It's early days - but

The dandelions have been in bloom for almost a week.  The shad bush is in full bloom. The water temps have for the most part stayed below the magic 50 degree mark.  The reservoirs are full and spilling.  The West Branch, upper East Branch and big river are too high to wade safely. The rivers are filled with alewives and the trout are gorging on them.

Boat fishermen have been throwing streamers at the alewife eating fish. The wade fishermen have congregated on the Beaverkill where warmer water temperatures have produced a modest bug hatch and the more moderate flows have allowed for wading.

The fishing?  Poor to nonexistent.  Some lucky anglers have had success on the newly stocked hatchery fish and a few of the big alewife eaters have indeed been caught, but for the most part fishermen have been saying "soon, it's gonna happen soon"  and TODAY IT DID !!

It didn't get cold last night, the sun came out, the wind was not a factor and as the temperature soared  the bugs (paraleps, quill gordons, Hendricksons and yes, apple caddis all hatched.

The fish?  I can't speak about the WB, BD, Or the UEB but the Beaverkill and Big East had risers.  Fished a pool with a Troutfitter regular and we were both into fish for about two solid hours.  When the hatch waned I headed downriver and found rising fish all the way to Hancock.

There were plenty of fishermen and boats on the water today and this weekend is FUDR's big bug affair. There will be lots of people on the river but you should probably be here too. It's your only chance to hook fish that don't look twice.

 Angler 119

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