The Swift below Winsor Dam is the most technical trout water in Massachusetts and one of the most famous small tailwaters in the East — a cold, gin-clear river bleeding the bottom out of the Quabbin Reservoir, fishable every day of the year and crowded for good reason. The top mile or so below the dam is fly-fishing-only and catch-and-release year-round, holding wild and holdover brook trout, browns and rainbows, plus the odd landlocked salmon that drops down out of the reservoir. It is finesse fishing in the extreme: low, clear, even flows; educated fish in skinny water; midges and tiny olives matched on long fine tippet. Cold all summer when freestones nearby are too warm to fish ethically, it asks for stealth, patience and small flies. A delicate, rule-sensitive, pressured classic — about as technical as New England trout fishing gets.
- Mixed