Anyone willing to help compile a list of bamboo rodmakers? Preferably those that make traditional Catskill tapers, but other great makers from Europe and Japan would be appreciated as well.

What makers will be at the rodbuilders gathering at the Catskilll Fly Fishing Museum in September?

Mike Valla has a new dry fly book coming out this November, here is a little overview from Mike himself...


-Title is: "The Classic Dry Fly Box". 100 Classics, with brief notes, history, and anecdotes. It's primarily large photos.

-Representative classics from the pacific Northwest, to California, to Michigan, Pennsylvania but a majority from Catskills and Bergman, all tied by Mike V.

-There's going to be an LTD Edition of 100, Hardcover, signed and numbered for fundraising purposes for the museum. All proceeds are going to the museum, as a donation. However, there will also be a paperback "trade" edition. Publisher has not yet set the prices

For those of you who currently own and enjoy Mikes last book, Tying Catskill Dry Flies, this will be right up your alley. For those who dont, Mike has a style and ability few possess, his dry flies are both perfectly proportioned and tyed in the traditional style. To top it off, his photography is first class and the pictures are gorgeous.
CJ

Anyone know how the algae has been on the west branch since they have been pushing extra water for a while ?

Im looking to go fish Valley Creek Pa this sunday and looking for some access points to the creek since i never been there.

Greetings All

Recently I was out fishing with a new flyrod ( a beautiful Helios 7ft 4 weight). We were fishing some low clear water and I had tied on some 6x tippet to my leader. Long story short I had a hard time turning over my size 20 olive. My good buddy and NEFF world class flyfisherman BHC handed me a furled leader. to that he tied on a 7x tippet directly to this leader. I was blown away at how well this setup worked. I never used a furled leader before and frankly its one of the lazier aspects of my game. I usually put on a leader with loop on the end of the fly line and a way I go. I am now looking into the whole leader/tippet aspect of my flyfishing in earnest. Any opinions on what is better furled vs hand tied. Is there a good resource for building your own leaders? I found a site that makes furled leaders and will probably give them a try as well but if you have any manufacturers or sites that you like can I ask for links. Thanks all.

Has anyone ever fished the other Croton River, the one north of Croton on the Hudson.

The water is coming out of a dam so it should be cold, but are there trout in the river?

Thanks,

Randy

hey is anyone heading up to the wb saturday afternoonas loong as the flow is good ? im going to be up there around 4:30 5:00 pm if you want let me know and we can meet up and throw a few flies




john

Has anyone been on the Wood River this month enough to know the flows and hatches at mid-summer? I have a chance to spend a few hours on hit this weekend, and can't help but to reach out for a little advanced intelligence. I fished it last year at about this time of year and seem to recall the guys heading out onto the river as I was heading off were talking of a Hex hatch at dusk. Or was that in in June?

Posted By: Sherri Resti
To: Members in Friends Of The Upper Delaware River
Hot Water Conditions Display Fatal Flaws In Delaware River Water Release Plan
Unprecedented warm water temperatures on the upper Delaware River this summer prove that the current river management plan does not work and must be revised, according to a nonprofit conservation group.
“The water bureaucrats will try to blame the weather,” said Dan Plummer, board chairman of Friends of the Upper Delaware River. “But after a wet and chilly spring and early summer, river temperatures reached a crisis level after just a few days of above-average temperatures. That points to mismanagement.”
FUDR says the hot water temperatures have placed fish, aquatic insects and the general well-being of the river system at peril due to insufficient cold-water releases from the region’s reservoirs. Water temperatures have consistently exceeded 80 degrees during July on the main stem of the Delaware at Callicoon, N.Y., where fishing traditionally has been great this time of year.
“I made a living guiding in that part of the river for years,” said Joe Demalderis, the 2010 Orvis Guide of the Year. “That stretch is lost to fishing under the release plan. The fish need cold water, and 80 degrees won’t cut it.”
Water temperatures are based largely on the volume of cold-water releases from the bottom of reservoirs, and protocols for the rates of release are spelled out in the so-called Flexible Flow Management Program, approved in 2007 by the multi-state water bureaucracy.
Longtime river observers, including a number of respected guides and the likes of FUDR board member Al Caucci, say the FFMP does not satisfy the needs of the fishery. FUDR has long advocated for a minimum release of 600 cubic feet per second from the Cannonsville Reservoir on the West Branch of the Delaware from April through September.
In recent weeks, vast numbers of dead fish—mainly white suckers but including some trout and American shad—have been observed in the river. Incredibly, some have publicly touted this as an example of the effectiveness of the FFMP--fish are dying, they say, but only bottom-feeding suckers.
It’s an absurd spin on a crisis, said Plummer.
“The presence of dead fish, no matter the species, is a clear sign of an emergency,” he said.
On the first day of summer, FUDR issued a “crisis alert” predicting deadly water temperatures as a result of reservoir releases that had been throttled back to 420 cubic feet per second out of Cannonsville, even though the reservoir was 92 percent full.
The crisis came to pass in early July, when air temperatures reached the mid- and upper 90s as a warm front stalled over the area. Water temperatures in the main stem soon spiked above 80 degrees.
On July 4, after intercession by FUDR, River Master Gary Paulachok recognized the potential crisis and gained approval from the water bureaucracy to increase the flow through an “extraordinary needs” provision of the flow management plan. But here’s the catch: the “extraordinary” solution could be used for just three days. After 72 hours of temporary relief for the aquatic life, the Cannonsville release valves were cranked back down.
It was a keystone example of the ineffectiveness of the Flexible Flow Management Program, said Plummer.
On July 9, as the extra water was ending--despite reservoirs at nearly 90 percent of capacity--Plummer donned scuba gear and spent four hours surveying the fish in a pool near the Buckingham Access, fewer than 4 miles downstream from Hancock near the East-West branch junction. He found hundreds of eels, a handful of bass and a few dying American shad. He did not see a single trout, dead or alive. The water temperature in the pool was a consistent 77 degrees, top to bottom.
Once again, Friends of the Upper Delaware River implores the Delaware River Basin Commission and the water bureaucracy to devise a new water-release agreement that includes a rational emergency response mechanism to deal with inevitable heat crises.
“We all have to face the fact that the current plan is not working,” said Plummer. “The inability of the various government entities responsible to respond with a rational, useful solution to the warm July weather makes this painfully obvious, especially to the trout

Drumped microsoft and got smart and bought a Mac. My question is , Do I now have to change my name to MacWBDluver?

Just purchased a DC Skykomish Sunrise ST, used but in very nice condition. All you wading anglers better keep your head's on a swivel as I spin out of control while trying to figure out how to row while bouncing off every rock as I head down river, stealing all the best holes that you couldn't cast to on your best day and then drop anchor right in front of you and eat lunch. :bootyshak.....just kidding obviously. I do have and understand etiquette. I am sure there will be a learning curve but I can't wait to get out there and give it a shot. I am actually really looking forward to when the Main Stem will be fish able again and floating that.

Hello to all,
Mike here from Virginia Beach VA. New to this forum and actually new to Catskill fly fishing. I grew up in NY but left as a kid and recently inherited some land in Highland Lake, NY. I am an avid fisherman but mainly from salt water in the Chesapeake Bay and tributaries.
This weekend we will be coming up to the Catskills and spending a week. I have my out of state license and my trout gear. I also have an Aunt in Callicoon who has a creek running through her acrage. It is a tributary of Callicoon creek, North Branch. The creek on her property has not been fished in almost 40 years. Anyone who might know the area give me some insite if there might be some fish that far up? Anyway hoe it might rain in the next few days so that I can try some of the rivers like the Beaverkill and the West Brance while I am up. If you see a white ford PU with Virginia plates, stop by and say hello.
Thanks for the forum.
Mike

I'm going up around Milford, PA this weekend to try for some bronze "browns". How's the smallie fishing been on the D lately?

I'm going to throw my assortment of rubber legged streamers and big buggers, maybe even a colorado spinner.

Tied a few Royal Wulffs in size 14 and took a trip to a little waterway that has a few wild ones in it. I arrived at the stream around 10 am and found the flows to be decent. A quick water temp showed 62 degrees, I monitored the temp as I fished along the stream and it remained pretty constant.

The Royal Wulff produced some serious activity, some misses and a few to hand.























I left the stream about 1pm and as I walked out of the woods I crossed paths with a few deer and an extremely loud red squirrel.



Brk Trt

GOD:
Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colours by now. But, all I see are these green rectangles.

ST. FRANCIS:
It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers "weeds" and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.

GOD:
Grass? But, it’s so boring. It's not colourful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees; only grubs and sod worms. It's sensitive to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?

ST. FRANCIS:
Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.

GOD:
The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.

ST. FRANCIS:
Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it - sometimes twice a week.

GOD:
They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?

ST. FRANCIS:
Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.

GOD:
They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?
ST. FRANCIS:
No, Sir, just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.

GOD:
Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And, when it does grow, they cut it off?

ST. FRANCIS :
Yes, Sir.

GOD:
These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.

ST. FRANCIS:
You aren’t going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it, so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.

GOD:
What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn, they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. It's a natural cycle of life.

ST. FRANCIS:
You better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.

GOD:
No! What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter to keep the soil moist and loose?

ST. FRANCIS:
After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.

GOD:
And where do they get this mulch?

ST. FRANCIS:
They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.

GOD:
Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore.
St. Catherine, you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?

ST. CATHERINE:
"Dumb and Dumber", Lord. It's a story about....

GOD:
Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis