Posted on May 05 2017
After yesterdays less than scintillating day on the Neversink, I was left with no where to go. Both branches and the big river were at higher levels than I had ever waded them and 3/4 quarters of an inch of rain was in the forecast.
When I looked out at 5:45am it was raining. It continued to rain all morning. The air temp hovered at 45, some 13 degrees below the predicted high. The water temp everywhere was in the mid forties. Talked with my wife who said "You know, they are predicting snow Monday and Tuesday and I'm going out to be at my sister's tonight, so why don't you stay and see what happens?"
What happened is it rained harder from 11:00 until 1:00 and then it eased off. The water temp peaked at about 48 degrees (good enough for Paraleps but probably too cold for Hendricksons). The air temp "soared" up to forty eight and at 1:15 I went fishing.
Picked the WB in part because it has the best hatches, in part because it has the most fish and in part because it's the only stream where I knew a place where I could get far enough off shore to make a back cast. Got to the water at 1:30 and it was covered with paraleps. At about three the hendricksons joinded the fray. Finding rising fish was not a problem. Getting out to them, casting the fly to them drag free (it was a tad breezy) and getting them to eat YOUR fly out of the thousands of real ones were the problems.
I had rising fish from 1:30 'til 5:00. Several boats went by. I saw no other wade fishermen. Had to keep an eye upstream as some sizable branches were afloat ( a sure sign of rising water).
How'd I do? My paper didn't have a gold star or a "very good" on it but it didn't have a "see me"
note either. I ended up with 7 fish between 14 and 19 inches. The 19 incher was a hen rainbow that was "fish of the day". The three other 'bows that I caught were all males still in bright spawning colors. The climb up the hill to the car at the end of the day was no problem at all.
If you think you want to go this weekend -- see if you can get a guide (lots of cancellations I'm sure), start at 1;30, fish the WB and have him take you to the tailout of the slowest pool he knows. Don't even think about wading- the WB is back up over 3,000cfs as I write. Be safe and good luck,.
When I looked out at 5:45am it was raining. It continued to rain all morning. The air temp hovered at 45, some 13 degrees below the predicted high. The water temp everywhere was in the mid forties. Talked with my wife who said "You know, they are predicting snow Monday and Tuesday and I'm going out to be at my sister's tonight, so why don't you stay and see what happens?"
What happened is it rained harder from 11:00 until 1:00 and then it eased off. The water temp peaked at about 48 degrees (good enough for Paraleps but probably too cold for Hendricksons). The air temp "soared" up to forty eight and at 1:15 I went fishing.
Picked the WB in part because it has the best hatches, in part because it has the most fish and in part because it's the only stream where I knew a place where I could get far enough off shore to make a back cast. Got to the water at 1:30 and it was covered with paraleps. At about three the hendricksons joinded the fray. Finding rising fish was not a problem. Getting out to them, casting the fly to them drag free (it was a tad breezy) and getting them to eat YOUR fly out of the thousands of real ones were the problems.
I had rising fish from 1:30 'til 5:00. Several boats went by. I saw no other wade fishermen. Had to keep an eye upstream as some sizable branches were afloat ( a sure sign of rising water).
How'd I do? My paper didn't have a gold star or a "very good" on it but it didn't have a "see me"
note either. I ended up with 7 fish between 14 and 19 inches. The 19 incher was a hen rainbow that was "fish of the day". The three other 'bows that I caught were all males still in bright spawning colors. The climb up the hill to the car at the end of the day was no problem at all.
If you think you want to go this weekend -- see if you can get a guide (lots of cancellations I'm sure), start at 1;30, fish the WB and have him take you to the tailout of the slowest pool he knows. Don't even think about wading- the WB is back up over 3,000cfs as I write. Be safe and good luck,.
Thanks for the report, it gives one hope that fish can be caught on a dry fly at that water level…