West Branch, 7/28-29

[talewaters]

The algae made it difficult to nymph and surface fish on the no -kill. Caught a 19 plus fat brown
at the Hale Eddy Pool and saw and caught quite a few small fish. Bait fishermen caught their limits both days in the morning. They keep only the 18 plus fish and throw back the others. The upstram migrating trout must keep this pool stocked to date, as it gets pounded by bait and fly fishermen daily.Went down to Horton and fished the 191 pool briefly as the small trout I caught tired quickly. the water temp was 68. You just gotta love lthe spectacular scenery from Roscoe to Hancock. My dream is to see the no kill extended to Hale Eddy. When Pigs Fly if NYS has anything to do with it.

[LorenWilliams]

I was on the WB all week (7/27-8/1) with the TU youth camp. I got to fish a bit each day on my own late mornings or early afternoons.

Ungodly numbers of rainbows under the whitewater and the better browns were, without exception, just in front of them. 95% of the trout I caught were in water 1.5 feet deep or less.

#12-#14 Bead Head Biot nymphs and #14-#16 Zebra midges, both with hot spots, were all I needed to use. Fished Shehawken, public side of DRC, Hale Eddy, Balls Eddy and Gents Pool area. Basically, anywhere there was heavier water with lots of aeration held the active fish.

No hatches to speak of--sulphurs, isos, tricos, pseudos and some caddis were all about but not in any numbers.

Browns were pretty but they were lackluster fighters compared to the rainbows. I LOVE the Big D bows!!! Best bows for me were in the 16-18 inch range. Lots of big browns, best one was one finger length shy of my shoulder seam--had to be very close to 24".

I even saw 4 healthy shad!

Temp swings were from 55-AM to near 70 PM depending where you were. That is rough and probably why the mid day fishing was the best.

Main Stem was a chocolate mess from the Beaverkill's rain events.

[AaronJasper]

I take it that when you were whacking the trout right in from of the DRC that you weren't making many friends there ... And you were nymph fishing to add insult to injury!

[LorenWilliams]

You know those goofs all stayed down in the "the pool" whipping dries at 1 in the afternoon. The real action was upstream around the island.

I fished that area 3 times in succession over 2 days in the mid-morning/early afternoon. First time through was the day after we had 12 kids there..I was showing one of the counselors the long leader system with a curly wirly and we tore them up laned well over a dozen fish in a short time.

What was noteworthy was how the fish slid up and down with the flow--as the flow dropped the bows dropped into the main flow but still tucked tight in the plunges. Almost all were 1 second fish and no indicator system would have been anywhere near as effecive.

The guy I was showing the system too caught on quickly and had a banner week. You could tell the logic clicked. Some of the Delaware system is better suited for a vertical presentation..but not whe it's 90 and full sun with whicked temp swings.

East Branch: took the kids to the Long Flat for an evening. What a bust. The kid I was with landed a 7 inch brownie and that was it. Fished some great water with great water temps. I just saw no evidence of a good trout population.

[AaronJasper]

20 foot plus leader systems?

Those fish do what wild fish are supposed to do. They move to the best lies and are very in tune to their surroundings and food sources.

I wish you took some pictures of the Didymo on the East Branch. You were telling me that it is super think over there.

[jhouseman]

LW,

Could you tell us about this long leader setup for rivers? And what's a curly wirly?

I was on the West Branch all last week and through the weekend. Didn't see your group anywhere. Hot in some spots... cold as ice in others. Lots of fish up high, but lots of rock snot too.

Amazing proliferation of big hot bows lately though. Lower Gamelands we're good to me.

[AaronJasper]

The curly whirly is the indicator used in French/Spanish nymphing. It's coiled mono. If you look through the threads in the nymph fishing discussion you will find the instructions on how to make one.

Also, think about the Oct. 11th clinic. There will be instruction on long and short leader nymphing.

[LorenWilliams]

jhouseman:

The long leader system I use is a blend of a bunch of stuff I've learned form others. My leader may or may not work for you as things like rod action, angler height, and casting ability come into play. In full the leader I use may exceed 30 feet--but only that last few feet ever get wet.

Basically, as I extend my leader I am able to stay in touch with my flies at longer distances and using smaller massed flies. How does this help? A tremendous number of fish will take in the first few seconds of a drift so knowing what is happening to your flies to moment they hit the water is important. Also, my not needing to mend line--I can remain in touch the entire length of my drift. Pretty much, I rig to eliminate my fly line and include a "sighter" to better see what is happening to my flies.

As a group we had the kids at Hale Eddy most mornings, took them to Deposit down from the Gents pool on evening and had them across from the DRC a morning and at Shehawken a morning. Some kids warm water fished the the WBA's pond.

Here's a link tot he camp's website and there are photos from the event now posted:
http://web.mac.com/avkurt/TroutWaters/Welcome.html

[jhouseman]

LW,

I'm really surprised I didn't see your group. Must have just missed you guys on a few days. I saw only sporadic hatches except bwos above the barking dog hole and sulphurs one day in the lower gamelands access. On both occasions I just sat and watched for some time and didn't see one dun escape those "stream swallows" - they are amazing aerial acrobats.

I think I understand the basic why's and how's of the system now. If it's not proprietary type information would you mind just listing an example of how you'd construct this "super" leader and where you would place the "sighter"? Which I guess could be a curly whirly - boiled mono coil type thing?

[AaronJasper]

That will be shown at the class!