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!

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.

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.