Wooly bugger, hares ear, and usual. Runner up: elk hair caddis This is a generic list. When you are starting its really about the main types of flies (streamer, nymph and dry) and their proportions. Once you get that down, it's a matter of varying color, materials (and a few techniques)...

With the on-and-off rain lately, it looks like I'll need to tie up a few olives. I have never done well with olives. My defaults are typically usuals and comparaduns -- 18-22. What do folks do about colors? I've done well with cornutas later in May, but they are a kermit the frog green and...

What? No grip-n-grin? I would have paid to see it. Lol...

What for? I took yours. Bank napper:). Next thing, you'll want me to bring worms to Roscoe in a couple weeks.

Matt, is the wing of your iris caddis still white when tying it olive?

The stuff I was using was a C/N blend, but it wasn't the mahagony. It was lighter. Been using a lit of hares mask recently and was hoping I could mix something close.

A few years back I had the best hendrickson dubbing. It was a grayish, tan, with some pink and mahogany mixed in for good measure. I can't find the stuff anywhere. I am willing to ruin the coffee grinder. Anyone have a table or recipes for blending colors for specific hatches?

I am partial to Charlie Meck's Pennsylvania Trout Streams. If you are looking for a single book for the Catskills including the upper delaware, then I like Jim Caposela's Good Fishing in the Catskills. At this point, both are a bit dated (but so am I). Now, get off my lawn.

So, how many weeks behind are we right now? Last year I had fish rising to little black stones in the first week of April and blue quills by the second or third week in April. My experience is that things don't start to pop until the forsythias bloom and the water stays above 50 degrees...

Explain to me why we are considering putting these fish any where near a natural ecosystem?

The Pataki administration issued a temporary permit for NYC to continue discharging turbulent water in the esopus from the schoharie res. unfortunately the temporary permit doesn't have an end date. I am not sure on the timing, but I think this was in response to the lawsuit. Since then...

Yes, tribs were impacted also, but it is difficult to understand the storm damage to the stream itself unless you saw it... Nearly 2 decades of stream improvements wiped out above Phoenicia. Two bridges destroyed. The stream moved 50 yards in places and houses that had large lawns and a river...

I fish the esopus quite a bit and have noticed the change. Last year I started mentioning it to guys stream side and not many noticed a difference. I was starting to think that the storms had changed the river in and around my favorite spots, but not the entire river. The storms, the...

Gasland isn't fiction, it's biased -- and that's OK. For what it's worth, documentaries aren't supposed to be unbiased, rather document a perspective in a single point in time: Documentary film - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I don't generally like documentaries and I can't say that I...

It's not an online survey or anything. The DEC is doing a streamside survey, they want to know preferences of anglers on the river. I've run into them several times. And if you tell them you've already been surveyed, they won't count you a second time... I may lie next time, what's the...

Most of the spawning beds are upstream of phoenicia. The thought is to make everything below it C&R (it would be open year round). We could still fish for spawners, but not on the redds. The DEC is doing a survey of anglers on the river this year -- I spoke with a couple guys and they are...

There's plenty of good fishing near albany. There are put and takes that are real close, plus the battenkill. You aren't too far from the Ausable in the Adirondaks. Northern catskills (esopus and schoharie) are within a short drive. You'll want to pick up the Caposella book -- Good Fishing in...

I tie them in a similar color for isonychias. When they get wet, they turn a mahogany color:) Nice ties, try to get the next few a bit thinner in the body.

Proximity to NYC and natural gas drilling rights makes the catskills a more expensive option. If the expense isn't a concern, I'd go with the place that is closest to where you live. The adirondaks are a haul from just about anywhere.

Most folks that tie will tell yout that at the end of the day, if you tie your own flies you probably won't save much money. That said, you don't need to break the bank to get started. A few basic dubbing colors: natural hare's ear (brownish gray), light tan, and olive will cover most...