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)

Light Hendrickson Dry

My attempt at a classic from Art Flick's Streamside Guide:

Pattern:

Hook: Dry Fly (12 or 14)

Thread: Brown

Wing: Wood Duck Flank (Mallard subbed above)

Tail: Natural Dun Hackle Fibers
Body: Hendrickson Pink Super Fine Dubbing
Hackle: Natural Dun

Instructions:

• Start thread behind eye leaving 2-3 eye lengths bare per Catskill style, wrap back halfway, then forward half-way.
• Size wing to be one shank length and tie in using 2 pinch wraps, then 2-3 tight wraps in front of wing around hook.(Helps me prevent spinning of wing).
• Trim wing butts at an angle to help taper body.
• Using cross-wraps split wing evenly and position wings. (Use flat of fingernail along hook shank to fan out wing and help divide evenly.)  I leave near side wing a little flatter at this point since tying in the hackle always causes it to push upward later.
• Wrap thread back and tie in tail using thread to form nice even taper.
• Form tight dubbing noodle and dub thorax (less is more!) stopping with a little space behind wing.
• Tie in hackle on near side and be careful about it skewing your wing.
• Wrap hackle 3x tight behind wing, then 2x tight in front.
• Tie off hackle and trim.  Can use a half hitch to push back any hackle fibers at this point.
• Whip finish and cement. (Watch that you leave space behind the eye and don't make your head too long!)

When to fish:

Late April to first 3/4 of May.