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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Fall fishing, wet flies and streamers.

I can't tell you how thankful I am fall is upon us!  It's been an incredibly rough summer and my fly fishing pride has taken a beating.  The local streams were too warm, or at least, that's what I'm telling myself, and I just didn't have the skills to have much success on the lower East and West Branches of the Delaware.  I guess I'll chalk the summer up to a nice learning experience and a great time out on beautiful water.

Now that the evenings are cool and the water levels are back near ideal, I spent a couple of hours on the upper West Branch near Hamden, NY.  Talk about a beautiful fall day.  I had no idea what the fishing would be like, but it didn't matter.  Being outside on a day like this in central NY is why I moved here.  As an added bonus, I had one of my most successful days yet fly fishing and actually managed to get some of the techniques I've read about to work on the water.  It's nice to get some positive feedback after a dismal couple of months!

I arrived and the stream just before noon with blue skies and full sun.  I didn't notice any surface activity at all so, figuring dry flies were out, I went straight to an olive wooly bugger. I found a fishy looking spot where a fast riffle entered a deep run with large rocks on the far bank for cover.  The run continually deepened until it emptied into a large pool beneath a bridge.  Earlier in my career, I would have fished the calm waters beneath the bridge, but I keep reading how aggressively feeding trout will be in moving water since it's generally colder, more oxygenated, and that's where the food supply tends to be.

With that in mind, I fished my wooly bugger starting at the beginning of the run and working the length of it.  I basically used the wet-fly swing technique casting it straight across or slightly downstream and letting it swing in the strong current.  I varied it up by switching the rod tip or sometimes stripping in some line.  I tried to work it so that the fly would be in the seam between the fast run and the slower water on the side of the stream when it finished its swing.  Within 5 casts, I hooked my first and nicest brown of the day.  Delighted with myself, I fished the wooly bugger for another hour without any more success.  Looking back, I don't think I was getting it deep enough.  Even as a weighted fly, it was riding high in the fast current and the run was extremely deep towards the tail end.  I just don't think I had it where the fish were feeding.

At any rate, I decided to switch to a wet fly.  I had been reading scouting reports saying that leadwing coachmen could be deadly in riffles and runs, but to date I'd had no success.  At this point, I should mention that I noticed some mayfly activity.  What to me seemed like small blue-wing olives were appearing on the water, but I still didn't see a single rise.  Based on all that winter reading, I guessed there must be nymphs emerging and that the trout must be keying in on those subsurface.  Hence, wet fly time.  And this time, I added some split shot to get my fly down in the water current.

Swinging a wet fly is about the easiest thing you can do.  Just cast it across or slightly downstream and let it swing.  Again, I held my rod so that the swing ended in the seem.  The strikes came like I've never seen.  Most of the trout were little guys (8-10"), but after the summer doldrums, I didn't mind in the least.  I did notice that I seemed to catch a lot of fish after the fly had swung downstream and I had left it in the water while moving my position.  That made me realize that it pays to let your fly drift in the downstream position for longer than I would've thought useful.  Reading a bit, it seems that allows the fly to rise up towards the surface making it really look like an emerger.  Whatever the case, it caught a lot of fish.  Over the course of 4 hours I caught close to a dozen fish, which, for a beginner like me, made me feel pretty damn good about myself.

Early morning on the West Branch

I had backup lined up to watch the kiddos (my mom-in-law, sis-in-law, and future bro-in-law were visiting) so I snuck out before sunup and headed to Hamden to try my luck.

No trout came my way and I suspect the water is getting to be a bit warm coz this big fella was lurking in one of my favorite trout runs (caught on a muddler minnow):