Fly Fishing

waterwhippa · Location: Upstate, NY

I was just reading Shaq's article about the Farmington and it got me fired up for the Spring hatches and dry fly fishing. Kranes and I were riding home from the Steelhead tribs yesterday and it seems like every January we get the same hankering for wild trout on dry flys. After six straight months of chasing Steel, the mere thought of rising fish and casting a dry fly on a 14' leader with no split shot is orgasmic. Can't wait for the 2nd week of May when the Hendricksons come off down here on the Delaware, oh I can't forget about the sulphers they are a staple down here and the most frustrating pattern to match. So I am curious to know what everyone's favorite hatch of the spring is.

Shaq · Location: Adirondacks

I love those same Hatches Waterwhippa, I like the last week of May down there, tail of the Hendricksons, march browns, pseudos, Green Drakes, Apple Caddis, AAAAAAAHHH!!!!

Gotta have seven fly boxes, flies in the patch, flies on the hat, frazzled by days end. I sent a story to Jeremy from Memorial Day weekend last year that would knock your head off. We’ll have to wait for that one

I like some hatches that come off up in the Adirondacks too. Golden Stones, Zebra Caddis, They are like size 10, Isonichias all that.

Can’t wait. I PM’d Kranes my info so you guys can get ahold of me when it’s time. Yeeehaa

jeremy · Location: Portland, Maine

shaq - i got your sweeet pics from the delaware - but never got your article - send again please - sorry sometimes things get lost in the piles and piles of hard drives that make up my world.

waterwhippa · Location: Upstate, NY

Shaq, Here's a couple from last May. These were banner outings!
Looking forward to throwing some line around with you down there.

http://www.fliesandfins.com/article380.html

http://www.fliesandfins.com/article382.html

jeremy · Location: Portland, Maine

i'll tell you what --- wild trout on dry flies are my favorite type of trout to fly fish for - they will humble the most veteraned fly fisherman and bring you down to your knees. you will see them - far away and right in front of you - you will say, "oh, this is a no brainer.... i will just through out xyz fly and these idiots will take it.." then the pain begins....you manage to go through every fly in your box casting like a bafoon to these trout who want nothing to do with your stuff. you lengthen your leader to 13 feet - go way down to 6x and 7x tippet and tiny flies ---- still they refuse your stuff. an entire day can pass and often does with zero, ziltch, nadda and you drive back to wherever you came from with your tail between your legs feeling like you have just taken a beating from mike tyson. then you lay in bed wondering and pondering what you could have done...then you THINK you figure it out... you go back there the next day --- nope - refused again - now you feel like the size of an ant - and you gotta go to some place where stocked fish reside just to patch up your tattered ego - or what's left of it....but somehow those silly stocked trout, regardless of how many you hook and catch, never seem to ease the pain that the wild trout inflicted....so you study books and websites and fly patterns and you return to the wild trout waters that have successfully chewed you up and spit you out and laughed at all your years of trout experience....you wait...you don't rifle off casts like a fool...you learn to pick your fish...you learn to make sure that EVERYTHING is perfect (leader lenght, knots, fly etc...) you time the rythym of that rising fish......you wait.....you wait...you wait......you wait.....and then you throw out your line and if everything goes right your 60 feet of line and 13 feet of leader roll out perfectly and the fly drops in the exactl location that will provide a natural drift to YOUR trout. if that fly does not drift down the perfect feeding lane for that fish - you mine as well forget it....but this time it does.....you watch as that fly drifts down....SLURP.....ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.....Snap!

and the addiction continues ----- wild trout

jeremy · Location: Portland, Maine

ps --- i have never fly fished the delaware - but we have wild rainbows here in maine that are exactly the same.

I CAN NOT WAIT to get my butt handed to my by those wild browns. I am looking forward to long days of torture and frustration. because i know that if after a few days - just one of those browns gets careless and eats my fly --- the satisfaction will be oh so sweet. luckily i got guys like whipa, shaq and kranes to help take away a big part of the head-ache and show me where to fish --- for that i am most grateful...i will buy the beer for you guys.

AND - you guys better come to Maine and get beat up by the wild rainbows. here is an article that was written a couple years ago that explains it all --- these trout have sent many of fly fisherman back to wherever they came from with their tales between their legs...myself included. http://www.fliesandfins.com/article190.html

waterwhippa · Location: Upstate, NY

You could paste any one of our faces in those pics from that post. At the end of the day after you get your a$$ handed to you it all boils down to one thing, HUMILITY. The act of being humble as defined by Webster:

1 : not proud or haughty : not arrogant or assertive
2 : reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission
3 a : ranking low in a hierarchy or scale : INSIGNIFICANT

I think we can all relate to these terms in regard to wild trout on the fly.

ChrisR · Location: Southeast Massachusetts

I was out grilling on my deck last night and much to my surprise there was quite a good amount of bug activity fluttering around the lights. A few midge and winter caddis. I'm definitely thinking about heading up to the no kill zone of the Battenkill the next day the temps are getting up into the high forties. i haven't fished it in winter before but I used to have some good luck on another all year watershed down in south eastern NY. The trout couldn't lay off the serendipity patterns fished up close to the surface.

Shaq · Location: Adirondacks

Chris, Check the flow before you go up, it's 1930cfs up there right now and that's a fast, hard to wade flow. Everything is up right now after that rain last weekend. I have caught fish on large nymphs in the winter up there though, BH princes especially.

ChrisR · Location: Southeast Massachusetts

Yeah the entire north east really got hammered by that last one. Unfortunately it doesn't look like we will be getting a break any time soon either. Looks like Sunday through Tuesday will be pretty wet again. I guess I'll just have more time to tie up a few flies until a good day comes along. Thanks for the tip on the kill.

Shaq · Location: Adirondacks

The kill is wadable from 1000 down. 1000 is still pretty quick. streamers can work well in those flows.

It seems we are pretty close. where do you do most of your fishing?

ChrisR · Location: Southeast Massachusetts

NY it's mainly Columbia and Rennsaeler counties. In Vermont it's anywhere from the Battenkill to the White River. I spend a decent amount of time in VT. Especially when the waters drop and heat up down here in the Summer. I prefer the Battenkill from Arlington West into NY though. I've never really been fond of the section up towards Manchester. I gave it a shot again last Summer and still couldn't get into fishing it. When it gets really hot I prefer going up and fishing a lot of the mountain streams that stay cool and see little fishing pressure. Most of them your just dropping the fly into a pool rather than doing any real casting. It's different and a lot of fly fisherman don't really consider it fly fishing. But I've caught quite a few nice fish that way when the summer months are tough. And it's always a nice and cool place to spend a hot summers day regardless of what the catch is.

JoeD · Posted: Tue 01/24/06 5:36 pm Post subject:

My favorite hatch is always the one that's happening when I'm on the river!

waterwhippa · Location: Upstate, NY

Hey Joe, Do you guide on the West Branch? We love it down there.

JoeD · Posted: Tue 01/24/06 8:59 pm Post subject:

waterwhippa,

It's an easy place to love! And, yes I do, as well as the Main & East. Email or PM if you'd like.