Catskill Mountains State of the Rivers 1-19-2021

Each year spring time river conditions happen due to the snowfall and winter conditions months earlier. Here we are a few months before the season. Actually to be exact it is 72 days away.

Currently the 2021 season is lining up just right. We have decent snow pack in the hills, the rivers are above average flow and the reservoirs are all at or above historic statistical averages.

What’s this mean?

Going into a season having full reservoirs is crucial to the longevity of a season. More water means happy fish and more water also spreads out the fishing pressure across a system. More water also means that some spots will only be accessible by drift boat. Which is the age old debate of the wade angler vs the oarsmen.

Below is a snapshot taken just now of the NYC Environmental Protection gauges, measuring the Catskills and Westchester Reservoirs.

Reservoir Levels NYS NYC Fly Fishing

Snow Pack

On the higher elevations around our rivers we have a stead 4”-8” of ice and snow.  It has been cold and cloudy for at least going on a month now.  Days in the 30’s are beginning to feel “warm.”  The snow and ice is locked in tight and not going anywhere soon. 

The current snow pack is good for now, however if we want a prolonged season we will need another good snowfall before March is over.  The positive is that the snow base is already in place to hold any fresh accumulations. 

River Conditions

I drove around above the reservoirs this weekend as well as the East Branch, West Branch and Beaverkill.  All of the rivers are juicing!  The trout have to be happy with this big water.  

The only side note about the rivers is I noticed that the tributary mouths have almost all been washed out. Some of these streams are major breeder streams as seen in the RFID chip tagging study. Without access to these small feeders the trout reproduction success falls.

This past fall the rivers were very low. It was early October and I had just departed the West Branch Angler. We were throwing streamer when all of a sudden halfway down monument pool we came across hundreds of brown trout on their Redds. We pulled over and had lunch while admiring this spectacle from a safe distance.

I have seen fish spawn in the river over the past decade however not in this amount. Is this because they can’t enter the tributaries due to the stream mouths being blocked?

Recap

The resovoirs and river levels are good for this time of year. We could benefit with a heavy snowfall in mid to early March. The spawning streams need to be tweaked to allow access before riparian growth begins in the spring. It’s about to get to single digits next week.

Before the Hendrickson

Whirling Dun Fly by Art Flick
Whirling Dun Fly by Art Flick

History

By Tom Mason: Some of us in the last few days have explored the tying of the Hendrickson and we have enjoyed this very much. But what fly was used by the old timers before the Hendrickson came along.

Art Flick states in his classic Streamside Guide that the Whirling Dun was originally tied to imitate E. Subvaria. This is that Fly as per the dressing of Rube Cross.

My Take

It was interesting to me because the “Hendrickson” is so famous I never questioned what was tied before its invention. Tom Mason let me know he “was there” (lol) when the Hendrickson was invented. He also told me he tied it with using dinosaur bone tools lol.

Upper Delaware Fall Trout Fishing

Jeff might have the coolest mom in the world. It was almost Jeff’s eighteenth birthday and his mom gifted him a guided Delaware trip. FYI Jeffs mom my birthday is August 13th lol.

We fished the upper West Branch which recently had been rained on and the reservoir was spitting dirty water. In the first 50 yards we had 3 streamer eats and one nice one to net.

A few hundred yards later we ran into an epic BWO hatch and netted a few more.

After that fizzled out we saw a big brown eating ever ISO that floated down the bank. We put one over his head and the fish turned and stracked in 10 feet before aggressively smashing it. (first picture below)

Father Son Upper Delaware Fishing Trip

Some days you wake up and see the blue bird skies and think there might not be any noses popping up. This was the case today. Boat in the water, rods rigged and ok there’s a nice nose subtly cruising the shadow line. The prize was in a rythimic eating pattern that consisted on lateral and horizontal shifts. 3 here then 3 there then 3 there.

After many presentations, staying shorter than long to scare the fish, finally timing and distance was met with a sip.

Dad tied into a good one and it settled juniors back of the boat jokes. The fish made us work but it was well worth it.