Definitely an interesting day on the river Friday. With a small bump in release, there was great color in the water, and the browns were very active, and chasing streamers on the West Branch. Emphasis on “chasing,” as hooking them seemed to be a challenge at times! The dry fly action was pretty slow throughout the day, with a big flush of bugs around 3PM, but nothing else until about 20 minutes before dark – likely a result of all the sunshine hitting the water. Today we are in for an interesting day. The release has been brought up to 763 CFS to meet the Montague minimum flow level. This will certainly be flushing a bunch of vegetation down, and certainly affect where the fish want to hold in the river itself. It should also make for some excellent streamer fishing while the water is high with a bit of color, and the browns being as aggressive as they are, could definitely be a boon for everyone!
Jeff Biller showing one of the reasons he leads our customer contest. He rocked this colored-up Brown yesterday on an olive and white streamer. Photo: Bart Larmouth
What’s Hatching:
Isonychia bicolor – Iso – Slate Drake – #12-2XL, #12
Stenonema species – Various Light Cahills – #14
Pseudocloeon species – BWO – #22 – sporadic
Ephemerella lata – Dark BWO – #18
Heptagenia hebe – Olive Sulphurs – #16
Current Flow Conditions:
| FLOWS AS OF 8:00 AM: | |
| West Branch at Stilesville, NY | 750 cfs @ 51º |
| West Branch at Hale Eddy, NY | 841 cfs @ 51º |
| East Branch at Harvard, NY | 191 cfs @ 51º |
| East Branch at Fish’s Eddy, NY | 417 cfs @ 56º |
| Mainstem at Lordville, NY | 1,100 cfs @ 59º(will go up) |
| Beaverkill at Cooks Falls, NY | 146 cfs @ N/A |
| Cannonsville Reservoir Level & Release | 82.6% – 763 CFS release |
