Posted on June 01 2022
An early Monday morning trip to the BR closed out what was for me, the best month of May ever. Eight of the eleven fish landed were between 17 and 20 inches! With the prediction of near record heat for the following two days it was an easy decision to head home and cross items off an ever growing to-do list.
Sunday I had driven around the system in bright sunlight and soaring temps. The effect on the rivers was dramatic. The Deposit area which had been inundated with both bugs, fishermen and rising fish had none of the above. It has clearly entered the doldrums. With the balance of the big bugs moving steadily up river it won't be long before spring sulfurs and gray foxes appear there but Sundays absence of bugs and rising fish was amazing. The rest of the rivers were much same, bright sun, and hot air temps pushed the hatches back to almost dark.
The sun and hot air Monday and Tuesday pushed the freestone stream temps well up over the 70 degree no fishing mark. Thermal releases were sent down the WB both Monday and Tuesday night to keep the BR at Lordville below 75 degrees. Callicoon was up over 76 on Tuesday. In short if you spent Memorial Day weekend home with family you gained points and didn't miss much.
The prospects- Not having been on the river the past two days it's hard to say. I've seen all of the big bugs on my Lordville porch screens for several days. The golden stones hatched at Lordville Saturday night. Any mayfly hatches will have been after dark and the thermally stressed trout will have fed only at night. There is some relief coming. We need both a cold front and rain to keep the freestones fishable. I'm sure the temps the last two days sent fish to cold water refuges and /or started their movement out of the BE. Haven't witnessed a major hatch of either of the drakes (brown or green) but it's a big river system and you just can't be everywhere at once.
If we do get rain and cooler air temps major hatches will happen this week. Be there.
I floated the BR from Hancock to lake Lenore from 6am to 2pm with a guide. There were some rising fish and we had a small sulfur hatch. The fishing was tough. We went back up to deposit from 3pm till 8. We were the only boat by the stone quarries until we left and a boat was putting in. The fishing there was very good. BWO and caddis and spotty sulfurs were the bugs.
Question????? How often do you use a check cast?
Thanks for the info
My experience last night on the UE was similar to John H’s. Fair number of March Browns and a good number of Green Drakes and dark blue sedges, after 8:00 but the fish didn’t care .Left the river at 9:15 could see anymore. No fish oh well that’s fishing.
Looks like storms moved through this afternoon and a return to more seasonal temps is at hand. I’m headed up Sunday and hoping for better conditions.
Having been on the rivers most of the last 2 days I would agree, it’s been rough. Olives and spinners in the mornings have saved the day. Decent coffin fly fall last night on the upper East, trout were disinterested where I was.
On the bright side, with the waters low and clear I can now see some of the refusals I’ve been unaware of all these years!