Managed to get out for a couple hours Sunday Afternoon. Drove up to the Quinipoxet river (really a creek) near Holden MA and started to get ready to fish. Went to tie my first ever chikli pepper on and found I had left my vest with all my flies in it at home. I did not have a single fly so I loaded everything back up and drove the 45 minutes back home picked up the vest and drove the 45 minutes back to Holden This time I actually tied the chili pepper on!!
Althought there were a lot of cars in the pullout I only saw one guy fishing. He was fly fishing a "Mat Hole" where a creek comes in and forms a huge deep pool. I never fish this hole because the worm dunkers usually camp her and the only good place to fly (or any other means) fish it is a bugger to get to and requires one to get shin deep in a mud seep. Yuck. Only fished the pepper for a couple minutes. The water in MA is VERY low and clear and the sun was bright. I could see the fly through the water from 50 feet away flashing like a mirror. I'm sure it was putting down any fish in the vicinity. Switched to a caddis worm and fished through all of the ripples. NADA not even a tap. Packed it in on that section and was thinking of heading to the lower end which was mostly pocket water, figured those fish would be more likely to strike in bright light. Met a friend from TU as I came out and chatted a while, I only see him at the winter shows, was nice to meet him streamside. On the lower section I was still not having any luck but as the sun set I got one good solid hit, a large (12 to 14 inch) native brookie one of the biggest I have ever seen on the Quinny. Managed a nice long range release and he is waiting til next time. Despite the beautiful weather and the popularity of this water I never had any company. That one lone fly fisher was the only person I saw on the water. Overall a great afternoon, it was just great to be out. Mike M
