Fishing Report, June 7th

Greetings Compleat Anglers!  Here is your fishing report for June 7th.

(Today's featured photo was taken Monday evening on the Delaware East Branch while we cowered under some snotweed listening to the thunder rumble, watching the lightening flash and getting pummeled by the deluge.) 

As of this morning, all Connecticut and Catskill rivers are blown-out and unfishable!  The storms that rumbled through our NY and Connecticut region Monday evening and all day on Tuesday brought all the considerable activity to a halt.  But I can tell you what conditions were like on Monday before the storm, and chances are, once the rivers are down to a manageable level (probably by Friday or the weekend) the action should pick up right where it left off on Monday. (Below is a picture of the Beaverkill where it joins the East Branch of the Delaware Tuesday morning - note the lovely shade of brown!)

I was on the Delaware system on Monday and it was bug-soup!  There were Sulphurs, Light Cahills, Olives, Caddis, March Browns, Green Drakes and Coffin Flies! There were also the first sightings of those big Golden Stoneflies!  Yes, I finally hit the Green Drake hatch and huge falls of Coffin Flies to boot!  Interestingly, the fish were more on the Sulphurs than the Drakes. I floated the Main Stem in the afternoon, and the fish were up! But there were reports of severe storms and we had to rush through a lot of great water and rising fish to be sure to beat the approaching weather. Took several respectable fish on #16 Sulphurs, but it was bug city. In the evening, in between deluges, I swung a small Dark Cahill wet on the East Branch and took some neat pocket water Rainbows. By Tuesday morning, all three Delaware branches were at flood and red with mud!  But hopefully, by the weekend rivers will return to their pre-deluge state!  The West Branch should clear first - perhaps by Thursday, and should be good to float (although still to high to wade.) The East Branch will take longer because of the run-off from the Beaverkill.  The Main Stem should be fishable by the weekend although still far too high to wade. Streamers will be effective on all three branches, and hopefully fly activity will pick up right where it left off on Monday! (Photo below - a nice Brown that took a #16 Sulphur on the Delaware Main Stem on Monday.)

In Connecticut it was pretty much the same story. The Farmington was enjoying great hatches of Sulphurs, March Browns, tan Caddis, and some Light Cahills as well and all these flies were hatching throughout the TMA.   Anglers were also having some great activity on nymphs - Caddis Puppa (#14-#16), Sulphur Nymphs (#16), Pheasant Tails (#16), Stoneflies (#8-#12) and Hare's Ear (#10-#14) were all taking fish. On the Housatonic, there was some great dry fly action on Light Cahills (#14), March Browns (#10-#14), Olives (#14-#20), Caddis (#14-#18), and a few reported Isos beginning as well!  Nymphs such as Pheasant Tails, Hare's Ears, Princes, and Stoneflies were also taking lots of fish. Both of these rivers are now too high to comfortably wade, but both should be down enough to fish by the weekend. Hopefully, as in the Catskills, insect activity will pick up right where it left off.

In Long Island Sound, there is still some steady activity with Bass and Blues off the beaches from Stamford to Fairfield in the mornings. There have been some Sand Eels and if you're there at the right time and place, you can be into some good action. For the Eels, early mornings before daybreak is the best time - the Eels seem to disappear quickly once the sun comes up. Further out in the sound, there are still big schools of Blues and some big Bass as well. There's plenty of bait and streamer patterns such as Clousers, eel and silversides patterns as well as small bunker patterns are all working well.

As always, be sure to stop by the shop for all your angling needs - we've got an amazing inventory of flies, rods, reels, fly-tying equipment, waders, boots, clothing, accessories - pretty much anything you'll need!  If you're looking for directions, the latest fishing info, how to hook up with a guide - or even looking to brush up on some casting techniques, we're here and happy to do our best to give you the best chance to get onto some fish!

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Tight Lines!