Posted on September 21 2021
Spent the afternoon and evening (3:00 to 7:30) fishing the BK with my gray haired old friend. No, we didn't stand shoulder to shoulder sharing a pool, that's not our way. We both set out with a plan to go east and to have dinner and perhaps a libation at the Riverside in Horton. Plans changed late when we drove into the parking lot at the Riverside and found it was closed. Adjourned to the Hancock Hotel where Ramona fixed a perfect, perfect Manhattan and served us up a couple of Bleu Cheese Burgers with fries. Talked about the days fishing (GHOF caught a beautifully colored 18 inch wild brown that was easily fish of the day). We also touched on the years we have spent fishing together, the good times we have shared and the friends we fished with that have made their last casts. Raised a glass to the memories and made plans to fish again tomorrow, (assuming the rain holds off).
The fishing - With both branches high from the maxed out releases, most of the wade fishermen were on the BK. Decided to avoid the crowds by fishing some of the river where it wanders away from the road and consequently receives less pressure. My GHOF saw some rising trout on the BE and spent time there before getting to the BK in time for the evening hatch. There were isos, hebes and olives hatching and fish up eating them. The farther you got from the parking areas the more willing the trout were to eat your fly. Left flies in four fish but landed enough (almost all wild fish) to make it a good day of fall fishing.
If you are fishing the popular pools bring small, (I mean really, really small stuff) pseudos are too big. The fish can be caught but they are tough. If you get away from the parking areas fish will sometimes even eat an iso!
Update - Just checked the release at Stilesville. With Cannonsville now drawn down to under 90% full, the release is being stepped down. Check the flow in the morning to see where you will be able to wade safely.
Interesting take on using 6X. I have not used it for years. My take is that it is more important to use a 12-14 leader than it is to use 6X tippet. I guess the only time I did was on a spring creek out West. 5X is the smallest that I use and 4X for nymphing. This also means that I can play a fish for a shorter period of time and not exhaust them. Also fishing in fast water it does not seem logical to use 6X. I can see that in still water or a pool that is heavily fished doing so. Anyway that is my take on the whole 6X-7X usage.
Glad to hear you both had success on the Bk .I spent the day bouncing around the Willow . It was basically dead until abut 6:30 than the fish starting looking up . There were a few sulphers (%18) and a very strong hatch of tan caddis .Managed 4 nice browns14” -16” ,missed a few.. It was over by 7:30 , no matter it was to dark to see anything . Didn’t see any ISO’s or olives which was somewhat of a surprise given the cloud cover.
I was on the BK last night also and there were a lot of ISO’s hatching everywhere. I landed one (14in) brown and had a bunch of refusals. I used nothing but the iso in fast water. Question. I have been using a trout hunter 6x tippet and it is terrible I had to tie 6 knots to get one to hold. It is not old stock I purchased this year and it’s in my vest. I had to tie 4 knots to get it to tie to my tippet. What do you use
Thank you for the info