Catskills 5/3-5/6

[sstasiak]

Got back a few hours ago from a three and a half day Catskill trip. Despite dropping water levels and high winds, we all had a great time....and the fish cooperated.

I was lucky enough to be invited to an annual trip that rford has been organizing for the last few years. There was a good NEFF turnout with members rford, green butted skunk, coleman, karel, serotonin, joeyd, theartoflee, the_sib, and C&R all in attendance.

My time up there consisted of two and a half days of wading, and one day floating. Thursday morning I thought I had hooked the brown trout of a lifetime, but it turned out to be a nice sized pike.

The funny thing about this fish is that it was caught again about an hour and a half later by rford....CATCH AND RELEASE DOES WORK:dizzy: !!!! On my next cast I hooked and landed a huge smallmouth that was about 18 inches.
No trout on Thursday. Plenty of bugs on the water

Friday I nymphed and landed my biggest wild brown ever, about 18"...a couple hours later I beat my record with this brown that came in slightly over 21", again nymphing. Lots of bugs on the water in the afternoon...not many fish rising.

On Saturday, I floated with JoeyD and we had a good day. Our guide was great and after a tough morning we set up for the hatch. The guide put me on a pod of bank risers...probably 10 or more fish. I was able to catch many of them on the surface, including this girthy 17 incher.

I was only able to fish for a couple of hours before I had to come back today, and was able to pick this little guy up on a caddis larva dropper. The fly in this fishs' mouth is a larva pattern tied by Serotonin for the last NEFF fly swap.

This was an awesome weekend spent with a bunch of serious anglers. The fireside chats at the end of each day were just as good as the fishing. I'm sure as soon as everyone else gets back, they'll add their own reports and pics, which I can't wait to see. Hope to see everyone again next year....

 

[Karel]

Steve, it was a good trip! Was great to meet you all! Friday I got skunked, but Saturday I was out with Chris and guide Joe H. - we had a great day wading the WB. I hooked up on the 4th cast with a 21.5" and a few minutes later I had another 19' brown. I caught 6, of which the smallest was 16" and despite one, it was all on nymphs. Today, I went back to the hole I caught the 21.5incher the day before and I had a spectactular 2 hours... landed 7 trout, the biggest was.... 27" (!!!!!!) and the runner up was 23"... to bad I didn't catch those on Saturday for the pot. By the way, all but one fish this weekend were caught on a size 16 flash back pheasant tail nymph. Hope to repeat this next year - and many thanks to rford for organizing the trip! -K

 

[Eagle Claw]

Great report, looks like you had a super great few days. Just curious, did you float or wade ?

 

[Karel]

Eagle Claw, Thanks!
Yes the fishing was outstanding. In terms of fish quality, the best weekend ever since I fly fish. We waded Saturday with the guide since the water was too low on the WB. At first I was disappointed but he certainly knew what he was doing, we would have been dragging the boat more than we would have fished. The water was even lower on Sunday - it's a shame what's going on with the water release on the WB.
Karel

 

[C&R]

I floated the lower EB with Ralph's friend Randy on Sat. He hooked into a pretty bow but lost him with a head shake. The guide was good and put us on a lot of rising fish. Fish were very finicky and put down easily. Wish we fished the WB like Sstasiak and JoeyD. Figured nobody would at 444 cfs and dropping.

Ended up wading the Beaverkill on Sunday until 1pm. Tried the lower stretch that Sstasiak and JoeyD recommended. Couldn't find the Twister Sister bridge (maybe I did but just didn't know it). Wind was a killer all weekend, Sunday included. Ended up getting some shelter from the wind at Junction Pool in Roscoe. Caught 4 average bows, two on an alewife pattern I picked up the the WBA, and two on a caddis larva that I tied before my trip (an adaptation of jcstikfish's pattern except that I use UV White Ice Dub for the body and Peacock Ice Dub for the head....its quickly becoming my go-to pattern). All in all, a good time was had and it was nice to meet you all.

 

[jcstikfish]

two on a caddis larva that I tied before my trip (an adaptation of jcstikfish's pattern except that I use UV White Ice Dub for the body and Peacock Ice Dub for the head....its quickly becoming my go-to pattern).

Glad to hear you are having success on that pattern, it is a producer in a lot of situations on a lot of rivers.:thumb: I use UV Ice in a high water version as well. I use rusty brown for the head, but peacock is a great choice as well.


~James

 

[joeyd]

As steve mentioned the trip was awesome and could not have had a better group of guys to spend such an enjoyable weekend with. I would like to Thank Ralph for the invite and setting everything up. Here are a few pics of the biggest trout I have caught to date. This fish brought a huge smile to the face. I casted/waited for him for about half hour. After changing flies a few times he finally sipped a hendrickson emerger. He was sitting in about 6 inches of water and holding VERY tight to the bank. He measured a little over 20.

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Looking forward for next year! Thanks again

 

[sstasiak]

Nice fish Joey!!

The pics came out great.

 

[rford]

Guys,

It was a great trip, this years headcount was 16 with a few extra cameo appearences by the likes of Seratonin and even a breif one by Fly Tier whom hi jacked Joey D on Sunday. There was even a gift of a cooler of beer left at our doorstep by Future Fanatic that we did not find till Sunday Morning, perfect timing.

All in in all it was a great trip. Several folks had personal bests and firsts and from the sounds of it Karel has left me 4 inch in the dust to catch up with his 27 incher, too bad he missed it on our " Pool Day" it would have won him $ 260, that went to our friend Chris whom taped a 24 1/4 inch brown 20 yards from the door of his cabin!.

The Delaware system is not easy. The conditions were tough, the water is very low making for the need to make perfect presentations and lite tippets on the dry. The nymphers in the crowd took the numbers and size game this weekend with some folks exceeding 10 fish days ( thats huge anytime on this water ! ).

As usual, I was told by many that streamer fishing would be a wasted effort as the water was so clear. However as the anti nympher, I had to do something with the first part of the day before the hatches started.

However difficult conditions were for streamers I rounded out with an avg of one fish ( not specifically trout ) a day fishing 4-5 straight hours of pounding banks with streamers, then switching over to drys. I think I have to learn to nymph!

Some high lights....

Thursday on a streamer...Sstatsiaks sloppy seconds..


Friday
Hooked and lost very large rainbow on streamer HEART BREAKER!

Saturday on a streamer....
Sewer Trout - Yum Yum


My best fish of trip on streamer, while a hatch had just started! Bah Hum Bug you streamer Neh sayers!


Sunday - Was a bust no Takes at all on streamers,
Caught this fish on my last cast in spinner fall on a dry Hendricksons grizzley spinner!



No complaints here!

See ya next year....

 

[sstasiak]

Ralph, that last fish is mighty large...I have to ask, have you caught bigger or is that a personal best?

 

[rford]

The second to last is the best of trip.

Neither fish is a personal best for brown trout, my largest on Delaware system is 23 inchs. And of course now Karel has set the bar way high!

ralph

 

[Future Fanatic]

There was even a gift of a cooler of beer left at our doorstep by Future Fanatic that we did not find till Sunday Morning, perfect timing.

That wasn't just BEER... That was "beer" billed as being "Beer with Balls" brewed in none other than the mecca of baseball fans everywhere, Cooperstown, NY by Cooperstown Brewing Company. Jeez... as if I'd saddle you with Milwuakee's Best or something.

May there be a FEW of your past weekend's party that can partake of their just desserts. (I think they should demand an "Old Slugger")!

That must have been one helluva late night you had on Saturday! It's good to hear that you all seemed to have a great time.

 

[Big_Spinner]

Hi guys,

Looks like it was a great trip!!!

I think that the "pike" is actually a chain pickeral!!!

I want to know which of you bit the tail off of it!!

Jim

 

[bjmiller]

Hey guys,

That was definitely a pickeral, not a pike. I don't really think there are pike up there anyway. Same family, different fish. In over 30 years of fishing the system, I have caught one pickeral on the EB, one on the WB, and a few in the Mainstem. So not a real common catch. I wonder what ate the upper half of it's tail.

Bruce

 

[C&R]

I think that the "pike" is actually a chain pickeral!!!

I concur. Kind of funny that it got caught twice in such a short period of time. Poor fella must have been really hungry.

 

[sstasiak]

I forgot I took a pic of another fish with my phone....this fish had some really great colors on him

 

[serotonin]

(Nice one sstasiak)!

It was GREAT to see some old faces, and meet some new ones!

This was an awesome weekend spent with a bunch of serious anglers. The fireside chats at the end of each day were just as good as the fishing.

Those fires would have been Smudge, if it wasn't for Tim the Skunk and his Adirondack Hardwood.
Ralph's wood maybe ain't so hard... in fact it's kind of punky... but I'm standing now and applauding him for putting it all together.
Without Ralph, it would not have happened.

PS to joeyd> Thanks for the offer but... :crap: I'd rather sleep in my own bed.


:dizzy:

 

[C&R]

The fly in this fishs' mouth is a larva pattern tied by Serotonin for the last NEFF fly swap.

What is the body made of on that fly, nymph skin? What about the head too? I can't tell b/c the fly is wet.

BTW, that's a very nice pic. How did you get your camera to take such a wide aperture shot? I though you had a point and shoot camera.

 

[sstasiak]

C&R

Not sure what the body and ribbing is on that fly....still trying to get Serotonin to spill the beans on it . The head is definitely peacock herl

I just set the camera on macro mode and took the shot...nothing to complicated.

 

[serotonin]

Hey guys,
The body is made from Stretch Foam (by L&L Products). Color is light olive.
The ribbing is Vinyl Rib (made by UTC; comes on a spool). Color is brown, 16-20. Black is good too.
Super easy to tie.

I actually prefer to use a smaller and darker bead. (sstasiak... yes, those gold beads can be purchased w/a dull finish).

These flies will not win any durability contests, but they actually work better after they've been torn up a bit by trout teeth.
After 7-12 fish, you might have to throw it away. But like i said, they're super easy to tie.

 

[C&R]

C&R

Not sure what the body and ribbing is on that fly....still trying to get Serotonin to spill the beans on it . The head is definitely peacock herl

I just set the camera on macro mode and took the shot...nothing to complicated.

The ribbing looks like olive ultra-wire to me. Does the body have a rubbery feel to it?

edit - guess I was wrong, Serotonin posted his response while I was playing the guessing game...

 

[serotonin]

Actually, I might have used ultra-wire for that rib (I can't remember).
The body is not rubbery, but it is somewhat soft.

 

[C&R]

Hey guys,
The body is made from Stretch Foam (by L&L Products).

I did a search for this and I'm not getting any hits. Is "Stretch Foam" the actual name of the product? Got a link to anyone that sells this?

 

[serotonin]

I did a search for this and I'm not getting any hits. Is "Stretch Foam" the actual name of the product? Got a link to anyone that sells this?

Stretch Foam is the actual name. I picked it up in a fly shop. Cheap.
(I too had a hard time finding it online, but it's out there somewhere).

Here's the info for L&L Products:
12 Raemar Ct, Bethpage, NY 11714
516.931.6714

 

[C&R]

I did a search for this and I'm not getting any hits. Is "Stretch Foam" the actual name of the product? Got a link to anyone that sells this?

Stretch Foam is the actual name. I picked it up in a fly shop. Cheap.
(I too had a hard time finding it online, but it's out there somewhere).

Here's the info for L&L Products:
12 Raemar Ct, Bethpage, NY 11714
516.931.6714

Found it at Bob Marriott's. Thanks.

 

[rford]

Re: Catskills 5/3-5/6 - Pool Winner

As some may or may not know, we have a little pool on Saturday of this trip.
This year the pool was $ 260.00

I just got the pic of the winner that was caught by Chris S.

 

[Future Fanatic]

Re: Catskills 5/3-5/6 - Pool Winner

As some may or may not know, we have a little pool on Saturday of this trip.
This year the pool was $ 260.00

I just got the pic of the winner that was caught by Chris S.

Jeepers, that fish is big. And Chris isn't even using the Ralph Ford "Extended Arm Technique" for the photo! That man deserves a beer... Run up to the cabin and get him one... nevermind.

 

[rford]

Funny thing is that everybody ( almost 20 people) was spread out that day
over east , west and main , most with guides. When Chris got home he saw that fish rising behind our cabin otherwise karel and I would have been wrestling for $ with 21 1/2 - vs 21 3/4 . Chris' fish went 24 + on tape!
He earned the $.

 

[rckrego]

Boy, looks like you guys had a blast! That's the type of trip I want to be in on haha. Let me know if there are any openings next year.