dcabarle
Administrator
Today I took a nice little ride through the catskills, but first...
I normally take the Parkway - Thruway - 17. Today I figured I'd try something a little different, so I punched the location into my navigation system. Driving up the parkway, it barked orders at me to jump onto 280. I skipped those orders and it instantly calculated a new route. Take 46 - 23s. Ok, no problem. 40 minutes later, I'm in Verona (20 minutes from my home). I continued to follow the instructions and found myself on 280 in Roseland. So, 280 - 80 to 15... then to guess what? 23N, what nerve!!!! After about 3hrs of driving, I finally found myself on the thruway 20 miles north of 17. Great directions... For now on, I think I'll stick with what works. I left my house a little before 9am and didn't get to the Roscoe area until 12:30. What is normally a 2hr drive turned into 3 1/2hrs. OUCH! So much for fishing for a few hours, I had some erands to run in the area.
MY First stop was the Finn / Feather something or another fly shop just below Roscoe in Livingston Manor. I had to return my new Korkers for a larger size. They didn't have my size in stock so they'll mail them to me. I hope that guy is honest because I took his word for it and left the original pair that I purchased with him. Their fly selection is a somewhat bleak but I did snoop around a bit and found a few nice ties (and of course purchased them). I'm sure he's just out of stock and waiting for new stuff to arrive. The next stop was Catskill Flies. I didn't spend too long in there but picked up a few little things then made my way over to the Beaverkill Angler. I didn't purchase anything here but did notice that they had a few 'Gallow's Tools" available. I forget the price but it was reasonably cheap. I didn't purchase it because by looking at it I could tell it would not mount onto my Nor-Vise properly. Ohh well, maybe next time (after I purchase a new Vice). My next stop was to some type of fly material swap at the rockland house. I purchased some really nice DST Quills from Allen Podel (Mayfly to some of you). He uses a technique to die the quills in different shades to match whatever specific hatch you're tying for. I picked up 3 packs of these and will post results as soon as I try them.
Now for the important stuff. The Willow and the Beaverkill looked perfect. Fish were rising everywhere, unfortunatly I had to run some errands... ehh... just kidding about the rising trout. I'll post some pics of the rivers in a little while.
I then drove into Hancock and noticed Jim Serio in the window. I stopped to say hello and to learn a few things about the DRF organization. Pretty interesting stuff, but I'll let Jim post it if he chooses. I will say that Jim is really sincere about his involvment with the DRF. I hope to get to sit down with someone from the FUDR who is as sincere about the FUDR as Jim is for the DRF.
So far it's been a busy day. I drove over to the West Branch Angler to pick up some flies. I'M A NUT!!! I'd be embarrased to let you all know how much I spent on flies! My main reason for getting to the WBA was to drop off a deposit for Memorial Day weekend. I chose this place because the cabins are big enough for my entire family and, they are really well kept. You feel right at home in them after a good day of fishing, and one more thing, the beds are pretty damned comfortable too, they don't feel like cardboard, but I will say that you do pay for that extra comfort (they give you free breakfast too).
Finally, I drove down to the Hale Eddy bridge to lift a rock and see what was under it. The one rock I picked up had a nice handfull of immature Golden Stone Fly nymphs. That was good enough for me, I'll post the pics later or tomorrow, I'm pretty exhausted now.
All of the rivers looked like they were in excellent shape but who know's, April showers bring May flowers, right! Let's hold off on that one for now. Goodnight!
I normally take the Parkway - Thruway - 17. Today I figured I'd try something a little different, so I punched the location into my navigation system. Driving up the parkway, it barked orders at me to jump onto 280. I skipped those orders and it instantly calculated a new route. Take 46 - 23s. Ok, no problem. 40 minutes later, I'm in Verona (20 minutes from my home). I continued to follow the instructions and found myself on 280 in Roseland. So, 280 - 80 to 15... then to guess what? 23N, what nerve!!!! After about 3hrs of driving, I finally found myself on the thruway 20 miles north of 17. Great directions... For now on, I think I'll stick with what works. I left my house a little before 9am and didn't get to the Roscoe area until 12:30. What is normally a 2hr drive turned into 3 1/2hrs. OUCH! So much for fishing for a few hours, I had some erands to run in the area.
MY First stop was the Finn / Feather something or another fly shop just below Roscoe in Livingston Manor. I had to return my new Korkers for a larger size. They didn't have my size in stock so they'll mail them to me. I hope that guy is honest because I took his word for it and left the original pair that I purchased with him. Their fly selection is a somewhat bleak but I did snoop around a bit and found a few nice ties (and of course purchased them). I'm sure he's just out of stock and waiting for new stuff to arrive. The next stop was Catskill Flies. I didn't spend too long in there but picked up a few little things then made my way over to the Beaverkill Angler. I didn't purchase anything here but did notice that they had a few 'Gallow's Tools" available. I forget the price but it was reasonably cheap. I didn't purchase it because by looking at it I could tell it would not mount onto my Nor-Vise properly. Ohh well, maybe next time (after I purchase a new Vice). My next stop was to some type of fly material swap at the rockland house. I purchased some really nice DST Quills from Allen Podel (Mayfly to some of you). He uses a technique to die the quills in different shades to match whatever specific hatch you're tying for. I picked up 3 packs of these and will post results as soon as I try them.
Now for the important stuff. The Willow and the Beaverkill looked perfect. Fish were rising everywhere, unfortunatly I had to run some errands... ehh... just kidding about the rising trout. I'll post some pics of the rivers in a little while.
I then drove into Hancock and noticed Jim Serio in the window. I stopped to say hello and to learn a few things about the DRF organization. Pretty interesting stuff, but I'll let Jim post it if he chooses. I will say that Jim is really sincere about his involvment with the DRF. I hope to get to sit down with someone from the FUDR who is as sincere about the FUDR as Jim is for the DRF.
So far it's been a busy day. I drove over to the West Branch Angler to pick up some flies. I'M A NUT!!! I'd be embarrased to let you all know how much I spent on flies! My main reason for getting to the WBA was to drop off a deposit for Memorial Day weekend. I chose this place because the cabins are big enough for my entire family and, they are really well kept. You feel right at home in them after a good day of fishing, and one more thing, the beds are pretty damned comfortable too, they don't feel like cardboard, but I will say that you do pay for that extra comfort (they give you free breakfast too).
Finally, I drove down to the Hale Eddy bridge to lift a rock and see what was under it. The one rock I picked up had a nice handfull of immature Golden Stone Fly nymphs. That was good enough for me, I'll post the pics later or tomorrow, I'm pretty exhausted now.
All of the rivers looked like they were in excellent shape but who know's, April showers bring May flowers, right! Let's hold off on that one for now. Goodnight!