Fall Catskill JAM.....the final chapter 10/4-10/6

Just an FYI if folks aren't' already aware:
The access areas at Ball's Eddy and Shehawken have been damaged (apparently pretty badly) recently due to flooding and will likely be closed for awhile.

Damage
 
It's worth noting, anyone who plans to fish the Upper West Branch, or the East Branch of the Delaware, NY state license expire Sept 30.NY License
Not always a necessity, but handy if you need it.
 
Talking to Bart from the DRC, Shehawken creek swelled from flash flood and took out all of the 50' tall trees lining its bank. I understand that you couldn't get near it if you wanted to. FUDR is helping the PFBC get things back in order.

DaveS is right....NY license doesn't operate on a calendar year like PA. That sucks because I was shooting for late September which won't impact us season license holders or those planning in renewing a season license. Let me know if it will impact the decision for first timers. BTW, NY does do lifetime licenses for out of state. They are $450 (aprox).


Late September should give us hebes, Oct caddis, olives, iso, various caddis, peach fly, etc. If the weather conditions continue as summer has started, we should have plenty of water.
 
NJ Tom called me from Hancock. He went and looked at the shehawken access. He said you can go down as far as the grassy parking for boat trailers on the left. Beyond that is a 6' deep ravine. The topsoil is gone, there are 2 dozen full grown trees uprooted / scattered about and it appeared the ramp area is MIA. I forgot to mention.... The creek channel moved and runs along and through the launch!! There must have been some crazy rain totals up there.
 
krayfish wrote:
NJ Tom called me from Hancock. He went and looked at the shehawken access. He said you can go down as far as the grassy parking for boat trailers on the left. Beyond that is a 6' deep ravine. The topsoil is gone, there are 2 dozen full grown trees uprooted / scattered about and it appeared the ramp area is MIA. I forgot to mention.... The creek channel moved and runs along and through the launch!! There must have been some crazy rain totals up there.
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Yow!!! :-o

Thanks for the report K-fish.
 
Given the license deal, it would be better for me to go oct 3-6 as I will be buying a NY year long license for salmon/steel anyway.

just my 2¢
 
Ok. October it is. 3-6 or 3-6 if you want to come up early. Pray for no hurricanes.

Martin,
the Monticello Monster is calling your name! Bring your bats.
 
Oh yeah Im in for the golf..nothing like smacking it around for 7600 yards. How early are you going up? I think I could probably do a 4 day weekend.
 
krayfish wrote:
Ok. October it is. 3-6 or 3-6 if you want to come up early. Pray for no hurricanes.

Martin,
the Monticello Monster is calling your name! Bring your bats.
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Dern it i have to go to wedding on Oct 4...

3-6 = 3-6 ?? Does that mean ppl will be up before the 3rd?
 
Seriously Phil? Another F'n wedding? Damn man, what is that 10 this year?
 
I used the dates of Thursday Oct 3 - Sunday Oct 6 as a general group of dates. Every year, I try to make it up on Wednesday so I can get things squared away for the group. Since Josh still has 4 1/2 weeks of vacation left, we've talked about heading up early. We have actually considered heading up Monday September 30th and just making a week of it. At the worst, I think we'll head up on Tuesday. I'll guess that the Yinzer caravan might make it a bit early too.


Martin,

The monster is 7600 yards. But... that is measured to the front of each green. The greens are 45-60 yards deep. I once calculated it to be somewhere around 8190 from the back tees to the center of each green. I do enjoy taking a beating on the course but if it's raining or standing water in the fairways, I'm not playing it all the way back. Last time we played, it was ponded water in each and every fairway. From 7000 yards, it seemed like 7 million yards. LMAO



Phil,

You need to find more friends that are already married. You have to pick up 3 part time jobs to pay for all the wedding gifts you're buying.
 
Ah geez, you guys golf? I dunno, I usually lean more towards the hunting and fishing crowd, golfers have a tendency to be real odd, lol.....

I'm interested, slate drakes come out in good numbers in the branches?

48 at Stilesville, 60 at Hale eddy(which Im getting is 5.9 ish miles to Stilesville), and 78 yesterday at Fish Eddy, which is 11 miles before the confluence of E and B, ouch.
 
The entire lower east is too warm to fish. The upper east is probably getting close to being too warm before it even gets to the Beaverkill. The west is freezing most of the summer. By the time mid-September rolls around, water temps should be good just about everywhere.

Do slate drakes hatch? Yes. How heavy? That question can be answered as you come off the river. You might see a bunch and the guy that's a mile away doesn't see any. There's enough bugs hatching in early fall to bring the fish up without being overwhelmed by huge numbers of bugs on the water. We are subject to wind, heavy rain, leaves on the water or any combination of that in the fall. Won't know until it's here. Fish will be brought to net though. That I am sure of.
 
I fished the WB of the D this past weekend. As K-fish said, the EB is kinda warm and all but the first few miles of the MB is too warm. Anywhere along the WB is fishing well. The water temps are in the 40's and 50's, and right now you can catch trout anywhere there, depending on the day, the flow, the hatches and of course....the fish.
 
afishinado wrote:
I fished the WB of the D this past weekend. As K-fish said, the EB is kinda warm and all but the first few miles of the MB is too warm. Anywhere along the WB is fishing well. The water temps are in the 40's and 50's, and right now you can catch trout anywhere there, depending on the day, the flow, the hatches and of course....the fish.
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How did you do? Float it or wade it?
 
Floated Hale Eddy to Hancock with Surf Cowboy and his buddy. Caught a few, one pretty nice one. Almost no Iso's on the water, mostly sulpurs and Cahills in the afternoon. We left early, but the sulphurs usually hatch in the evening pretty well.

One thing to remember bugs hatch in one section, and for some reason do not hatch in others on any given day; so floating or moving around is usually your best plan of attack.

Good luck.
 
afishinado wrote:
Floated Hale Eddy to Hancock with Surf Cowboy and his buddy. Caught a few, one pretty nice one. Almost no Iso's on the water, mostly sulpurs and Cahills in the afternoon. We left early, but the sulphurs usually hatch in the evening pretty well.

One thing to remember bugs hatch in one section, and for some reason do not hatch in others on any given day; so floating or moving around is usually your best plan of attack.

Good luck.
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Thanks for the response.
 
Tom,
How did you get permission to use that photo of Shane high-sticking as your avatar? They make the guys dress fancy for those fishing tourneys ya know.



People get mad at me because I pull long floats and don't spend much time in any one spot. If I do see something worthy of anchoring up for a few hours, I do so but understand I may have to row out 3 miles in the dark.

According to FUDR, the Hale Eddy area should be open tomorrow. They've also released and additional 300 cfs due to the hot weather.

Beast,
Aren't you trying to make it up with us in Oct? I have to clear it with my boss tomorrow or Friday but I plan to make a 2-3 day trip up at the very end of this month or the beginning of August. I'll wait for the heat to break....not for the fishes sake but for mine. Too hot to drag a boat around in waders.

 
krayfish wrote:


Beast,
Aren't you trying to make it up with us in Oct? I have to clear it with my boss tomorrow or Friday but I plan to make a 2-3 day trip up at the very end of this month or the beginning of August. I'll wait for the heat to break....not for the fishes sake but for mine. Too hot to drag a boat around in waders.
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Yeah, that was the part of one of the responses up there where I said,"I'm interested", then a comma, and something about slate drakes. Basically, a grammatical murder scene, resulting in incoherence.

At any rate, yeah I am almost certainly going to go up in October, and I am looking to make some exploratory runs up there soon. I know the game lands(299) is open, and I saw there is some access right around the Cannonsville outflow.

Can't really ignore 48 degree water on the east coast any longer. This heat wave has pushed me over the edge. I'm not really a brookie man, lol.
 
BTW K-fish. Can't make the chaptet this year because of my work schedule. Should be a good time for all.
 
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