November has seen a real mixed bag of fishing. The Squannacook and Nissitissit were real low when the late September stocking was done and stayed that way most of October. The rivers settled down pretty quickly from Sandy, and I think the fishing actually improved a bit with more water. I caught a few fish off and on, but my buddy Dick has done pretty well, with at least two or three fish on each outing the last week or so. He and I had "sparse pickins" at the Cocheco and Lamprey last week. The water was really cold and the fish had spread out from the stocking - at least that is the story I'll go with for now!
I have made three trips to the Swift River in central MASS the last couple weeks and each one has been terrific. My orange size 20 soft hackle has been the real producer, but I tied up some other patterns that have turned out just as good: size 22 gold-wire brassie tied with orange thread: size 24 black thread body and single turn of peacock herl collar; chartreuse soft hackle; olive soft hackle. I use 7x tippet and a tiny pinch of tungsten putty about 7 or 8 inches above the fly. If you use an indicator, use a white one. If you watch the fish closely, they tend to move out of their feeding lane when they see any other color than white coming downstream.
Happy Thanksgiving!
