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.

BWO CDC Cripple

A modified Madison Guide Cripple pattern using CDC for the wing and colors to imitate a BWO. 

Hook: #16 Emerger

Thread: black 70 denier 

Shuck: Himalayan goat fur

Body: Olive hare's ear

Wing: dark dun CDC tied cripple style (trim butt end to protrude from hackle to end of thorax)

Hackle: natural dun (take 2-3 wraps over CDC butts and 1-2 in front of wing. Trim notch in lower hackle so that hackle is slightly less than the hook gap)

Madison Guide Cripple

Quick to tie hi-vis cripple/emerger pattern. 

Hook: emerger 14-18

Thread: to match (cream/brown shown)

Tail: Zelon or hair (Himalayan goat fur shown)

Abdomen: peacock herl or dubbed (caddis green & march brown shown)

Wing: Poly yarn tied cripple style

Hackle: to match (grizzly)

Notes:

- trim wing butt to end of thorax. 

- cut notch out of bottom of hackle so fly rides low in the water.