Ouinnipoxet info

[aeops]

I'm planning to head over tot he quinny tomorrow. I heard its a decent river to fish in the summer , because it stays fairly cool. Anyone got any good advice or places to visit along this stretch of river. Thank you,

John

[NatickDave]

John,

I fished there for a couple of hours on sunday afternoon and can report the following:

The river is way down since I was there about a month ago. The water is pretty warm too...I didn't have a stream thermometer, but I waded wet and found that it did not have the proper chill to favor trout feeding. But it was also early afternoon. My suggestion would be to go out early when the water is cool, or later when the bugs are out.

I moved fish wading into the Cable Pool, but had no hits. I had a few dinks try to take my hopper fly up above the pool, but they were too small I think. Might have been chub. Otherwise, I had no action in the river.

I caught two lovely brook trout (one 7" one 5") in Trout Brook, the stream which enters the river at the Cable Pool, all in tough, tight spots in amongst the heavy cover. Fun fishing, but not without its frustrations. These were on the elk-hair caddis. The brook water seemed cooler than the river by a couple of degrees.

One of the brookies had a piece of thick monofilament hanging out of its mouth, but I could not get it out before he slipped away. Presumably a bait fisherman broke him off at some point.

On one of the finest little runs on the brook, I laid up a perfect cast (after several tries) and got the perfect drift, which was rewarded with the perfect hit, but I missed him. I let him rest for a while, and returned an hour later. Same cast, same drift, same fish, same hit...same miss. Oh, man...it was tough to leave without seeing him up close.

Good luck.

Natick Dave

[aeops]

thank you dave. I will be out there probably by 0900. It appears since it has warmed up the fish are down, so nymphs and caddis it will be. did you see anything rising?

I have heard about trout brook so i will be sure to explore that.

how far is it from downtown boston...any idea?

[Jimi]

Set aside 45 minutes to an hour for travel and you should be all set. Good Luck!

[NatickDave]

Yep, Jimi is right...about 45-60 min.

I tried nymphing a bit, especially in the pool, but had no hits. I saw one big rise in the pool, but could not attract a hit on the caddis. However, I worked only a very small section of the river, and for a short time at midday, so I know I missed a lot.

Have fun on the brook, I sure did. It is all about crouching down and flipping your fly into the tiny pools or runs and trying to stay out of the trees. But the rewards are hungry wild fish, my favorite kind. :)

ND

[aeops]

well I stopped by yeaterday for 1 1/2 hours. I fell in love with this stream, perfect size, plenty of pools, runs, and quite. Water level was good. spent about 30 mins just walking it, and the other hour fishing. Got two hits but to no avail. Then god turned on the water pipes and it poured, and i mean poured.

I will be heading back there next week.


john

[Jimi]

Are spinners productive on the river?

[NatickDave]

I would think spinners would be productive in the deep pools, like the Cable Pool and the big hole at Canada Mills. Also, I think they would be killer at the point where the river empties into the res. That is just above the "singing bridge" I think. I have seen guys with spinning gear on the river several times, though I didn't talk to them much.

Remember, though...the low water has made the pools a lot smaller, so maybe spring and fall are the time to try them.

ND

[haguebrook]

According to the NWS, it may not be good fishing this weekend anyways :

The rain is expected to cause a sharp rise in small streams late today and tonight which could cause flooding along river banks. The area likely to experience such flooding is Franklin and Northern Worcester counties in Massachusetts and the Monadnock region of Southern New Hampshire.

Because of this flood danger the NWS says "fishing near small streams is not recommended today or tonight as stream banks will become very slippery and the swiftly moving water will be dangerous to anyone falling in."

[Fin]

Tried fishing the river yesterday, and haguebrook I should've taken your advice. Water levels were too high, for my liking anyway. I passed up a striper trip to fish the river and wished I didn't. Smetimes I just get an overwhelming urge to fish for trout. USGS claimed that the river was running at 274 cf, but it seemed like a lot more than that. Tried fishing it anyway, no luck....Water was to fast and murky. Maybe I'll give it a shot next week.

[aeops]

well im probably going to head back there tuesday afternoon/evening. The discharge is down to 65 and the levels at less than 7.5 ft. These were the levels there last wednesday when I got caught in a downpour. The levels and flow then were fine. It appears they have dropped big time over the last couple of days. problem now is water temps and finding cool temp runs.

should be a good day though ...see you there!

John
Boston

[aeops]

well today, was much better weather wise than last tuesday. headed over about 500pm and stayed till 830. The flow and levels are back to normal. There appeared to be a decent number of anglers on the river, and from what i could tell all were fly fisherman. I ended up "batting" 1 for 2. Early off I hooked a trout and about midway from bringing him in I lost him. Toward the end i got a nice healthy 12" brookie which took a #10 Muddler fished dry. Seeing that made my evening, I head back to boston.

I visted the area where the USGS station is and realized very quickly how the temps are high in that area...its pretty much a shallow pool that see's the sun most of the day. So for those that care, i would ignore the usgs website for temps, I fished the downriver section between the I190 overpass the and the powerstation. Water was much cooler, and a pretty strectch of water is tiss.

Best,
John
Boston