West Branch Ausable River, NY, 7/19 trough 7/23/2010

[one_more_cast]

Fished the Ausable 4 times this week. Water was running between 400-650 cfs and the temps came down to the mid 60's with the clarity at about 60-70%. I fished below the Wilmington Dam, Shadow Rock and below High Falls Gorge. The fishing kept getting better as the week went on and the water temps came down. I heard they had a fish kill the week before but by Friday with the water running at 63 degrees and it being an overcast day, I got into a ton of 14-16" browns. They were going crazy over my size 12 Wulff and I saw a bunch of browns going crazy jumping at anything that flew by... even dragonflies. I caught a few big'uns in the morning on a size 16 FBBHPT with a size 12 copper john as my point fly. The wading was a bit tough as the water was running at about 600 and I wet wade so my shins got a beating on those rocks (like walking on greased bowling balls) but it was worth the occasional swim. Wednesday's fishing was just as good. I didn't catch as many fish but I landed a beautiful 20" brown and a fat 17" brown on a size 12 Wulff. I'd post some pics but my camera decided to try a backflip off the boulder I was using as a tripod to get a video of one of the takes. You would think I'd know better as this was the second one. Time for a waterproof camera. My buddy who fished with me on Friday caught a ton of 13-15" all morning... all on a dry. My dad (who's new to the sport) missed what looked like a 20"+ because he couldn't see his fly on the water. I saw the fish take the fly under but by the time my dad reacted to my screaming, it was too late. It would have been his biggest trout ever... maybe next time. We visited a fly shop up near Lake Placid called Wiley's. It's owned by a guy named Vince Wilcox... real nice guy. He guides and has patented a bunch of nice flies. If you're up there, pay him a visit... he has a nice stock of fly tying material.

 

[mcwillja]

Nice report and some nice fish. I really like that stream and area up there. Absolutely beautiful country. Can't wait to get back there.

 

[Raven456]

I'll be up there next week for about 12 days. Hopefully the favorable conditions will continue. When I was up over the 4th of July weekend its was damn hot, like everywhere else, and the waters temps were not good by any standard. Nice report!

 

[one_more_cast]

@mcwillja- Thanks... I can't wait to get back there either. There's a lot of good water up that way that I haven't even fished yet.

 

[one_more_cast]

@Raven- If you're up there right now the water's pretty low and warm. Looks like early morning (5 am) is the way to go. You might want to try some of the smaller brooks that wind through the woods... I hear they stay a bit cooler during these warm times. Some have nice deep runs and carry decent sized brookies. Green wooly buggers seem like they're the ticket when they're not hitting anything on top. Good luck up there!

 

[Brownout]

Any rock snot?

 

[one_more_cast]

Not a sign of it. Although I've done many a backflip walking on those slippery little greased bowling balls in the water. I don't wear felt and have stayed with the hard soled boots to cut down on my chance of picking didymo up but my shins really pay for it. I was up at the Esopus last June with friend of the family who used to fish that river a lot about 20 years ago. He told us it was a hot spot back then, but to our dismay it was full of rock snot. It was the first time I'd seen the stuff and it was pretty nasty. I fished a lot of that water pretty hard and only caught a few fish... mostly small ones too. It looked like it should hold a lot of big fish, but they weren't to be found. I bleached up my boots and waders and took off to the Willowemoc and Beaverkill where I was able to catch some decent fish.

 

[RyanR]

So far so good for the Ausable, Saranac, etc. regarding rock snot. It was confirmed ealrier this year in the Kayaderrosseras Creek in Saratoga Springs though.