A better place to be.

Yesterday I fished the Big River, the Big East, the Upper East Branch and the Beaverkill. Never really saw a hatch.  There were a few March Browns, a smattering of caddis and almost no rising fish.  I did stop at the Hale Eddy bridge on the West Branch, where there were Hendrickson spinners over the riff upstream of the bridge but the number of boats and wade fishermen convinced me to fish elsewhere.

Today I left the camp at 1:30 and headed straight to the West Branch.  When I arrived the water was covered with a smorgasbord of flies.  Hendrickson duns in good numbers, hatching caddis and spinners of both species. Fished until 9:30 and neither the bugs nor the fish ever stopped. There were quite a few wade fishermen and a surprising number of drift boats. With the water down into the 700's it was easy to tell who had rowed a boat and who hadn't (a lot of rocks got polished today).

The fishing?  Fantastic!!!  When you can throw at rising fish for eight straight hours, who can ask for anything more.

The catching?  Every fish caught was well earned.  Refusals were a compliment.  Ignores were the norm. Didn't see a lot of hookups from the boats (one) or from the other wade fishermen, but everyone was casting at fish.

Where to go?  Not sure.  Certainly there are bugs galore and rising fish from barking dog to Balls Eddy.  A guide said there were still some Hendricksons in the upper BR, which would mean that you could fish down the entire length of the WB and to Stockport on the BR.  It's a strange year.  I've never seen Hendricksons this late and never seen so few of the other bugs at the end of May.  It will happen and soon.  When it does the other rivers will be the place to be.  The fish haven't been as pressured, will be easier to fool and will give you a better fight when hooked.

That said, if you are fishing tomorrow GO TO THE WEST BRANCH!   

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