Waters droppin, bugs are poppin!
With NYC continuing a 100 CFS a day stepdown of the releases, there are now good wading opportunities throughout the system.
The releasing of 1,500 CFS from Cannonsville for the past several weeks has resulted in the depletion of the cold water below the thermocline. Water temps at Stilesville which have been around 44 degrees all summer are now above 50. This late in the year (even with the current heat advisory) it's not a threat to the fish but it will affect hatch times of the bugs.
Drove down early to avoid the Labor Day traffic, emptied the car and got ready to go fishing. A trio of fellow Lordville anglers stopped by to say hello. They said they had been fishing for four days. They had found the big river bugless and were concentrating on the WB where they had good olives and rising fish. Their report did nothing to dampen my enthusiasm for fishing the big river. When it's cold enough for the fish and low enough to wade, it's where I want to be.
The fishing - There were some ants on the water (the Fall Fish were eating them), there were a few small olives and a few cahills, a handful of caddis and enough isos to get a fish to rise every once in a while. If you were close to a fish when he rose and made a good cast you had a decent chance of getting a look. If the rise was too far away to cast to, you had to mark the spot wade over and cast. Sometimes the fish stayed in the same place, you made a good cast and got a look, most times not. The bug hatch was condensed into about three hours with very little going on before or after. Because the river has been either to warm to fish or too high to wade since back in late June, most of the fish that rose had not been fished to recently and ate.
It made for a very good day.
The releasing of 1,500 CFS from Cannonsville for the past several weeks has resulted in the depletion of the cold water below the thermocline. Water temps at Stilesville which have been around 44 degrees all summer are now above 50. This late in the year (even with the current heat advisory) it's not a threat to the fish but it will affect hatch times of the bugs.
Drove down early to avoid the Labor Day traffic, emptied the car and got ready to go fishing. A trio of fellow Lordville anglers stopped by to say hello. They said they had been fishing for four days. They had found the big river bugless and were concentrating on the WB where they had good olives and rising fish. Their report did nothing to dampen my enthusiasm for fishing the big river. When it's cold enough for the fish and low enough to wade, it's where I want to be.
The fishing - There were some ants on the water (the Fall Fish were eating them), there were a few small olives and a few cahills, a handful of caddis and enough isos to get a fish to rise every once in a while. If you were close to a fish when he rose and made a good cast you had a decent chance of getting a look. If the rise was too far away to cast to, you had to mark the spot wade over and cast. Sometimes the fish stayed in the same place, you made a good cast and got a look, most times not. The bug hatch was condensed into about three hours with very little going on before or after. Because the river has been either to warm to fish or too high to wade since back in late June, most of the fish that rose had not been fished to recently and ate.
It made for a very good day.
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