Catskills Early Spring

[sh4ne87]

With the weather giving us some nice days to fish, I have been hitting the streams up north. In the past week, I have fished the neversink, mongaup and west branch. It was crazy to see my guides freezing up early morning in the neversink last saturday. It was 27 degrees at 6 am!

Not much bug activity on top, so nymphing has been the majority of fishing. I know the mongaup isnt particularly a popular stream to fish, but it has grown to be the most enjoyable for me. Yes, tough to fish but, there are so many quality fish and never much pressure.

Fished the west branch all weekend with Fredy down below me at the west branch angler. I can say I honestly fished an hour or two the whole weekend. Flows were low, and bugs were limited.

Looking to hit up the mongaup again tomorrow afternoon as the flows are even lower around 75 cfs. I know this sounds quite low, but even at 100 cfs the mongaup is quite treacherous to wade as I barely even leave the shoreline at those flows.

On a side, note, the tacky boxes are hands down the best out there. Let me know how the bugs look in the next couple weeks.

 

[WBDluver]

Thanks for the post. I was at the West Branch Friday and Saturday above you. sparse hatch at 3:00 on Friday and nothing on Saturday. Where can i take a look at those fly boxes. Im a fly box junkie always looking for the perfect fly box.

 

[MACFLY]

Thanks for the post. I was at the West Branch Friday and Saturday above you. sparse hatch at 3:00 on Friday and nothing on Saturday. Where can i take a look at those fly boxes. Im a fly box junkie always looking for the perfect fly box.

Here is the link

Tacky Fly FishingTacky Fly Box: Your search for the perfect Fly Box is over

 

[flyI4]

The tailwaters are a bit off so far this year and surface activity has been sporadic. Did very well on the freestones up there this weekend but it was not everywhere and you had to cover water. When u found fish they were dumb though and would eat anything as they typically do this time of year. This week should change things as rivers will be in the 60s at current flows and air temps hitting mid 80s.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

It really hasn't begun on the upper D yet. Fishing reports were abysmal with a few bugs scattered here and there and few fish rising so far. That has to change soon.

 

[FlyBri]

I fished the east branch thursday-saturday. It wasnt great but there were sporadic hatches, sometimes with active fish. The water was low and clear which made it tougher. We managed to land some fish by covering a lot of water and taking advantage of the few opportunities we had. All in all it was an ok trip. Definitely better than this time last year.

 

[flyI4]

Yup- last year we did not have steady risers anywhere til May 10th or later. I remember that I shot up after taking a half day last year on May 10th and floated a good stretch of river with hendricksons covering the water. Saw only a few catchable fish all day and would have thought it was mid april based on the fish behavior.