Cattaraugus

While visiting family near Buffalo, NY I snuck out to some fishing recon while the rest of the clan got up and ready Saturday morning. My scouting trip took me to an awesome tackle shop in Hamburg by the name of Colville Outfitters. I highly recommend checking them out if you're in the area.

While picking up some fly tying gear and some leaders and tippet for salmon, I chatted up the owner for some good local spots in the area. He was kind enough to direct me to the upper Cattaraugus Creek in Arcade, NY. It would seem the lower section is great for Steelhead later in the year, but for now, the upper is the best locale for trout.

Armed with local k knowledge, I snuck out Sunday morning and hit the creek. The water was cool, clear, and very low and the scenery was beautiful. Sadly, I got skunked for the first time in a while. I blame my lack of pocket water experience and the thunderstorm that chased me away an hour into my excursion. Until next time, Upper Catt!

Hair-wing Blue Charm

Hook: Mustad 3906B #2-8 or Salmon style hook

Thread: black 70 Denier

Tag: double-sided tinsel w/ silver showing

Butt: flourescent yellow floss

Body: black floss

Rib: silver Wapsi wire

Beard: blue marabou

Wing: squirrel tail

Bivisible

A classic Catskill dry fly shown above with a few Light Cahills in the background. 

Hook: #14-18 dry fly

Thread: black 70 denier

Hackle: brown for rear 2/3, cream or white for front 1/3

Optional tail (not shown): brown hackle fibers 

Flying Ant

Hook: #18-22 emerger

Thread: black 70 denier

Thorax: black foam over peacock black Ice Dub

Abdomen: black foam folded over wing

Wing: poly yarn tied spent

Head: thread

I'll be trying out a parachute version as well in the hopes that it'll float well and be somewhat more visible for use in faster water. 

West Branch Report

Tonight was a classic late summer evening on the West Branch. Of course, I say that, but it's the first time I've actually experienced a night like this first hand. First off, the water was clear and low (~85 CFS), but very cool for this time of year. When we arrived in Walton at a little after 5pm, fish were lazily rising all over but I targeted faster water where it entered into slower, deeper water figuring that's where the trout would congregate. I pretty much assume anything rising in slow water during the day has got to be a chub.

Despite the near constant rises and the ability to actually see trout holding in certain spots, I could not figure out what the fish were eating. I threw a dozen different flies at them with no result. Based on the lazy rises, I figured they were after something dead or at least not very fast so I tied on a rusty spinner. Finally, I got a take: a chub. 20 or so casts later I finally caught my first small brown trout on the same fly but not much more interest than that.

Giving up on the holding trout, I decided to see what was rising in the slower water. Pretty much as expected, the only thing I could interest in my spinner was the occasional chub. Why couldn't I figure out what they were eating? I didn't see any bugs flying around or on the water, but apparently I didn't look closely enough. Finally, while standing beneath some trees during a passing downpour, I noticed tiny flying ants on my arm. A-ha!  Too bad I had nothing like that in my fly box. Best I could do was a #16 dubbed ant-like thing I had attempted, failed, and abandoned. The naturals were at best #20s or smaller. Still, I went with it. No trout, but the chubs were definitely more interest in this than anything else.

Thankfully, the passing downpour I mentioned and the oncoming dark stirred things up nicely. Soon I noticed small Pale Evening Duns rising from the riffles. Excitedly, I tied on a mayfly imitation and headed back to the riffles where I saw the trout holding before. Still nothing! Frustrated and having trouble seeing, I decided to go with a #14 Light Cahill just because I'd be able to see the damn thing. Man! Was that ever the right call! First cast hooked a 17" male brown trout.

Darkness was really settling in now, but I couldn't leave, especially since I noticed an increasing number of mayflies rising from the riffles and aggressive rises all around. For about 15-20 minutes, I could do no wrong catching another 4 or 5 trout including a pretty 16" female. By the end I was casting blind in the dark and lifting my rod at the sound of a rise. I missed a few takes to be sure, but I caught a couple more as well. Magic.

Soon, it was too dark and I was no longer hooking up. Turning on my headlight revealed a blizzard of Light Cahills like I've never seen. The water surface was littered with them and they swarmed around my head and landed all over me in the lamp light. I quickly turned off the light and decided to fumble my way out before I swallowed anymore mayflies. Save 'em for the trout.

And you better believe I looked into some flying ant patterns as soon as I got home!

Black Bear Green Butt

Hook: #4-8 Streamer or Salmon Hook

Thread: Black 70 Denier

Tag: silver tinsel

Butt: fluorescent green thread or floss

Body: black floss 

Opt. Throat (not shown): black hackle or marabou

Wing: black bear fur

Head: lacquered black thread

Pale Evening Dun

Hook: Dry size 16-20

Thread: 8/0 Primrose (or pale yellow)

Tail: Natural Dun Hackle fibers

Body: Thread wraps

Wings: Natural Dun Hackle tips

Hackle: Natural Dun

Upper West Branch Report

The water on the Upper West Branch is low (~80 CFS at Walton) and clear and amazingly cool for mid-August. Bob Wikoff and I headed out to fish the stretch between Hamden and Delancy and take advantage of the fall-like weather. We were hoping the fish were of a mind to do the same and weren't disappointed.

There wasn't a whole lot of activity during the afternoon, though Bob nabbed a few browns on a Red Quill and I caught one small-mouth on a CDC emerger. I did receive a major jolt when a three-foot carp pursued my CDC emerger as it swung in the current. Ultimately his senses were too keen and he decided to let it go, but not before my heart rate shot through the roof.

As evening fell, things started to pick up. There were quite a few different bugs out on the water including some big yellow mayflies which I think were golden drakes, small charcoal caddis, tiny BWOs, summer stenos and some light cahills. I had good luck with a #16 blue quill as well as a #14 Parachute Adams, releasing at least a half dozen browns, though Bob out-fished me 2 or 3 to 1. He started out with a dark brown deer hair caddis and moved to a Red Quill which caught several fish just prospecting. As rises began he switched to a light Cahill and finally to a Pale Evening Dun, both of which he used to deadly effect. Beneath one tree which was leaning very low over the water, he side-armed several casts and pulled quite a few trout out, 2 or 3 of which were in the 16-17 inch range. I could hear him chuckling, "Ha! Thought you were safe under there, eh?"

Upper West Branch Report

It's been cool and a little rainy around here leaving the water conditions much better than normal for this time of year. The West Branch Delaware at Walton was at around 100 CFS tonight, up a little from the recent rains, but still quite clear. I'd love to see it up around 200-250 CFS, but the water is cooling off nicely so I took a break from warm water fishing and headed down to Walton to try out some hopper and cricket patterns and a few comparadun variations I had worked up.

There wasn't much in terms of surface activity and no obvious hatches going on tonight, but I found a few fishy spots (mostly fast riffles emptying into deeper runs) and did some prospecting. Sadly, I lost my hopper fairly early on to a fly-eating multiflora rose. I found that particularly painful as I had no backup and the damn thing took me a good 20 minutes to tie. The black cricket pattern I based it on worked well though. I had three hook-ups and landed two, both browns.

Being black and riding low, the cricket was very hard to spot in the fast water, so I tied on my trusty comparadun, a mahogany colored size 12, and went back to work. Again, the fly performed and landed several more browns, a 10" small mouth bass, and few river chubs, just for good measure. The trout and bass were all caught in faster water where the Isos like to hatch and the oxygenation is higher. Wading back to my car, I saw fish rising in a long, slow-moving run. I had a feeling they were chubs, and I wasn't disappointed. With the water so low and clear (and probably a bit warm and stagnant), the trout head elsewhere for their food, shelter, and comfort.

Davie McPhail's Black Cricket

Materials (listed in order of use)

Hook: #12 dry fly
Thread: black 70 denier
Back: black craft foam
Butt: black dubbing
Tail: 2 black goose biots
Thorax: black craft foam, wrapped
Rear Legs: black goose biots
Wing Case: black craft foam
Front Legs/Hackle: black dry fly hackle
Antennae: fibers from starling feather or black pheasant tail
Head: black dubbin

For a detailed instructional video, go to the source:  

Oaks Creek Report

JBP and I decided to scout some new water tonight and headed to Oaks Creek up near Fly Creek, NY a little outside of Cooperstown. It's a smaller stream that runs from Canadarago Lake down through Fly Creek and eventually into the Susquehanna River below Cooperstown. Rumor has it there is a decent population of wild brown trout and native brookies and given that much of it remains wild, it definitely doesn't get much fishing pressure.

JBP being a raging extrovert, we quickly found ourselves parked in some nice folks' driveway walking through their backyard along some beautiful waterfront in and around a favorite local swimming hole. Oaks Creek itself was picturesque, the perfect image of a wild trout stream. It was large enough that I didn't feel over-gunned with my 9 ft 5 weight, especially in the many holes scattered about, but I could easily see a Tenkara enthusiast having a field-day in there.

It being August, the water was a bit warm for trout so I can't attest to the veracity of the aforementioned rumors. However, I did catch a good half-dozen small-mouths (the largest around 10 inches) and more river chubs than you can shake a stick at.  Again, the Iso Comparadun was my go-to top water fly and it drew strikes despite there being little to no surface activity. As the shadows grew longer, I switched to an olive woolly bugger with a red tail and it too caught plenty of fish.

Bass in the ole Farm Pond

We took the family camping at a friend's property near Treadwell, NY and they just happened to have a farm pond full of large mouths. I didn't get to spend a lot of time trying to hook them, but I was able to wet the line once or twice.

Foam disc poppers, bucktail streamers, a "Maple Syrup" and several other flies failed to entice the finicky bass. What did finally catch me a whopper was a classic black woolly bugger with a black plastic bead-head resting on the bottom and twitched once and a while. While the minnow imitations earned a few follows and not much else, the woolly bugger is the only thing that drew a strike. The poppers didn't seem to attract any interest at all. Seems the bass in this particular pond like their prey lazy and slow moving making me think of helgramites and leeches. Hmm... we sure did a lot of swimming in that pond!