Snow-shoe Hare Comparadun

Hook: #14 Dry Fly Hook (TMC 100)
Thread: black 70 denier
Tail: show-shoe hare's foot
Body: Hare's Ear dubbin
Wing: show-shoe hare's foot

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!

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?"

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!

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

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

Last night down in Walton, NY the water was high and stained at ~1000 cfs, but somewhat wade-able in certain areas. Despite the turbidity, there was decent insect activity starting at around 5:30 and continuing on into dark and there were fish feeding at the surface in certain areas.

I had a solid evening of fishing with 5 hook-ups, though I only managed to land 3. I'm not sure what my deal was, but knot failure accounted for two lost fish. This is the first time I've had issue with the Davy knot, but I still find it quicker and more reliable than the clinch.

I began the evening with a light Hendrickson dry as a dropper and a MGC (brown body, dun wing & hackle) as the point to test the waters. The Hendrickson landed me a small brown and drew a strike from a second fish who unfortunately made off with it and the MGC. I tied on a second Hendrickson but didn't have any luck. After one particularly loud refusal, I switched to a PFD Rusty brown spinner which landed me two nice fish (14" and 15" browns) and hooked a third who ended up with some lip jewelry.

I'm surprised to find that I haven't posted the PFD Rusty Brown Spinner pattern, but I'll tie a few more up and post a pattern shortly. It's a great pattern for dusk fishing because it has a nice silhouette that the fish seem to key in on and is fairly visible giving you have a decent chance of tracking it in low light. (EDIT: Here's a PFD Rusty Brown Spinner pattern)

Art Flick's "New Streamside Guide," dry flies and thoughts on matching the hatch

As a novice, the seemingly endless number of flies to choose from is absolutely overwhelming.  And forget about trying to identify a specific fly by sight.  It seems like every fly tier has his/her own version of each fly and sometimes two or three.  Given everything that's out there, where do you start?  How do you know which dry fly to use and when?

You can devote a lot of time to this and get extremely scientific, and as I gradually progress, I admit, this is the sort of thing I can see myself getting into, but when you're just starting off, you need to narrow the focus a bit.  As a wise TU member said, when you're just starting out, it's more important that you have confidence in the fly you're using than anything else.  Get out on the water, see what insects are around, and do your best to match the size and color.  You may not have the perfect fly, and there may be some fish your imitation doesn't fool, but it'll be enough to get you fishing and get you catching fish.  To give you an idea, my local TU Chapter president, Dave Plummer, has over 600 trout in his fishing journal from last year, and he swears up and down he uses a grand total of 6 different flies.  (I need to get a peek at his fly box!)

OK, so what flies do I need to get started?  If you live in the US Northeast, get yourself a copy of Art Flick's "New Streamside Guide".  Seriously, he's done all the work for you.  He spent 3 years on the Schoharie Creek in NY catching bugs, identifying them, and taking detailed notes on hatch times and habits of each and he's even gone and matched the types of bugs with the most common flies that imitate them.  To top it off, he narrows it down to around 10 dry flies to cover you all year.  He talks about what to use when and why and his book, with it's photos for easy identification, has been toted along in fishing vests since it was first published in 1969.

I'm lucky enough to have a copy from 1974 that was passed to me through a good friend from a gentleman by the name of Joe Knapp.  Between Art's research, and Joe's hand-written notes, I actually stand a decent chance of picking the right fly and matching the hatch.

The following is a little table I put together based on Joe's notes, but you can find similar hatch charts on the internet at places like The Fly Shack.

Mayfly Name:	Dry Fly Name:	Hook Size:	Time of year:
Iron fraudator	Quill Gordon	12 or 14	Last few days of April, 1st 3/4 of May
Ephemerella subvaria	Red Quill (male) or Hendrickson (female)	12 or 14	1st 3/4 of May
Stenonema vicarium	March Brown	10 or 12	All of May
Ephemerella attenuata	Blue-winged Olive	16 or 18	Last 3/4 of May into 1st half of June
Stenonema fuscum	Grey Fox	12	Late May & Early June
Stenonema ithaca or adensis	Light Cahill	12 or 14	Late May through Mid July
Paraleptophlebia adoptiva	Dun Variant	18 or 20	Late May to Late August
Ephemera guttulata	Grey Fox Variant or Green Drake	10 or 12	Last half of May & Early June
Potamanthus distinctus	Cream Variant	12	Last 1/2 of June through 1st 1/2 of July

After that, try to seek cooler water and fish terrestrials like ants and hoppers.