Stuck on the Upper East
Today's big question. Where to fish?
With the DEP playing it safe and drawing down Cannonsville with the
!,500 max. release and old mother nature adding additional water via
thunderstorms the WB and the big river were pretty much out of play.
The Beaverkill? Old mother nature spared it the rain but poured down
enough sun to make fishing there unconscionable.
That left the EB. The big east, warmed by the Beaverkill water and a
wide streambed also heats up quickly. The upper EB, at 500 cfs, is
cold the entire 15 miles from Downsville to East Branch. Like Lorelei,
however, she entices you into the water and then watches you flounder
on the rocks.
The upper EB has fish, bugs, deep pools and at 500 cfs, challenging
riffs and runs. But she suffers no fools. If you go there be prepared
for the worst. Fish stop rising before you are even close to your
casting range or (most times) they don't even rise at all. One cast,
after a careful approach, senda every fish within 100 feet scurrying
for the depth of the pool. Bright sun reduces the river to a sheet of
glass, bugs don't hatch, fish don't rise.
After yesterday, a trip to the upper EB was the last thing I wanted,
more heat and sun were predicted, the outlook was grim. At 2:30 when
the first bugs should have been hatching, I was cutting multiflora
roses out of my pathway to the river with pruning shears I borrowed
from the landowner. After returning the shears, I went down to the
river. There were a few bugs on the water and a few clouds in the
sky. Shortly thereafter the clouds thickened, the bugs came (lots and
lots of them) and the fish rose and ate (the wrong fly often enough to
make it my second best day of the year).
You never know 'til you go.
With the DEP playing it safe and drawing down Cannonsville with the
!,500 max. release and old mother nature adding additional water via
thunderstorms the WB and the big river were pretty much out of play.
The Beaverkill? Old mother nature spared it the rain but poured down
enough sun to make fishing there unconscionable.
That left the EB. The big east, warmed by the Beaverkill water and a
wide streambed also heats up quickly. The upper EB, at 500 cfs, is
cold the entire 15 miles from Downsville to East Branch. Like Lorelei,
however, she entices you into the water and then watches you flounder
on the rocks.
The upper EB has fish, bugs, deep pools and at 500 cfs, challenging
riffs and runs. But she suffers no fools. If you go there be prepared
for the worst. Fish stop rising before you are even close to your
casting range or (most times) they don't even rise at all. One cast,
after a careful approach, senda every fish within 100 feet scurrying
for the depth of the pool. Bright sun reduces the river to a sheet of
glass, bugs don't hatch, fish don't rise.
After yesterday, a trip to the upper EB was the last thing I wanted,
more heat and sun were predicted, the outlook was grim. At 2:30 when
the first bugs should have been hatching, I was cutting multiflora
roses out of my pathway to the river with pruning shears I borrowed
from the landowner. After returning the shears, I went down to the
river. There were a few bugs on the water and a few clouds in the
sky. Shortly thereafter the clouds thickened, the bugs came (lots and
lots of them) and the fish rose and ate (the wrong fly often enough to
make it my second best day of the year).
You never know 'til you go.
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