West Branch Report

I hit a few more spots upstream from Walton this evening. Stream flows are quite nice at ~500 CFS. Still a little sedimentation in the water, but clearing up fast.  The evening was cool and breezy so I got a lot of work on my side arm cast and double-haul to tuck that fly under the wind. I also spent some time fishing an area where the current was slow on the near bank, fast in the middle, and slow on the far bank where the water drained from one pool to another. To fish the seems I got a lot of practice on my aerial mends. I definitely recommend checking out Peter Kutzer's video for some tips on this:

Perhaps it was the breeze, but I didn't see much surface activity until after dusk. I fished the same patterns as Monday for the most part, though I did try my hand at nymphing with an indicator and a pheasant tail and I spent some time swinging an Adams wet fly. The nymphing didn't last long as I don't much enjoy casting the rig in the wind. Someday I will give nymphing a more thorough go. I know it is one of the most effective ways of catching trout, but I haven't had much luck with it to date. Swinging wet flies through riffles can be relaxing and easy, especially if the current makes get a drag-free float on your dry difficult.

In the end, it was a slow day for me with only a few small fingerlings and river chubs. My buddy did land a nice 13 incher on a hopper pattern of all things.

West Branch Report

Thanks to the men and women of our Armed Forces who fought and died for us, I was priveledged to be able to go fishing with my buddy on Memorial Day. I think war is a terrible option to have to take, and I hope we never have another, but I have nothing but respect for all those who have gone to battle to defend our freedom throughout history.

Back home in central New York, Memorial Day was beautiful, sunny and warm. The Upper West Branch near Hamden was running a bit high (USGS says 650 CFS at Walton and it seems best at 300-400), but it's starting to clear up and should be perfect in a day or two if the thunderstorms don't muck it up again.

I hit the water a little after 5PM and the insect activity was moderate. I noticed quite a few small caddisflies dipping and diving to deposit their eggs (dark dun Chimarras) and there were Hendricksons out and about. A few fish were feeding at the surface in select spots, but I had to cover a lot of river to find them.

On the evening, a Biot Parachute Hendrickson pattern in size 12 seemed to draw the most interest.  I landed a nice 15" brown, an 8" chub, and had a few takes that I wasn't quick enough to connect with on that fly. I also had a strong take on a CDC & Elk caddis pattern. I was swinging it as a wet fly when the strike occurred, but my tippet gave way. It didn't raise any fish as a dry, which led to the switch to the Hendrickson Pattern.

As night fell, there were a few vicious outbursts where browns jumped clear out of the water after a meal. My guess is that they were hitting caddisflies based on the violence of the takes, so I switched again to a CDC Biot Caddis Emerger. It did draw a strike, but I lost the fly and the fish when I set the hook - something I clearly need to work on.

PFD Rusty Spinner

Hook: 14-18 Dry

Thread: rusty brown 8/0

Tail: brown-olive micro-fibbets (Hareline Tinted Mayfly Tails)

Body: tapered tying thread

Wing: white poly yarn

Wing case/PFD: white craft foam

Gear Review: Hareline Amadou Dryer Pad

While on a fly tying forum I read about amadou as the secret to successfully fishing CDC patterns. Since you don't apply floatant to CDC and it can quickly become a sopping, sinking blob, it can be a bit tedious fishing those patterns, but since they're so damn effective it's worth dealing with the high-maintenance.

Enter Hareline's Foam Amadou Dryer pad. I picked up the large size (2"×4") from intheriffle.com over the winter and have been using it quite a bit this spring. From Hareline's to-the-point product description, it "sucks water from your wet dry flies like a sponge." Actually, quite a bit better than a sponge, I'd say. Simply squeeze your fly between the two pads for a few seconds et voila, it's dry. You may need to fluff it up a bit, but as far as quick and easy fly drying, this little pad is amazing.

(And speaking of fluffing up your fly, I use an old Rx bottle filled with those little silica desiccant beads that come in electronics shipments. Toss your fly in, shake it up a bit, and off you go!)

West Branch Report

Last night down in Walton, NY the water was high and stained at ~1000 cfs, but somewhat wade-able in certain areas. Despite the turbidity, there was decent insect activity starting at around 5:30 and continuing on into dark and there were fish feeding at the surface in certain areas.

I had a solid evening of fishing with 5 hook-ups, though I only managed to land 3. I'm not sure what my deal was, but knot failure accounted for two lost fish. This is the first time I've had issue with the Davy knot, but I still find it quicker and more reliable than the clinch.

I began the evening with a light Hendrickson dry as a dropper and a MGC (brown body, dun wing & hackle) as the point to test the waters. The Hendrickson landed me a small brown and drew a strike from a second fish who unfortunately made off with it and the MGC. I tied on a second Hendrickson but didn't have any luck. After one particularly loud refusal, I switched to a PFD Rusty brown spinner which landed me two nice fish (14" and 15" browns) and hooked a third who ended up with some lip jewelry.

I'm surprised to find that I haven't posted the PFD Rusty Brown Spinner pattern, but I'll tie a few more up and post a pattern shortly. It's a great pattern for dusk fishing because it has a nice silhouette that the fish seem to key in on and is fairly visible giving you have a decent chance of tracking it in low light. (EDIT: Here's a PFD Rusty Brown Spinner pattern)

West Branch Report

I spent a couple of hours on the waters between Walton and Delhi tonight and while there were definitely bugs out and about, there wasn't nearly the surface activity I expected. I netted a few Red Quill (male hendrickson) spinners and saw quite a lot of small dark dun caddis (Chimarra, I believe) and slightly larger greed caddis (apple?) out and about, but the fish seemed to be feeding elsewhere. Perhaps I arrived too late for the main feast. Even so, I did manage to hook up with a few small browns. I'm guessing the stocking truck came through recently because the fish I caught were in the 6-8" range and were pretty pale.

Once again, the dark dun CDC emerger was a killer, as was the Madison Guide Cripple in red quill coloring. While the CDC Emerger is deadly, it's tough to fish in that it's hard to see and a little fish slime pretty much trashes it. I fish it mostly as a dropper off of a larger, more visible fly (a Hendrickson or klinkhamer for example) unless the water is fairly calm. Last night it was my go-to for sight-casting to a rising trout. I stuck with the MGC for prospecting in the faster water since the parachute made it easier to track and it's far more durable.

CDC Emerger

As promised, my first fly that caught me a fish. It's a great little pattern that's quick to tie and represents a number of bugs. I originally tied it to be a BWO, but last night it did duty as a spent caddis and/or a blue quill or quill gordon and landed me a beautiful fish on the first presentation. 

Hook: #16 emerger

Thread: 70 denier, black or olive

Abdomen: stripped peacock herl

Thorax: olive dubbin

Wing: 2 dark dun CDC feathers tied facing rearward and then pulled forward over dubbin ball to form a wing case and tied behind the eye to form the wing.  

West Branch Report - Get your dries!

My first fish on a dry of the season _and_ my first fish on a fly that I tied EVER _AND_ it's my largest trout to date (at just shy of 20")! I am disgustingly proud of myself.

Last night was a beautiful night for fishing with temps in the 60s and no breeze to speak of when I arrived near Hamden at 5:15PM. There was a lot of insect activity with Hendricksons mating in the air, blue quills drifting past, and clouds of small, dark dun caddis flies everywhere. I also noticed nymph shucks floating past in the water. The surface activity wasn't phenomenal, despite the bugs, but there were fish rising. Based on the slow rises and what I was seeing in the water, fish seemed to be slurping up spent caddis flies (dark dun, size 18 or so). The Hendricksons weren't yet depositing eggs and there wasn't a spinner fall so perhaps tonight will show some more action on that front.

The above fish was caught on a dark dun CDC emerger pattern, size 16 with a stripped peacock herl body. I'll tie a few more up and post a pattern soon. It's an easy fly to tie, though the CDC requires a lot of maintenance to keep it floating (many thanks to Hareline's Amadou fly dryer!) and it was pretty much toast after the tussle with the fish pictured above. I tried a few other flies including a more traditional Hendrickson pattern, a blue quill, and even a pheasant tail nymph over a few risers but they weren't interested. A dark Madison Guide Cripple (brown with grizzly hackle, size #14 or 16) drew a savage take from a nice looking fish who managed to get away. It popped my tippet during a brief lapse in concentration as I tried to get into a better position to land it. Unfortunately, I didn't have a spare in dark coloring and the remaining rising fish had no interest in the cream colored variation I showed them next.

All in all, an excellent evening spent on the water and with the warm temperatures continuing, I expect things will only pick up from here.

Blue Quill

The West Branch Resort report says the blue quills are popping on the Delaware so to the fly bench I went.

Hook: #14-18 dry

Thread: black 70 denier

Tail: natural dun fibers

Body: stripped peacock herl

Hackle: natural dun

Wings: natural dun hackle tips