Fishing Report, November 10th

Greetings Compleat Anglers!  Here is your fishing report for November 10th!

Long Island Sound:  Although we're in the deep freeze today, the past week was actually rather mild and there has been some great fishing both in our rivers and in the Salt as well. If you were able to get out on a beach (any beach) on L.I. Sound this past week, chances are you were rewarded with some off-the-hook Striper fishing. I spent three days at Sherwood Island where action off the beach was lights-out. The peanut bunker were pinned along the beach and the Stripers were on them. Perfect conditions for a fly-rodder as 20-30 foot casts were the maximum distances you had to throw. With the full moon, the high tides were massive, and best action early in the week seemed to be a couple of hours before high tide. As you hit the ebb between tides things slowed down considerably, but picked up for a couple of hours as the tide began to slack.  Best flies were basically anything you had in your box. I scored well on deceiver patterns - green/white and blue/white seemed best although they were banging almost anything you threw in front of them. I had several days of over 40 fish and the action was non-stop!  However, by yesterday afternoon, the wind was blowing in from the Northwest, the water was dirtied-up, and the bait was absent as were the large schools of bass along the beach. Spin rodders were still doing some business, taking fish further out in deeper crevices, but it was tough going for us fly rodders on the beach. And by the way, during the week when the bass actions was so intense on the beach, there were still blowups of Albies off-shore. There were a few boats that just happened to be in the right place at the right time and we could see some nicely-bent rods aboard - but, unfortunately, they were too far off the beach for us to get a whack at them.

In both Catskill and Connecticut rivers, things are winding down, although there are still some beautiful fish being taken.  On the Delaware system, there are still some small, sporadic and scattered hatches of small BWO's (#18-#22).  If you can't find any Olives or rising fish, its a nymph and streamer game - drift small nymphs (Pheasant Tail, Prince, Copper John, etc.) in the riffles and deeper runs. Also, streamers are a good bet as well as the spawning fish are usually more aggressive at this time of year. The Catskill weather forecast for today calls for 25 degrees with winds 15-20 mph and snow flurries. A great day to do some fly-tying!

Here are the current Catskill river flows:

Delaware West Branch at Hale Eddy:  377cfs @ 44 degrees

Delaware East Branch at Fish's Eddy:   748cfs @ 42 degrees

Delaware Main Stem at Lordville:  1300cfs @ 42 degrees

Beaverkill at Cooks Falls:  535cfs @ 42 degrees

Here in Connecticut waters, there are also still some sporadic hatches of small Olives, both on the Farmington and the Housatonic. In the Farmington, best bets are to fish the riffles with small (#18-#22) nymphs. Good bets are Pheasant Tails, Zebras, Copper Johns, etc. There have also been some Tan Caddis (#14-#18). Don't hesitate to chuck streamers (those spawning browns are pretty aggressive) and egg flies continue to be deadly for obvious reasons. For the Housatonic, streamers, nymphs, soft hackles and egg patters continue to catch fish - fish the nymphs in the riffles and deeper glides and runs. And look for Olives - there are still some late-season stragglers and when their on the water, the fish are on them.

The good news is that the Saugutuck, Mill and Mianus rivers were stocked last week and fishing has been great. So be sure to get out and take advantage of these late-season stockings. Our own Pat Fowler was up at the Saugutuck in the TMA area last week and took some beautiful rainbows up to 20 inches. Here's a shot of one of Pat's scores;

In addition, Pat took a trip up to fish the Naugatuck river for the Atlantic Salmon that were released in the first stocking this year. Here's a great shot of Pat's success - he took the salmon on a streamer:

There will be a second, additional stocking (we'll announce it when it happens) so take a trip up to the Naugatuck and give it a shot.

Here's the Connecticut river flows:

WB Farmington River at Riverton:   188cfs

Still River at Robertsville:    133cfs

Farmington River through the TMA:  321cfs  @ low 50s-low 60s.

And don't forget to stop by the shop to check out all the new product arrivals. Just this week we got in Simm's new line of winter clothing - some great, new colors for the plaid river shirts (I wear mine almost daily from fall through spring) - they are the warmest!  Also, some new fleeces from Patagonia and Simms as well.  We have a huge selection of rods and reels from Scott, Sage, Loomis, Echo, Reddington, St. Croix, Hardy, Clutch, Hatch, Abel, Lamson, Ross, Nautilus and many more.  And now that its fly-tying season, be sure to check out our vast inventory of fly-tying materials and accessories - we have furs, feathers, hooks, epoxies, beads, stringers, hackles, and everything else you could need for Steelhead, Salmon, trout, bass, Muskies, Pike - you name it!  We have both bootfoot and stocking foot waders from Simms, Patagonia and Reddington, and a full selection of wading boots. And come in a pick out your Bonefish, Permit, Tarpon and GT flies for your new trip South!  Or upgrade that 9WT, 10WT or 12WT that you've had your eye on!  And the staff is here to help with the latest fishing intel, casting lessons, or directions to that river you've been thinking about!  We hope to see you here!

Tight Lines!