Catskills the first week of June
Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2018 8:02 am
I headed up to the Catskills the first week of June as i have been doing for as long as i can remember. This year was the first that i had my raft to float on my own. We concentrated on the Willow and Beaverkill the first few days to limit working in the crowds on the Delaware. The water levels were around normal and made for easy wading on all rivers.
Day 1 (June 1st) we arrived and fished on the Little Beaverkill. We had a few fish working the area where we parked and worked the kinks out. We missed a few on some caddis and march browns. We moved towards Hancock where we were staying and jumped on the West and continued our poor attempts at presenting a decent dry fly drifted through some working fish. Checked in at the Upper Delaware Inn and got ready for the evening session. We headed back east towards the Beaverkill, stopping in town to spend some money at the fly shops. We went to the Beaverkill and set up for the night. As soon as we thought the fishing would turn on, the thunderstorms came through and changed our plans.
Day 2 (June 2nd) we headed east early and got on the Willow. We were surprised to see the bridge empty and quickly headed up stream to work water that seems to get less pressure. My buddy started with a streamer and landed a brown quickly. I was blind casting a big march brown and hooked up quickly as well. We fished down to the bridge and landed a few fish on march browns blind casted to fishy looking water and had twice as many misses. We moved further upstream to work back down to the bridge and were rewarded nicely for our efforts. March Browns were the ticket. Working down and across the water produced for us. We each landed multiple fish with a nice 22" brown being the best of the morning. In the evening we went to one of my favorite places on the Beaverkill and found it empty. Again, blind casted march browns got some fish to come up and feed. We each landed a few and then the action turned off around 6. We stayed hoping for some drakes in the evening and were rewarded with frustration. Like clockwork the midges and caddis started to come upstream in clouds, and from previous experiences in this stretch I was pretty sure the green drakes would follow. As it got dark, they did. Green Drakes stuck in their shucks were floating downstream and the fish were on them. Thousands of drakes emerging with fish slashing through the pools and riffles provided an awesome visual experience, but fooling them proved to be near impossible. Even though the drakes didnt provide us much luck, the start of the week was looking good.
....................to be continued.......................
Day 1 (June 1st) we arrived and fished on the Little Beaverkill. We had a few fish working the area where we parked and worked the kinks out. We missed a few on some caddis and march browns. We moved towards Hancock where we were staying and jumped on the West and continued our poor attempts at presenting a decent dry fly drifted through some working fish. Checked in at the Upper Delaware Inn and got ready for the evening session. We headed back east towards the Beaverkill, stopping in town to spend some money at the fly shops. We went to the Beaverkill and set up for the night. As soon as we thought the fishing would turn on, the thunderstorms came through and changed our plans.
Day 2 (June 2nd) we headed east early and got on the Willow. We were surprised to see the bridge empty and quickly headed up stream to work water that seems to get less pressure. My buddy started with a streamer and landed a brown quickly. I was blind casting a big march brown and hooked up quickly as well. We fished down to the bridge and landed a few fish on march browns blind casted to fishy looking water and had twice as many misses. We moved further upstream to work back down to the bridge and were rewarded nicely for our efforts. March Browns were the ticket. Working down and across the water produced for us. We each landed multiple fish with a nice 22" brown being the best of the morning. In the evening we went to one of my favorite places on the Beaverkill and found it empty. Again, blind casted march browns got some fish to come up and feed. We each landed a few and then the action turned off around 6. We stayed hoping for some drakes in the evening and were rewarded with frustration. Like clockwork the midges and caddis started to come upstream in clouds, and from previous experiences in this stretch I was pretty sure the green drakes would follow. As it got dark, they did. Green Drakes stuck in their shucks were floating downstream and the fish were on them. Thousands of drakes emerging with fish slashing through the pools and riffles provided an awesome visual experience, but fooling them proved to be near impossible. Even though the drakes didnt provide us much luck, the start of the week was looking good.
....................to be continued.......................