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.

Mickey Finn Streamer

Hook: #6 Streamer

Thread: black or olive 6/0

Body: Silver Tinsel

Rib: Wapsi Silver Wire

Wing: bucktail (yellow, red, then yellow again)

Charlotte Creek Report

West Branch at Delhi: 479

West Branch at Walton: 1320

The water was quite high on the Charlotte Creek upstream from Davenport Center. Visibility was less than two feet still. My guess is that the water will need to drop another foot or two before fishing picks up. I fished a sink tip line with a moto minnow trailed by a buck tail streamer but had no luck. My fishing buddy fished a spin rod with salted minnows and had no luck either. Seems like the the streams are still too high and with the water temps in the high 30s, the fish aren't likely to bite unless you hit them in the teeth with a tasty morsel. That said, a TU friend of mine has been having luck with night crawlers, so if you know where the fish are lying, perhaps you'll have more luck than I.