This writer is old enough to remember the excitement that was generated by the opening day of fishing season, which in Massachusetts was always the third Saturday in April. A horde of fired-up anglers would descend on every body of water stocked with trout that day and fish with an enthusiasm that was the result of waiting for the day to arrive. When the Fisheries and Wildlife Board, at the suggestion of fisheries staff, moved to year-round fishing, some complained about the tradition of opening day. This year, like many, fishermen will be enjoying many more days and there is no one complaining about that.
The law was changed in 1976. Unfortunately for me, it was not a couple of years earlier. To help you understand, let me explain what happened in 1974. An early Easter that year, and subsequently the public school vacation, resulted in the students being out of school the week before fishing season was slated to open. That would have been fine except that yours truly — or, more specifically, my fiancée, her mother and her twin sister — had spent a great deal of time planning a wedding for April 13. To me, it was perfect. We could get all the wedding, honeymoon and other details out of the way in time for fishing season on the third Saturday.
MassWildlife felt that it was wrong to have the school children not able to enjoy fishing during their vacation so, for that year only, they moved opening day to the second Saturday, April 13. There were men wearing waders on my side of the church! The wedding took place as scheduled, however, and we are still married.
Now, fast forward to 2021 and Spring stocking has begun. Approximately 500,000 brook, brown, rainbow and tiger trout will be stocked this spring from MassWildlife’s five hatcheries. These fish, coupled with the more than 60,000 fish stocked last fall, will provide some excellent fishing in the coming months. In preparing to write this week’s column, the MassWildlife web page was consulted, and it was easy to find the information on trout stocking. A few clicks later I was at the Trout Stocking Report, a real-time map that shows what bodies of water have been stocked, what species were stocked and when the trout were put in for anglers to enjoy.
On Wednesday, the map showed black push pins in our local area, indicating which stocked waters had received visits from the stocking trucks. It turns out that The East Branch of the Swift River in Petersham was stocked last week on March 23. Connors Pond in Petersham was stocked the following day. Silver Lake in Athol got fish on March 30 as did Lake Mattawa in Orange. When you click on other bodies of water, they usually have dates when they are scheduled so you can plan your excursions accordingly.
To many, Lake Mattawa is the crown jewel of local trout waters as most of the shoreline along the road at what was once known as North Pond is accessible for fishing and the deep drop-off near shore makes catching trout by shore fishing very productive and extremely popular. Small boat fishing is also popular as many troll spoons and flies. Remember that anyone in a canoe or kayak in Massachusetts is required by law to wear a life jacket until May 15.
Stocking will continue and you can expect a second round at some point before June. May is often considered the best month for trout fishing, particularly by fly fishermen who “match the hatch” and try to use fly patterns that are tied to look like emerging insects that are hatching as the waters warm. There is something magical about a trout rising to a dry fly and we are in the middle of some really good fly-fishing waters including the Millers and Deerfield rivers. Catching a trout on a fly you have yourself tied is something very special. If you do not tie flies yourself, visit Flagg’s Tackle on Route 202 (Daniel Shays Highway) in Orange. Rodney Flagg is as good at the art of fly tying as anyone you will ever meet, and his flies (and the free advice) are priceless.
My forays out and about looking for turkeys have not been particularly fruitful. The birds are always in transition at this time of year as the flocks break up. One tom was seen but he was more interested in chickens as there were no hens around. He moved on and was gone the next day. There is still scouting time and a chance to catch up with landowners before the season opens on Monday, April 26. In a perfect world, my fully inoculated body will once again be able to move around and hunt outside of Massachusetts as well. So far, everything is a go for Kansas and a chance to traipse around those big properties looking for a dumb gobbler that will fall for my calling. Stay tuned!