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3. How's everyone's time on the river going

There's many of us here that will fish year round in " no- kill catch and release , i.e. " the Border waters near Hancock on west Branch So some may say my season never ends lol , I agree I break ice off my eyeletsand thaw my feet in the truck lol , But many guys are just getting back in the water
, How's you're season going so far guys? I'm in New York State and I'll say Mother Nature has been strange this spring , two weeks ago it was 89 and I was in a short sleeve shirt in the river , today a hoodie and my vest , but I think my spring Fishing is a little off honestly , it seems the " Hatches aren't in tune or just seem slow coming (. Some help from you Bug guys please ). What's happening ? Two weeks ago the Hendricksons were coming fairly nice , march browns seem off in my opinion ?
How's things out west or further up north guys ?

It's been cold, wet, and windy here, man. Not really fly fishing weather, not for me anyhow, especially not in the kayak. Things are slow here on land, as far as flowers (apple trees are just blooming now), insects, etc. so I imagine the streams (and ponds) are slow too. I've had two days of fishing here in the past month - too busy driving downstate to help take care of Mom, though I have a lake there to fly fish. First time out was to the bass pond at Clark's Marsh where outsized bluegills (up to 9") were slamming a #10 black Woolly Bugger, over 3 weeks ago now, and then got a couple of brookies and some perch in the kayak a week and a half ago. Other than that, crappy weather for fly fishing...but good for field work, my consulting job has picked up and the stiff breeze kept the mosquitoes at bay.

I'll post as soon as I get out and catch something of photographable size...

Jonathon

Sounds like you've been busy , spring is here and things in the woods are all changing including our tick population here in New York State

First, welcome to a great site and forum, David! ditto on what all the TN's have said so far, this is the best site I've ever run across.

Jonathon pretty much summed up the cool, wet, and windy season here in MI thus far. I was on the flies-only stretch of the Upper Manistee this past Monday doing some walk-in to wade prospecting and had fair success at the Burnt Cabin site, but mainly Brown trout 'dinks' at 6-8 inches and likely planted by the MI DNR earlier this spring. Hatches were sporadic small Caddis and a fairly heavy Sulphur dun presence. I also saw what I first mistook for a Brown Drake...I described the dun to an older fisherman later in the day and he said it was very likely a Black Quill which the famous Borcher's Drake is patterned after. A very large dun, sz 10 or so- it looked like a small helicopter as it flew on by.
Yesterday I was on the Muskegon below Croton dam and after 2 pm things cranked up when air temp hit 64 or so and the wind slacked off; multiple hatches, lots of rises (more dinks, though!) and Caddis all over the water. Some Sulphurs were still around but as the air warmed further a March Brown hatch came on strong and I finished out my time on the water with this pattern, best fish of the day being a 14" Brown on a March Brown Hair-wing Dun dry.
If things work out I'm planning on water time next Tuesday, skip the weekend holiday zoo...too much traffic (road and river) and too many people.

tight lines, and again, welcome!

Roguerat

'Less is more...'

Ludwig Mies Vande Rohe

Nice, Rogue! If we could just get a little more warmth, things would get going for real. As typical for this time of the year, it sounds like the action was best at the warmest part of the day, mid- to late afternoon. One of these days...as I watch the rain drip of my roof...

Jonathon

P.S. No Hennies, or are they done already? I ran into Black Quills on the Rifle & Pine about this time a couple of years ago. I didn't have an exact imitation but a Red Quill worked!

Sounds like things are starting to get going there, Mother Nature is a powerful dictator she determines everything lol , This day here it's mid-50ies , rainy , I'm looking ahead to next week and it seems warmer weather/ w some clear days is coming , so like rogue stated I also plan on avoiding the roadways as well as the rivers. Traffic will be peak and I can get out once the circus leaves the area lol , thanks for the kind welcomes guys
Have a safe weekend

Jonathon-

A few lingering Hendricksons on the Big Man, but so few and far between I didn't try any patterns of them. I didn't see any on the 'Mo.

In retrospect and just for grins I should have tied on an Iso pattern (closest thing in my fly boxes) and tried to mimic the Black Quill I saw; it'll be a while before I'm that far north again...
The trip was well worth it though, our youngest daughter had a rare day off from her PT Internship and came along with a 5 wt and a supply of dad-tied flies to choose from.

Roguerat

Normally by this time I would of been up to my cabin on the Delaware 4-5 times but this year it been only once. The water was very high through all of April and even though I have a drift boat much of the month were flows in excess of 4000 cfs. Good for streamers but not much else and none of my friends are good enough at the oars for those flows.

I did go up 2 weeks ago for five days. During that week of unseasonably oppressive heat where two days were 86 - 89. We found lots of fish the first day and put five fish 18" - 19" in the boat but the next day was still hotter, fewer bugs, very windy and less fish. I lost two good fish near the boat and we rowed out at 6:00 because of the wind.

This week is not going to be very nice either with temperatures never breaking 70 degrees and a few days with T-storms in the forecast. I have a rule - no floating when there may be T-storms. I think I am going up anyway since many local streams had big rains that brought them to near flood stage. The rain missed the area where my cabin is located.

Friends fished over the weekend and had good hatched of Sulfurs, March Browns and blizzard caddis every day in the mornings and many 16"- 18" wild fish in the boat.

I'm putting up a picture of a brown I caught during that five day trip - on the Trip Reports page.