Posted on May 02 2025
Decided to take it easy today. Mowed the lawn as soon as it dried out this morning, made some business calls, had lunch and at 1:30 headed out fishing, destination unknown.
I seldom stop to fish if there is someone else fishing the pool, (except in the sulfur zone). I also don't like to wade in unless I see rising fish. So far this year meeting those two requirements has required a lot of driving. To be sure, there have been, (and still are), a lot of places with neither drifters nor waders fishing, but most of them also have had no fish rising.
Today, the first of May, was no different than April, except that the boats are leaving the lower BR and moving up the WB. Why? Because there are some Hendricksons hatching there. Given my disdain for crowds of any kind on a trout stream, I often am not present during the apex of an insect hatch, but I'm usually aware of where it's happening. This year, if there has been a good Hendrickson hatch anywhere except the UEB or the Neversink, no ones talking about it. I again drove from Lordville to Hancock, then to Horton, back to East Branch, then to Hale Eddy, and on up to Deposit. First rises, (two), that I saw were in the no kill where almost no one was fishing. That's where I fished.
The fishing - Better than I expected, but not as good as I would have liked. There were pseudos, hendricksons, and apple caddis hatching. My first two blind casts were refused. Saw a huge boil in a slot along the bank and on my third cast, (it was windy you know), the huge boil was repeated. Trout seem to know that if they do that, they will get an A-119 fly as a souvenir, at least this one did, (first break off of the year, which is really good for me). I'd like to say I settled down and had a good afternoon, but the truth is I landed but two fish out of six. Fished my way back up to the car with the hatch over and no fish rising. A nice fish came up under the fly not twenty feet from me but didn't eat it. Changed flies three times and he looked at the first two but didn't eat. On the third he came up slowly under the fly and at the last second he ate the fly with an audible pop. It was a 19.5 inch brown that jumped twice and was the first fish of the year to get into my backing. May every fisherman get to enjoy a half hour of excitement and pleasure that that fish gave me.
The Hendricksons are in the WB and UEB for sure and you should be too. Me? I've got my annual physical tomorrow, an appointment with the ENT guy Monday, and in view of the ten day forecast I might also start work on an Ark.
I had a better day in May than I did in April. Decided to face the crowds and fished the BR starting at noon. There were lots of caddis flying around and some rising fish. Picking out the rises was tough in the riffles and wind but possible even for someone without guide eyes. I had a fish not 20 ft from shore rising to something. He looked, refused, and ignored the multiple flies I tried. But a much larger fish rose about 50 feet out. My first cast was behind him, I know because he took a fly just upstream of my cast. The 2nd cast was on the money and he took it. I was unprepared for him, he went into my backing quartering downstream, then cut sharply toward the bank, rolled, continued and broke the 5.5X tippet. I need more practice catching really big fish on light line. Good to finally have risers to try and fool. FWIW, there were a few Hendricksons and that is what they took. There were still risers when I left at 5 for the 3 hour drive home.
Angler119’-I second Dennis’scomments.Cool song reference given the weather forecast. I remember the song, but not the singer.Hope to come up on Wednesday, but given the forecast I may need you to save me a space on the ark. Dennis- Hope you have good fishing this weekend. Ed
A119 great fish!! Good luck with the MDs!! If the rivers are not blown out I will be there over the weekend. I will report on my efforts.
Ed thanks for the kind words.
Congrats. I had no such luck. Hoping to repeat Wednesday’s success, I went back to Deposit, where I sat on the bank along with all other fishermen I saw, waiting for something to happen. Waiting. Waiting. 7:00 pm and still the wind was causing whitecaps. Left around 7:30 , wishing I had gone to a wind protected spot.