Tiger Beetle Material List

Hook:             Dai-Riki #320 #12 to #16 or similar dry fly

Thread:          Black 6/0

Shell Back:     Tiger Beetle Strips:

Body:             Black Zelon Tiger Dubbing:

Legs:              Small Black Bug Legz, Spandex Legs or Rubber Leg Material

After church on Sunday, I made a motivated drive to the West Branch of the Delaware River.  I was motivated to fish because I liked the conditions.  Over the past week, the cubic feet per second (cfs) discharge from Cannonsville Reservoir dropped below 1,000.  Just three days ago, the cfs was in the 600 range.  As I type this on Wednesday, it is now in the 360 range.  Water flows under 900 cfs make for a wadable river.  Combine 4o degree plus water temperatures with moderate flows and warm air, and you will likely enjoy fine dry fly fishing.

I stopped in to visit my friends at West Branch Angler Resort to catch up on news.  Larry, Sam, Matt, and Ben are friendly when I call or make a visit.  After saying hello and supporting a quality local fly shop,  I decided to head downriver to seek slightly warmer water temperatures.  The weekend cold front cooled off the fishing and lessened surface action.  The first Game Lands Lot was packed with cars, so I kept driving.  The lower Gamelands  Lot was vacant and I quickly geared up.  To my chagrin, there were two guide boats parked on the water, along with three spin fisherman.  The wind was also howling.  I didn’t see any bugs nor rising fish, so I threw a white zonker.  I’m still perplexed that I consistently catch fish nymphing, swinging wet flies and on dries, but struggle to pick up WBD fish on streamers. After flogging a riffle stretch to no avail, I decided to hike downstream and scout for bank feeders.  At this point, the drift boats were gone and the spin fisherman back at their car.  Perhaps the gusting wind  chased them away.

Around 2:30 pm, I noticed the first splashy rises.  Between wind gusts, there were also several bank feeders rising.  Flotillas of quill gordons, blue quills and the odd hendrickson ensued.  It’s such a rite of Spring to savor the first solid mayfly hatches of the season!  I removed my t-14 sink tip, placed a new 5x leader on and tied on a #16 quill gordon emerger pattern (dark trailing shuck/natural goose biot abdomen/gray dubbing/snowshoe rabbit wing).  Unable to ignore the splashy, celebratory rise of a trout 15′ away, I cast to it.  The 12″ brown happily gulped my fly on the first good drift.  Between aggravating wind gusts, the next two hours were part dry fly bliss, part dry fly torture .  Wind gusts shut down all surface action, then it would stop and fish would resume feeding for 1-2 minutes..  When the wind diminished and I saw a rise, a good drift resulted in a fish.  I likely landed 8 trout within a 40 yard stretch of the West Branch.  I lost one pig fish in shallow water, but didn’t see as many larger snouts in this stretch.  Even the close, shallow water bank feeders were fish under 14″.  For those who don’t know the WBD, wind can play a significant factor.  Look for fish feeding out of the wind line, especially closer to the shore.  Protected lanes without wind chop that are close to the shore,  often have an insect buffet that the fish are still able to comfortably feed in.  Even with a steady 15 mph wind and gusts up to 27 mph, I was able to time a few casts and capitalize on the window of opportunity. Eventually, the wind took over, fish stopped feeding and I scouted three other stretches of river.  Talking to other anglers and drift boats, not as many big fish were observed feeding today.  That’s a bit of a surprise, because this river gives up numerous 20″ plus fish to the dry fly.  That said, I couldn’t complain with my nice mix of fiesty rainbows and browns.  My quill gordon emerger caught seven fish, before the turkey biot body broke.  I can’t wait to fish the WBD again and hope that you are enjoying some fine Spring Angling.

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I made several trips recently to Rochester’s crown jewel, the Genesee River.  The Genny was flowing high in Winter and early Spring, then the Power Company abruptly dropped the water level.  This coincided with the warmer, eighty degree plus temperature we experienced two weeks ago.  The result, was a very quick spawn with low water conditions and beleaguered steelhead.  In my years of steelheading the Genny during April and May, this season resulted in exceptionally low water and a shortened window to target these magnificent urban fish.  As I type this draft, the cfs is a paltry 1,370.  Hiking and scouting yesterday, I didn’t see any fish on the gravel or in shallow water.  A fellow two handed fly fisherman, confirmed that he hadn’t hooked up and was skeptical regarding his odds.  The vast majority of fish have dropped back to the lake and are now miles away.  My best guess is that for fly rodders, the Genny is likely done with steelhead until next Fall.

The Genesee is a unique, quirky steelhead fishery that doesn’t appeal to all anglers.  It is located near a gritty neighborhood, angler’s cars have been broken into, you hear sirens when fishing, trees grab flies, there is litter on the banks, water clarity is poor and the preponderance of rocks and ledges diminish your fly box.  No other river eats as many flies as the Genny!  Many of my fishing friends and acquaintances won’t fish the Genny.  Add heavy fall crowds,  monofilament messes strewn on the banks, sketchy behavior around the parking lot/gorge, and I don’t blame them.  My personal pet peeve is the piles of mono that I pick up and deposit in my own trash can.  There are ugly hunks of twisted mono on lower stretches of the river bank that will make any conservationist wince.  Just from today’s trip, I returned to my car w/ several more beer cans, fishing plug wrappers and junk food containers.  All new trash within 72 hours.

So why fish the Genny? The gorge is lined w/ plentiful oaks and maples.  There are turkey, osprey, deer and coyote in the gorge- within the City Limits of Rochester.  It is CNY’s widest steelhead water.  The fish can be large, aggressive and take streamers.  Sometimes, you catch smallmouth, walleye, or even large carp while fishing for steelehead.  It is also a 15 minute drive from my house.  My best trip this past week was seven hook ups.  My hook-ups came drifting egg patterns and nymphs, while a few came swinging a white crystal bugger or tiny muddler minnow.  Oddly, the most savage strikes came on my smallest baitfish pattern.  My friends who caught the conditions (water flow and clarity) just right, did even better.

While the Genny and smaller creeks may be done, there are still steelhead to be caught in the Cat, Oak Orchard, Salmon and a select few that still have cooler temperatures.  As it is still April, it’s not unusual for a good rain to trigger a minor run of fish.  If you’re done with tributary fishing, break out that 4/5 weight and enjoy the present hendrickson hatch.  Heck, there’s even reports of brim and bass biting.  Lastly, let’s all lend a hand and carry out some trash from our beloved waterways.

I’m blessed with a number of fishing buddies.  That said, some of my favorite fishing companions are my brother and his children.  So, I invited my brother and his oldest son to fish Irondequoit Creek.  I geared up two fly rods (6wt w/ a T-14 sink tip and white wooly bugger & chartruese bead head, and a  7wt w/ a generic sucker spawn egg mass).  My larger brother crammed himself into an old pair of my wading boots/waders and my 13 year old nephew slid into a pair of oversized boots/waders.  Not a perfect fit, but enough to keep them dry.  Scouting and walking the banks of the creek, they became excited upon seeing formations of suckers.  Who says that sight fishing to 16″ suckers can’t be fun?  My nephew  began lobbing the streamer towards a drop off, while my brother bottom bounced a riffle with the sucker spawn.  Within minutes, my brother detected a bend in his rod and was enthusiastically fighting a sucker.  I know that we all prefer to target steelhead and trout.  Nonetheless, suckers offer novice anglers a wonderful chance to read the water, perfect line control, control depth of drift, sight fish eggs, fight and beach fish, etc.  They are also a nice remedy for breaking the ice, for those who haven’t fished nor caught fish in some time. It was fun to support my brother and nephew as they tangled with a few suckers.  They also managed a few tree fish and encouraged me to do better.

I took a few steps upstream and on my first cast, hooked a chunky lake colored brown.  I promptly handed the rod over to my nephew and we enjoyed watching him land this fish.  In my experience, landing a fish on your first cast indicates either red hot fishing, or a prolonged stretch of no bites.  Ever the optimist, I then grabbed the 6wt and flung my streamer towards a current seam at the head of a pool.  Within a few short casts, the white wooly bugger with a chartreuse bead head was slammed!  An acrobatic, post spawn steelead darted across the pool and I thrust the rod into the hands of my nephew.  Again, we cheered him on as this fiesty fish broke the surface several times.  Posing for a few more pictures, we let her go.  Great to see the enthusiasm in my nephew’s face and you won’t find a prouder father or uncle.  There are numerous rewards to taking youth fishing.  Please invite a kid to go fishing with you this Spring!

This unseasonably warm, early spring may shorten our small tributary steelhead season.  By the first week of April, steelhead sightings were scarce in the smaller creeks.  At the same time, present rain activity may drive more fish upstream.  Depending upon the conditions, some years our small tributaries give up steelhead into early May.  Reports indicate that the larger rivers continue to fish more consistently (Oak Orchard/Genesee/Salmon) and these should have fish for another month or so.  We’ve seen dark stoneflies hatching this past week, as well as blue winged olives.  The first caddis and march browns will be right around the corner.  Upstate NY is presently receiving a soaking of rain.  Some creeks may be high and discolored over the next few days.  Don’t hesitate to fish a streamer with off color water.  Steelhead can be caught with 6″ of visibility, as well as resident trout.  Good luck and tight lines.

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Angler’s Workshop was a fun, successful event enjoyed by the 111 participants and instructors.  We were able to raise $800 for Canandaigua Lake Chapter of Trout Unlimited and Upstate Fly Fishers.  Attendance was a good mix of beginning and experienced anglers.  Casting events were well attended and it was nice to cast J P Ross Rods  http://www.jprossflyrods.com/.  Most anglers found the casting competition quite challenging.  The multiple session format was a hit, along with the variety of topics.   Angler’s Workshop concluded with ample raffle prizes and an encouragement to take a kid fishing this Spring.   Stay tuned next year for another, better Angler’s Workshop.

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I couldn’t resist the bluebird sky and pleasant temperature that greeted us over the past few days.  Even more difficult, was the daily steelhead report and barrage of digital pics that two of my colleagues shared each morning.  The next afternoon I met Brian and Brian on the creek.  Conditions were near perfect on this smaller Lake Ontario Tributary.  The water was running high, slightly off color and there was still 15″ to 20″ of visibility.   I knotted an oversized brown bugger w/ a chartreuse head and added plenty of weight.  Chartreuse, oregon cheese, hot pink, fuscia and purple are all top steelhead egg patterns for slightly discolored water.  For a rod with small trib fishing, I’m using a 7wt, 10′ switch rod.  This light rod is easy to mend, roll cast, great at reaching tight spots and is a pleasure to fish.

My second plunge pool yielded two nice steelhead.  One darker colored 24″ female and a fresh, smaller, bright male.  Leapfrogging upstream, we took turns at the best pools.  Over the next hour or so, I hooked another three fish.  One wrapped me around a brush pile that was too tricky to wade into.  Despite losing that darn fish, it graced us w/ several spectacular sommersalts before saying “adios”.  Another fish unbuttoned as it departed downstream.  Such are the antics of small creek fishing, especially with a solid flow of water.  I tend to fish alone and don’t carry a net for trib fishing.  For a change, it was nice to use the large net that my companions brought.  These two were drifting egg sacks w/ moderate success.  It never hurts to learn from spin fisherman or center pinners.  It was refreshing to watch Brian hook and land a steelhead from below a tiny, overhanging branch that I wouldn’t have bothered to fish.  That said, I think that my oversized chartreuse pattern really stood out in the water. In addition, the longer reach of a fly rod really helps me control and place the fly during a drift.   Losing visibility and needing to head home, we called it an afternoon.  Nice to fish w/ friends and get a sample of what’s on tap the next two months!

If you’re in town Saturday, March 20th,  join us for Angler’s Workshop. There are over 23 unique fly fishing events, workshops, seminars, casting, great raffle prizes, HD movies and more!  I’ll be presenting two workshops (Kayak Fly Fishing and Getting Started in Saltwater Fly Fishing).  Check the upper right hand corner of this Flyfishingchronicles for additional details regarding Angler’s Workshop.

During winter break a friend graciously offered his town home in Dauphin Island, Alabama.  My wife and I love to travel and we figured that our nine month old son didn’t have much say in the matter.  What’s a twenty one hour drive, when you want to get out of the cold and snow?  Well, our baby was very cooperative with the travel.  The weather wasn’t nearly as kind to us!  We stopped seeing snow on the ground just North of Mobile, Alabama.  Our night time temperatures were in the upper twenties and the Gulf Coast water temperature dipped to a frosty forty five degrees.  Unheard of for this warmer region!

I did what any die hard saltwater angler would do, I went fishing and practiced casting.  Signs of bait were scarce and the angling reports discouraging.  A well known pier didn’t produce any fish for the bait anglers over the weekend.  When I asked the manager of the pier when the fishing was last decent, he replied, “November 17, our water temperature was 72 degrees”.  Every angler I spoke with mentioned the big chill and difficult conditions.

Undaunted, I started by fishing a tiny creek that had two great blue herons working the shallows.  I figured it had to be warmer than the bay water.  No luck there.  Another day, I awoke at dawn and fished the mouth of a marsh/creek channel that was surrounded by oyster beds.  No luck there.  Next dawn, I fished around a point and deep drop off at a secluded beach stretch.  No luck there.  The final trip, I prospected around a series of rock jetties with good moving water on the end of the island.  No luck there.  It felt good to cast and feel the salty breeze.  I’m sure Dauphin Island has decent fishing for spotted sea trout, redfish, flounder, bluefish, croaker and ladyfish when the water warms up.  It seems like a very productive fishery.  That said, I’m not sure I could have located fish, even with electro shocking.   We certainly enjoyed plenty  of fried seafood, local hospitality, great sunsets and quality family time.  Like any fishery, one trip doesn’t define the quality and it’s always nice to have things to look forward to.  I’m hopeful that down the road, I’ll be blessed with a rematch and better fishing conditions at Dauphin Island.

In the bleak midwinter

These hauntingly beautiful Christmas lyrics from English Poet Christina Rossetti (1872) were on my mind as I approached an icy stretch of creek in search of late holdover browns and steelhead.  I’d previously walked three other tiny tributaries, scouting for fish.  I managed a creek chub at one, while catching a small rainbow at another.  Considering the recent rain and melted snow, this didn’t seem impressive.  I even checked out a hot spot culvert which in years past yielded fish.  As unimpressive, was the minimal change in water level.  Our creeks could still use a steady soaking.  It can be frustrating to cover hundreds of yards of water that may or may not contain fish, depending upon the right flow.  I’m ready to give up on one of my favorite Greece tributaries as the past two years have been very scarce w/ fish.

Still, we fish because we are hopeful.  Full of optimism and music, I arrived at my fourth creek and walked to a deeper hole.  An ice shelf covered 80% of the water and there was a 4′ open trough in the center.  I tied on a # 4 white zonker w/ a chartreuse bead head.  On my second drift under the edge of the ice shelf, a steelhead engulfed my streamer.  It was fun to watch the slash/take.  After a decent tussle and a quick picture on ice, I released the fish.  Shortly after, that same creek gave up a larger steelhead and a 29″ salmon in an another hole.

You could say we have entered the bleak midwinter.  No problem, there will still be fish out there to catch.  Target the warmer portion of the day, cover lots of promising water, fish the edge of the ice shelf, stalk your target carefully, slow down your presentation, look for fresh fish after the creeks rise, adjust to smaller tippet sizes, less weight and more natural/smaller egg or fly sizes and you will still be able to find fish.  I’ve put away my two handed rod on these smaller creeks and am happily fishing a 10′ 7wt.  The lighter rod allows for increased control and stealth in my presentation.  Enjoy this holiday season and good luck with your transition to winter angling.

On our third creek I located some jittery browns.  I fished without weight, trying nymphs and olive, then brown streamers.  Many refusals to my flies.  Switching to 6 lb test and a tiny, realistic egg fly, I was finally able to convince a smaller brown to take my offering.  These were some of the more spooked, less aggressive lake run browns that I have seen.  Let’s hope we get some rain.  My hunch is that there are a bunch of browns and steelhead waiting to push further into our tribs, given a decent water level.  My advice is the fish the larger tribs, as they have more water and less spooked fish.

We spent the majority of our time fishing the Upper Fly Zone.  The fish were harder to catch and we only hooked one steelhead.  Yet,  the serenity, Fall foliage and wild red rasberry picking made the trip memorable.  Even better, we managed to hook a number of salmon.  Plus, there are plenty of 5″ to 10″ trout/salmonid fingerlings all over each hole, ready to jump on your fly.  Neat to see a small trout feed on a caddisfly, feet away from a larger salmon.   The fish were not aggressive and we didn’t see any evidence of eggs/spawn in the system.  That said, it was very cool to watch so many fish move up the river and to tangle with fresh salmon.  Can’t wait to get some eggs in the river and bring in those steelhead!