Eyes on the Walleyes

JBP and I decided to stay closer to home as the days are growing short so we headed to South Side Oneonta and fished in the Susquehanna to see what we could dig up. We didn't plan particularly well so I didn't have much in the way of spinning gear with me other than a micro rod and a few Kast Masters. Not to be deterred, I tied on some salmon flies and some weight and went to work. To be honest, I'm not sure what I was thinking there, but I did land an 8" chub and a few small mouths with a large stone fly pattern and some split shot.

At some point, I came to my senses, grabbed my fly rod, switched to a sink tip line, and went back at it. That was definitely the ticket for me. I landed a few more small mouths, an 18" walleye (my first ever!), and an 16 inch brown who lept and cartwheeled in spectacular fashion after she attacked my Black Bear Green Butt.

While the brown was a lot of fun, the prize of the night came when I was working 6" smallie into the shallows to net and release. The fish was about a rod's length away when a massive walleye came up from the depths and swallowed my fish whole. I fought with the monster for a good 5 minutes in what seemed to be a tug-of-war over the poor bass. It didn't fight particularly hard but just acted like dead weight. I'd get him somewhat close and then he'd lazily swim away and pull my drag out. Finally, I guess he decided the bass wasn't worth it and coughed it up.

The funny part is that my buddy saw me hollering and fighting with my rod doubled over and came running over to arrive about when the walleye coughed up the bass. All he saw was me pull in a little 6" small mouth bass after all of that carrying on. I don't think I'm ever going to live that one down.

Beginner's Luck on the Salmon River

I'm fortunate enough to belong to a TU Chapter with some veritable legends of fly fishing. Bob Wikoff, one of the charter members, was kind enough to let me tag along for opening day on the Fly Fishing Section of the Salmon River today. He's been going for over 30 years so it's fair to say he knows a thing or two about fishing that river.

Going in, we knew the salmon run was late this year and there weren't many reports of fish in the river. In many ways, I think that was good for me as it gave me an opportunity to scout the river and learn the ropes a bit without having to compete with the obscene crowds that come with the salmon.

All in all, I didn't see much action from any of the anglers we came across. Outside of 2 Atlantic Salmon (one each for Bob and me), I only saw two other salmon hook-ups. One was a foul-hooked King in the fly fishing area, and the other a King a guy landed on a spinning rod down on the Staircase. We saw one guy chasing, and catching, Steelhead in the fast water above Church Pool as well. Seems "Sucker Spawn" was his key to success there.

In the end, there were no monster kings for me, but an Atlantic Salmon was a rare treat indeed. I'm crediting beginner's luck there. Bob said in 30 years, the male pictured below is only the second Atlantic he's ever caught in the Salmon River.

(view from below Town Pool)

(Bob at work)

(female Atlantic Salmon caught on a stonefly pattern)

(male Atlantic Salmon, also on a stonefly pattern)

(Bob and his salmon!)

Butternut Creek Report

Bolstered by our previous outing and overly confident of our fishing prowess, JBP and I opted to try some uncharted territory near Morris, NY.

The Butternut Creek was low but stained from recent rains but looked like a nice pocket water opportunity to improve my skills. I admit, I had a rough time of it and started out snagging every tree and shrub within 20 feet.

Finally getting my rhythm, and a 2" chub, I went classic Catskill style and tied on a #14 BiVisible. It seemed appropriate for the setting and as luck would have it, saved my evening by netting a beautiful little Brookie. One of my goals for this season was to catch a native brookie and here was my second. They are beautiful fish and it's a thrill to catch a wild native fish in a small, mountain stream.

West Branch Report

What better way to spend Labor Day than fly fishing with a good friend? JBP and I headed to Hamden, NY to fish a familiar stream in an unfamiliar spot and man did we have a time of it.

When we first arrived in late afternoon there were a few fish rising sporadically and a school of monster carp nosing around. It was tough getting anyone interested in my offerings but I eventually settled on a #18 flying ant tied off of the bend of a #14 Light Cahill.

There were definitely ants in the water when I looked closely and I've learned from recent experience that when fish are rising lazily and you see no bugs, it's probably an ant. At any rate, I soon started catching fish. At first, in fits and starts and mostly on the ant, but as the shadows grew the hits started coming on the Cahill. Eventually I switched completely to the Cahill and pretty much slayed 'em until darkness drove us off.

I didn't land anything over 14" nor anything under 10", except the odd chub, but I easily brought in 15 fish on the night. Yay for September!

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!

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!

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.

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!

Schoharie Creek Report

I spent a couple of days in Dutchess County helping out my folks a bit and on the way back, decided to reward myself with a quick stop on the famed Schoharie Creek. About an hour before dark, I stopped in Prattsville and fished a little below where the Batavia Kill Creek enters the Schoharie. A little bit of hiking brought me to a nice long riffle that emptied into an huge slow moving pool, probably man-made to cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Irene.

The water was definitely on the warm side but as it was getting close to dark, there was quite a bit of surface activity in the riffle. I tied on an Iso colored Comparadun and went to work in the fast water. In less than an hour I caught close to a dozen fish, mostly small-mouth bass with the occasional brown trout mixed in. I will definitely hit up this creek in the fall when the water temperatures come down a bit. If it worked for Art Flick there must be something to it, right?

As an aside, the Iso Comparadun is definitely my go to fly this summer. In a size 12, it floats high and is easily visible in fast water. It's been fantastic for prospecting in moving water and has caught brown trout, brook trout, small mouth bass, blue gills, perch, chubs, and golden shiners to name a few.

Charlotte Creek Report

I was in the neighborhood so I decided to check out a few spots on the Charlotte Creek between Davenport and Stamford. It was a cool and rainy afternoon but the creek wasn't in bad shape. Cool weather and frequent rain have kept the water temps down making the trout season last late this summer. 

As far as I've seen, the Charlotte isn't known for its insect hatches and most fly fishers I know stick to subsurface stuff there. I hear a sparse black wooly bugger or a copper john dead drifted are killer. No idea if that's true since I didn't listen. This evening I went with a comparadun ISO pattern that has been serving me well of late and did a bit of prospecting. I caught the beautiful brook trout pictured above in some fast water holding behind a rock with the iso as well as a small chub in the middle of a run below a riffle before the storms drove me off. 

I got a good soaking, but it was worth it. That little beauty was my first native brook trout!

Oak Creek Report

I decided to scout out some new water on my day off so I headed west of Cooperstown to Oak Creek, the stream the flows out of Canadarago Lake. I started my search near Cattown, but I couldn't find a decent way to access the water there so my journey took me upstream to the town of Schuyler Lake where I found a bridge near a small dam.

A rather nice local gentlemen who was putting his canoe in the water informed me that from that dam the quiet water extended all the way up through the forest to Canadarago Lake proper and, from what I gather, is an amazing warm water fishery accessible almost exclusively by floating.

Well, I had been planning on trout fishing, but the water near the bridge looked promising so I gave it a go. I'm not going to bother much with fly selection here because the small mouths and perch hit pretty much everything I threw at them sub-surface and even a misshapen Henry's Fork Hopper on top. Streamer, bugger, nymph, crayfish all landed fish and an olive and black wooly bugger even drew a huge largemouth out of hiding to follow it all the way in to shore. It didn't take the offering, but it was certainly enough to get my heart pounding when that behemoth emerged from the shadows.

West Branch Report

The gauge at Walton was down to 300CFS so the water was looking pretty decent tonight. It was still a little cloudy, but any clearer probably would just make the approaches harder at this point. As the weather has been a bit cooler as well, I was hoping the conditions would be ideal for a good night on the water.

JBP and I didn't get out to the river until after 6pm so we missed the afternoon hatches and surface activity was pretty much non-existent until dusk. I puttered around with a nymphing rig (light cahill dry above a gold-ribbed hare's ear) for a bit, but only managed a couple of chubs on that. Once dusk came on, things started picking up as there was a solid hatch of light cahills in about a size #14 coming off of the riffles.

I managed to land a couple of small browns, one on a mahogany dun and another on a light cahill, in the fast water and had at least one nice fish throw my fly. The prize of the night came at dark when a 17" brown gently slurped my cahill from a current seam leading into a large, slow eddy. At first it swam right towards me and I thought it was a smallish chub, but once it got a look at me, the fight was on. Thanks to JBP for manning the net and helping me land it. You shall have your reward, grilled with Lawry season and bacon!

West Branch Report

Happy Solstice!

I woke up early this morning, something I don't normally advocate unless absolutely necessary, and made it down to Hamden in time to get on the water before the sun hit it. The water level was down and easily wadeable at just over 400 CFS at Walton, but the water was still very turbid. Insect activity was pretty low and the rises came only sporadically. Rather early on, I caught a pretty little brown on a rusty spinner, but that was about it. A second fish was rising, but it wasn't interested in the spinner or any of the other flies I drifted over it.

After a dozen different flies with no success, I decided to move on and do some prospecting. No other fish were rising that I saw so I tied on an Adams wet fly and started moving. Aside from an occasional chub and other small brown, I didn't have much luck. Around 10AM I was working my back to where I started the morning and noticed the same fish was still feeding in the same spot. At this point, the only thing I hadn't tried was nymphing, mostly since it's one method with which I'm not particularly comfortable. Basically on a whim I set up a nymphing rig with a light cahill on top and a hare's ear nymph about 2 feet below that. There were some nymphal shucks drifting by so it seemed like a decent idea.

The first experimental cast caught a large chub on the hare's ear. Not feeling all that optimistic, I decided to go after the fish that had been thwarting me all morning. Two casts later, I had the drift right and and a beautiful 15" brown hit the hare's ear. The hare's ear was deadly and landed a ton of chubs and few more small browns and the light cahill, tied with calf hair wings, was perfect on top. Highly visible, it floated like a cork and survived plenty of dunkings and snap-t's without needing to be retreated.

About when I was ready to depart, I noticed another fish rising in a small eddy. It took me a bit to creep over to within casting range, but once there, the first cast drifted past the edge of the eddy. I nearly jumped out of my skin as a large brown came clear out of the water to smash the cahill. Unfortunately, it quickly threw the hook and I figured that was that. Before leaving I decided to try another pass at the eddy and a second fish hammered the cahill as soon as it hit the water. This one I managed to land; another 15" female.

All in all, it was a fantastic way to spend the last morning of spring.

West Branch Report

The gauge on at Walton had the upper West Branch at close to 800 cfs, but Wednesday night is fishing night, so JBP and I were not to be deterred. As expected, 800 cfs is pretty high and rather muddy but somewhat wadeable if you know the area. Rises were few and far between this evening and I had no luck prospecting sub surface with a "Maple Syrup" streamer nor on top with a Mahogany Dun or a Light Cahill.

In a desperate attempt to save the evening, I walked to a bridge abutment that's definitely over-fished, but is always good for at least a few smaller browns. Tonight was no exception, and predictably the rises began picking up right around dusk. In less than an hour, I landed a half dozen or so small browns in the 8-10" range. Perhaps not the classiest fishing I've ever done, but after a couple of hours of getting skunked, sometimes it's nice to just land a fish.

West Branch Report/Lesson in Humility

JBP and I headed down to Hamden for some evening fishing and this time were joined by Bob Wikoff, founding member of TU Chapter 210 and all-around smart-ass and fishing legend. The weather was cool and over cast, and the stream had dropped 100 or so CFS overnight but was still a little murky. I would've thought the conditions were perfect. However, to quote Bob, there wasn't much going on tonight. That, of course, was after he had caught 20 fish in two hours. I myself caught 4 (a chub, and three browns 12" or less) and JBP caught a nice 15" brown, a 13" brown, and a small mouth. So basically, Bob out-fished us 3 to 1 all while taking time off to dole out pointers and smack talk and fly selection/tying advice.

And this is why I recommend to anyone interested in fishing, to get involved with your local TU chapter and/or Rod n Gun club. You meet some cool people and many are more than happy to show the ropes. Bob has 50 years of fishing experience from all over the globe and spent a decade or more as a guide, and yet he happily joined two rookies on a local stream just for the fun of catching stocked browns and the occasional chub and passing on a lot of knowledge and history in the process.

Beyond his knowledge of where to find the fish and which flies to use, the most impressive thing about Bob's fishing was his presentation and accuracy. When a fish rose, his fly was landing delicately a foot or two above it, first time, every time. Actually, I lied. The most impressive thing is that despite his history and skill, he was genuinely happy to be out there with us fishing and he doesn't care if it's a chub or trout, he just loves catching fish and bestowing knowledge.

Catskill Creek

JBP and I played hooky from work and went adventuring in Schoharie County. Without much to go on other than DEC maps, we picked up the Catskill Creek near Preston Hollow and fished it up through Oak Hill. Near Preston Hollow, the creek was tiny and the fishing was mostly pocket water but by Oak Hill it had grown quite a bit and there were more deep runs to explore. The photo above doesn't do justice to a beautiful waterfall that gently cascaded into a long clear run. It was easy to imagine Art Flick pulling brookies from the crystal clear water.

While the water was beautiful and certainly looked "fishy" to me, we didn't have a whole lot of luck on the day. I'm going to blame mid-day sun and my lack of pocket-water experience. I only managed one small mouth on a bucktail streamer on the day. Beautiful country. I'm sure those in the know have lots of luck in their secret holes.

For reference, USGS reported the flow rate down at Catskill, NY at ~285 CFS and the weather was sunny and in the low 80s.

West Branch Report

With last night's rain, the water levels were up a bit (~450 cfs at Walton) and the water was a bit more cloudy than its been for a few days. According to the pros, the higher water and cooler temps should be good for fishing so here's hoping. While out on the West Branch near Hamden I did see some decent bug activity, though the surface feeding was sporadic for most of the evening.

Best guest at what I was seeing is that we had Hendricksons, Blue Quills (dark bodied, dark winged mayflies), and the occasional bright green apple caddis. I fished a few different patterns throughout the evening, starting with a basic March Brown wet fly, and then progressing to a Hendrickson parachute, a blue quill, a BWO with CDC wings, and a rusty spinner. Dark flies definitely seemed to be the most effective tonight. I had trouble seeing the small #18 blue quill though I think it was probably the best choice based on color and size of the naturals. I tied on the #14 BWO since it was a little bigger and floated a lot better making it far easier to spot. It caught a beautiful 16" brown that casually slurped it from the foam. I admit, I knew he was there, but I thought he was a much smaller fish when I casted to him.

West Branch Report

After several sunny days in a row, the water levels have dropped quite a bit on the Upper West Branch to ~325 cfs at Walton and the water temperature has risen a bit as well. At around 5:30 it was breezy with little to no insect activity and a few intermittent rises on the surface. That all changed as the even went on. The wind calmed and a huge spinner fall (either red quills or march browns I think) made for a fun evening.

The PFD rusty spinner in size 14 proved a killer landing nearly a dozen fish on the evening. To be fair, most were chubs, and of the brown trout I caught, the larges was 13 inches. Still, it was a lot of fun just casting to rising fish and being rewarded time and again.