamers, but trout shot over to inspect the JT Special, and often, mouthed it. A few times, just after a cast and as the streamer was still in the water film, trout would attack the fly with a big and dramatic surface splash.
Nymphs did the trick, too, particularly soft-hackled Frenchies. I’ve read that this part of the river is loaded with caddis, and so, I’ve always had good luck with soft hackles.
I wonder if stocking this year is a bit different. I caught mostly browns and brookies. Last year, at the Westfield, I caught mostly rainbows.
I really like this stretch of the river. It’s an amazing fishery, a C&R area with scenic views, no cell phone coverage, and a great combination of riffles, pools, and runs.
And, loads of tadpoles in the shallows. Is there a fly that mimics them?
What a day! I agree on the abundance of browns and brookies. Not seeing as many of the bows as years before. And yes, tadpoles are everywhere over there. Glad to see the rain helped out our rivers
Does that area have wild trout too? I heard the westfield has some wilds, but I've never been.
Not sure. I've hooked into some holdovers (really big ones), but I'm not sure about wild fish.
Nice! I was there about 2 weeks before they stocked it. My first time there and got skunked but it was a beautiful day. I definitely want to go back.
Thanks! FWIW, I've found that the trout are predictably in the same spots: these tend to be the tail-ends of the pools, on the far side of the river away from anglers, deeper runs, quiet seams in the pocket water.
So, if you're not catching fish, keep moving. Or, if you're at a spot where you know trout are hanging out, change flies until you see what they want.
The Gorge area of the EB takes some time to figure out, but once you know where the trout are, you can fairly consistently catch fish.
Fished the gorge yesterday river was beautiful ,caught 18" rainbow . Nice to see fish holding over
Nice, Bob! Any photos?
Sorry no photo. Tried to get my phone out to take a picture and the fish slipped into the water .water level still very fish able even after all the rain. I live close by will be on this a lot
Went to the gorge last night ,caught 2 rainbow's both around 16". I broke fly rode on second fish
Sorry to hear about the broken fly rod!
Caught two rainbows yesterday 18" and 14" lots of fun
Nice! How were the water flows? Am wondering how far up they came with the rains. I find that area tough to fish when the water is low.
Water levels were high ,I went right after heavy rain. Level are looking petty good now