pressure effecting the consistency of rising activity

[flyI4]

My past couple of trips to the catskills have been fairly hot sunny days forcing me to fish the upper tailwaters during the day. On one of these trips, I was fishing up in stilesville and hit a pretty epic grey fox hatch mixed with a pretty heavy sulpher hatch including both the sz 14 and sz 18 sulphers. As this hatch took place, I saw sporadic rising throughout ,but did not see many of the better fish rising at a rate that would be expected considering the dense hatch that was taking place. This has been something I've noticed happens as the sulpher hatch goes on and fishing pressure becomes condensed on the upper river. Very heavy hatches ,but you need to move from spot to spot if your not seeing rises because certain areas (farm pool for instance is a typical spot) where the fish just don't get on the bugs like they should bc of how many times they've been bombarded by flies on a daily basis. Its a frustrating thing seeing bugs float down by the thousands and only sporadic rises throughout a pool...I've been wandering off into side sections, walking in a few pools from access points to try and find slightly less pressured fish even though they still get pounded throughout the whole river, and have also been throwing Iso's and slightly different bugs than whats out there to entice the sporadic fish that are coming up. Its been working well, but still its getting old seeing these fish stay down due to the pressure that these tailwaters see during the summer months. Anyone else witnessing this?

 

[tkhour]

My past couple of trips to the catskills have been fairly hot sunny days forcing me to fish the upper tailwaters during the day. On one of these trips, I was fishing up in stilesville and hit a pretty epic grey fox hatch mixed with a pretty heavy sulpher hatch including both the sz 14 and sz 18 sulphers. As this hatch took place, I saw sporadic rising throughout ,but did not see many of the better fish rising at a rate that would be expected considering the dense hatch that was taking place. This has been something I've noticed happens as the sulpher hatch goes on and fishing pressure becomes condensed on the upper river. Very heavy hatches ,but you need to move from spot to spot if your not seeing rises because certain areas (farm pool for instance is a typical spot) where the fish just don't get on the bugs like they should bc of how many times they've been bombarded by flies on a daily basis. Its a frustrating thing seeing bugs float down by the thousands and only sporadic rises throughout a pool...I've been wandering off into side sections, walking in a few pools from access points to try and find slightly less pressured fish even though they still get pounded throughout the whole river, and have also been throwing Iso's and slightly different bugs than whats out there to entice the sporadic fish that are coming up. Its been working well, but still its getting old seeing these fish stay down due to the pressure that these tailwaters see during the summer months. Anyone else witnessing this?

Funny you should bring this up JC. I did Norboard to Balls yesterday in the bright sun and witnessed the same thing. Blanket hatch of sulfurs in various sizes from 11:30 to 1:30 up top. Not many players around. Below Hale Eddy in the late afternoon they came pouring off again. Same thing not many fish rising for amount of bugs on water. IMHO, it is the bright sun that plays a bigger role. They don't want to expose themselves. Cloud cover equals low light which in turn makes the fish feel less vulnerable to prey. Just my two cents. Still managed to have a decent day on the river. Hope all is well.

 

[CTobias]

IMHO, it is the bright sun that plays a bigger role. They don't want to expose themselves.

Agreed. Fish don't feel safe on bright sunny days. Feeding on the surface exposes them to more predators and they are more likely to hunker down and pick off the subsurface food sources.

Even way up in the mountains of NC and Eastern TN when I am fishing a bright sunny day I have better success fishing the shaded areas vs. the areas of water the sun is beating down on.

 

[flyI4]

I agree the sun definitely plays a big role on how willing the fish are to get really going on the bugs....I remember in the 90's though before the pressure was crazy like it is now that the sulpher hatch would come off and every pool had steady risers. Its kind of a catch 22 in the sense that the sulphers hatch best when its sunny out, but the fish don't rise as well in those conditions. Heading up sunday with my pops and the weather looks to be more of the same, might switch things up and fish the EB

 

[Trout Guy]

My past couple of trips to the catskills have been fairly hot sunny days forcing me to fish the upper tailwaters during the day. On one of these trips, I was fishing up in stilesville and hit a pretty epic grey fox hatch mixed with a pretty heavy sulpher hatch including both the sz 14 and sz 18 sulphers. As this hatch took place, I saw sporadic rising throughout ,but did not see many of the better fish rising at a rate that would be expected considering the dense hatch that was taking place. This has been something I've noticed happens as the sulpher hatch goes on and fishing pressure becomes condensed on the upper river. Very heavy hatches ,but you need to move from spot to spot if your not seeing rises because certain areas (farm pool for instance is a typical spot) where the fish just don't get on the bugs like they should bc of how many times they've been bombarded by flies on a daily basis. Its a frustrating thing seeing bugs float down by the thousands and only sporadic rises throughout a pool...I've been wandering off into side sections, walking in a few pools from access points to try and find slightly less pressured fish even though they still get pounded throughout the whole river, and have also been throwing Iso's and slightly different bugs than whats out there to entice the sporadic fish that are coming up. Its been working well, but still its getting old seeing these fish stay down due to the pressure that these tailwaters see during the summer months. Anyone else witnessing this?

I think what you experienced in stilesville has more to do with the amount of sub-surface feeding than fishing pressure. No to say that its not a factor though.

I fish that section alot and the fish dont tend to take duns off the surface as much as lower sections. Ive caught my share of decent trout on dries on that section, but nymphing plays a HUGE role closer you get to the spillway. And vise-versa with fishing dries.

The way upper WB can be VERY frustrating but its payoff is awesome when you hook a monster.

 

[CMoser]

In other words the fish are still eating just not what stage your throwing at them. Its all just a big puzzle with enough variables to make you frustrated. Thats one reason why I love it so much.

I think what you experienced in stilesville has more to do with the amount of sub-surface feeding than fishing pressure. No to say that its not a factor though.

I fish that section alot and the fish dont tend to take duns off the surface as much as lower sections. Ive caught my share of decent trout on dries on that section, but nymphing plays a HUGE role closer you get to the spillway. And vise-versa with fishing dries.

The way upper WB can be VERY frustrating but its payoff is awesome when you hook a monster.

 

[flyI4]

In other words the fish are still eating just not what stage your throwing at them. Its all just a big puzzle with enough variables to make you frustrated. Thats one reason why I love it so much.

I agree, the challenge the rivers present up there are a main reason why I never seem to get bored year after year heading up there. I almost exclusively fish there now because few other places can present such a challenge and have such quality fish to make the challenge worth it in the end. I'm not against nymphing, but it is hard to put that nymph rig on when your seeing bugs of all kinds floating down in big numbers. I usually tell myself there has to be a pod of fish tucked away somewhere and walk/float until I find them.