A scant mile north of Rt. 9 on the Belchertown-Ware town line, an underflow release below the towering Windsor Dam jettisons permanently frigid water into a 7-mile-long channel, creating the fishery most commonly invoked under the name Swift River. As a Swift guide, it’s a tireless pleasure to witness clients’ first glimpse at this famous stretch of river; no matter how much I emphasize its pristine beauty, it seems that no arrangement of words can adequately prepare one for what appears to be a slice of water gouged from the highlands of New Zealand and mistakenly dropped in western Massachusetts.
Because the Swift is generally fed from water dozens of feet deep—out of the brunt of the sun’s reach in summer and above the freezing level in winter—its flows are consistent and cold. Even in the coldest months of the year, the river remains open and presents not only a viable, but a quite productive option for hardy anglers hoping to ply its gin-clarity. The Swift River is locally and regionally known for its technical challenges, some of which are exacerbated by the winter season, but there really isn’t a day out of the year which won’t yield some sense of a productive day on the Quabbin tailwater. In this article, I’ll cover some of the most useful and important tactics and considerations to winter fishing on the Swift and beyond, while also providing a bit of myth busting too.
Wading Considerations
Owing to the river’s almost slack currents and pristine clarity, proper wading practices can often be the difference between a successful day and a frustrating one. Regardless of the season, it’s very important to exit the water and walk along the bank when moving up and downstream. While sandy cuts between banks of grass on the river’s bottom seem to invite easy wading, using them to navigate the stream can often tip fish off to your approach well before you reach casting range as even the slightest wake created by wading will ripple across the river’s narrow channel, alerting trout to your presence. In the intervals where you must be wading in the water, I advise that there is no ‘too slow’ or ‘too quiet;’ silence and stealth are the Swift’s winning tickets.
With regard to navigating the banks, one will also quickly find that the added elevation works wonders for one’s ability to identify fish by sight, an entirely essential element to successful fishing on the Swift. One of the very first things I tell first time Swift clients while gearing up in the parking lot is that finding fish on the river is rarely, if ever, the challenge. It is all but an objective reality that the most proficient way to fish the Quabbin tailwater is via sight-fishing, and it cannot be overstated just how much easier it is to identify active fish and groups from an elevated position before descending the bank to chance some casts. In winter when snow encrusts the shoreline, the solar glare at wading level can often be so intense that it seems to render the water’s surface almost inky black and can even present significant sight challenges from elevated positions too. When in doubt, exit the water and take a peak from above; and make sure to wear your polarized shades to cut down on glare.
There are of course a few additional considerations to be aware of while walking along the elevated banks as well. First and foremost, know that just because one is a good distance away from the water’s level does not mean that you are out of danger from spooking fish. As one of southern New England’s most popular fisheries, the trout of the Swift are highly tuned to the presence of anglers and are often spooked by even the most fractional movements in the surface world above. Using natural sight obstructions like trees and bramble is highly to your advantage in any season and is doubly important on snow-covered winter days when your body and movements are highly contrasted against the white backdrop.
Hatch & Fly Selection
For so many beginner and intermediate fly anglers, one of the most vexing early concepts is often hatch identification and fly selection. While the Swift can present significant challenges in other arenas, it’s actually relatively easy to match the hatch here; a fact owing to its status as a tailwater where bug diversity is somewhat low, especially in the most popular upper reaches. In winter, imitable insect diversity is even lower as most caddis and mayfly larva are relatively inactive and only sparsely dislodged from bottom holds by the river’s lazy, meandering currents. The winter season is bookended by opportunities on blue winged olive hatches—generally sizes #22 and smaller at the start of winter and bit larger around #18 at the end—but the coldest months are predominantly a midge game.
In utter defiance of the cold, midges will continue to hatch throughout the season and fish can be taken from the surface when conditions are merciful enough. For many, the standard presentation for such opportunities are very small cul de canard (CDC) emergers, usually in sizes #26 to as small as #32, and thrown on light tippets in 7 and even 8x. Such flies are often almost impossible to track on the surface and are smartly dropped off a slightly larger lead presentation like a small parachute or even a slightly larger CDC emerger like the Craven mole fly. When employing a double fly rig, it’s usually important to avoid getting too ambitious with the lead fly as Swift fish are highly educated and can be easily put down by unseasonal presentations. In situations where CDC midge emergers are being rejected by apparent risers, consider that fish may be keyed on earlier stage and failed emergers trapped in the surface meniscus/film. In such an instance, a second guess is to replace the more surface-oriented dropper and tie on a good presentation for the film like a black beauty or a small RS2, depending on timing/presence of any olives in the latter case.
In any situation, be mindful not to force the issue on the surface; risers can be had but winter presents great opportunities to work on one’s subsurface/nymphing game. When getting larval with presentation, keep in mind that there’s really no advanced need to get crazy complicated with fly selection. Remember that while imitations for mayflies & caddis might turn a few heads here and there, a lot of such larva are inactive in the winter and are usually only sparsely dislodged from the bottom due to the river’s gentle and slow currents. While nymphing in the winter, I will often fish a two midge-presentation, usually employing an over-weighted zebra midge or beaded beauty as a depth-finding point fly with a sparser presentation dropped below as a fish getter. For the latter fly, one of my favorite options is a nameless, simple midge tied on a quality #22 or #24 curved cook with a dun or black superfine dubbed body up to a thread hot-spot behind the hook eye, usually in 16/0 orange or red. Likely owing to the river’s considerable volume of stocked fish, the success of colorful hot spots on imitations is often drawn in stark contrast to those without, especially on brighter days.
And with both stockies and wild fish in mind—for those unaware, the Swift supports one of the best native brook trout populations in all of southern New England—you just simply can never go wrong throwing some ‘junk.’ Likely owing to my roots in conventional angling, I am a firm proponent of throwing what they want to eat. The simple fact is that presenting midges proficiently is difficult and even with perfect presentation, such imitations get passed on a lot. Whether owing to the low-calorie payoff of midge forage, the sheer volume of midge imitations casted throughout the winter, or a mixture of both, a juicy egg or worm imitation drifted just right will call in a hungry trout from distance like nothing else can in the cold. To each their own, but on frigid days when the blood pumping excitement of a couple eats may be the only warmth (and possibly joy) one feels, I’m more than happy to forgo any sense of pattern purity.
Equipment
One of the biggest considerations while casting both emergers and nymphs in any season on the Swift is the building of an efficient leader system. There are many ways to skin the cat here, but the overarching idea is to achieve a good distance between the tip of the fly line and the rig, especially considering that most areas of the Swift setup to demand that we lay fly line on the water. The goal is to avoid ‘lining’ fish which occurs when our very evident fly line not only drifts over a fish’s lie, but even comes close to it; an often-considerable distance on the gin-clear Swift River. Play around with rigs and leader/tippet materials (i.e. nylon vs. fluorocarbon) but expect that the best performing leader systems for plying both the surface and subsurface will usually measure a total of 10-12 feet and often longer.
Another important and often overlooked consideration specifically when nymphing the Swift is indicator selection. Personally, I avoid firm body indicators such as screw-locks and Oros like the plague for the sole reason that their concussive noise when landing and sharp contrast in the drift is more than enough to potentially put entire systems of fish down. Instead, I’m a firm proponent of New Zealand yarn indicators which land all but silently and are easily mistaken for drift material (leaves, pine needles, etc.) at the surface. I also like them because I can customize the size, which is especially nice in the winter when you really don’t need much body with such small flies below.
While 7 or 8x tippet can be essential to properly present tiny midge emergers that can otherwise be dragged around by heavier tippets, one should rarely need to size down smaller than 6x while nymphing with a quality fluorocarbon tippet. I will usually start with 5x Cortland Super Premium when nymphing in order to fight fish quickly and efficiently and am happy to size down to 6x if I’m pulling the hooks of particularly small midge imitations out of fishes’ mouths, but I’ve never found a need to go smaller on nymph rigs even in the Swift’s epic clarity.
While we’re thinking about pulling small hooks out of mouths, of course it’s also important to throw a nod to rod selection. One of course cannot go wrong with a solid 5wt. for indicator nymphing applications, but I like to use a 4wt. with my feather-light yarn indicators for the bonus of a little more forgiveness on small flies. Contact nymphing opportunities are limited on the upper river but the lower sections offer ample opportunity for the technique. I like my 10’ 6” 3wt. but anything graded for contact will work just fine down there. Dry fly rod selection can be slightly more complex, but options seem to be often over complicated. I’m a firm believer that the best middle ground stick for plying the Swift’s surface in any season is a 9 foot 3 or 4wt., but with winter midge fishing often come out 0 and 1wts. that apply less pressure on light tippets and tiny flies. If you’ve got one by all means use it but be wary of such a stick’s limitations elsewhere if you’re going to buy one outright; not to mention that these rods have a bit of a reputation for fighting bigger, stronger fish to exhaustion. I’m of the mind that if you spend your money on quality tippets like Cortland’s Super Premium, it will ultimately save you cash by eliminating the need for a super light rod which is important for newer anglers needing to get more application out of less gear. With quality tippet, the more common problem is pulling hooks out rather than breakoffs, a reality I’m happy to accept to avoid over-fighting fish in the cold.
I hope that these tips and considerations prove helpful as you breakdown fishing on the Swift River this winter. In any season on the Swift, there is certainly a code to be cracked but the answers are always much closer than they may seem. Don’t be discouraged by any initial lack of success as it truly does not take long for the pieces to fall into place. Winter is arguably the best and quietest season to learn how to fish below Quabbin; if you can commit and pattern success for yourself now, the dividends will pay handsomely and warmly during the sulphur days of June…they are closer than they may seem.
