Time to shoot the bow.

 On August 16th I was in the penthouse, on  August 22nd I moved to the outhouse.  How did this come about? Well, the River Master  ran from 900 to over 1,100  cfs of water down the WB for five days. The cold water resulted in large hatches of olives and reinvigorated the lower WB and the BR down to Stockport.  There were fish feeding on olive duns in every pool in the WB.  On the 21st the flows were cut back and late summer fishing returned.

There are still olives hatching on the WB and there are rising trout but most of them are feeding on emerging nymphs just under the surface. There are very few open mouths appearing above the surface and seldom is heard the glup of a trout mouth closing on a mayfly dun. 

The number of anglers crowded into the upper WB insures that every rising trout is constantly being thrown at. Even down river, which was lightly fished during the sulfur hatch, is now being both floated and waded by a sufficient number of anglers to insure that the trout keep their heads down.

When will fall fishing get started? On a limited basis it has. This year, absent getting hit with the remnants of a hurricane, it might not get any better. The Big East, Beaverkill,  and Willowemoc are very low and continue to have temperatures in the mid to high 70's. The BR below Stockport has also experienced temps in the high 70's. A sustained high release of Cannonsville Reservoir water to meet downstream minimum flow requirements will keep the WB fishable and will probably result in some extension of the BR's fishable water downstream. The only way the other freestones become fishable is for a big rise in the waterflow levels and a cooling of the water temps.

Fall fishing is best when all the rivers are at fishable levels so that  both the fish and fishermen are spread out. Forcing everyone to fish the WB has already resulted in conditions where catching a fish or two is an accomplishment to be proud of (and not to be expected).


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