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Fishing Report, November 3, 2017
Greetings Compleat Anglers! Here is your fishing report for November 3rd.
Some neat stuff today! If you ever have any doubts if catch & releasereally works, check out the pics below. The first pic is of Ryan Furtak - a great Delaware River guide who works for Cross Current Guide Services- www.crosscurrentguideservice.com - The beast Ryan is holding was caught in the Delaware West Branch in 2015;
Below Ryan's fish are two shots of me and a great Brown I took in the WB (in the same spot as Ryan's fish) in 2016. On closer inspection, if you compare the spots on the left side of each fish you realize it's the same fish! By the tape it was 24". So thanks, Ryan, for returning it to the river and giving me a shot at it - its great to know that these fish do respond well when handled carefully and returned to the water.
Some local news - the Saugatuck River, Mianus River and the Mill River have been stocked! This week's storm has given them a good infusion of cool water - river levels are finally healthy after all the low water of October - so take advantage of the great Indian Summer weather, enjoy the rivers and catch some great fish. As well, the Farmington River was recently stocked in Riverton with 1200 fish, so you have a choice whether to chase the newbies or go downriver through the TMA to target holdover and wild fish.
In terms of insects, it's really the same story on both the Catskill rivers and the Connecticut rivers. The primary bugs are Olives (BWO) around a size #18. There are good numbers of tan caddis as well (#16-#18), and a few Isos and Iso spinners in the mix in the evenings. Both the Connecticut and Catskill rivers received good rain and water levels are perfect. In the East Branch of the Delaware and the Main Stem Delaware, with the high water event, streamers are a good bet as well. And don't forget to keep a few egg imitations in your box - with spawning season here (as well as the newly-arrived stocked fish) eggs can be deadly. Connecticut's Farmington and Housatonic Rivers are both at healthy levels - the Farmington is 354cfs through the TMA at 54 degrees. The Housatonic is at 1100cfs and clear at 54 degrees. In the Catskills, the Delaware East Branch is at 1230cfs at 51 degrees; The West Branch is at 385cfs at 53 degrees; The Main Stem Delaware is at 2130cfs at 51 degrees; and the Beaverkill is at 842cfs at a cool 51 degrees.
Fishing in Long Island Sound continues to be strong. Before Monday's storm, fish were stacked onto the beaches from Stamford to Fairfield chasing peanut bunker in the wash - and us beach bums were crushing them. This morning I fished Compo Beach in Westport for the first time since the storm. (I wanted to fish Sherwood Island State Park but it was closed due to damage from the storm.) The Peanut Bunker were still there and so were the Bass. These are mostly schoolies with a few good fish underneath the fray. I saw a couple of bass that would have been in the 20lb+ category but the dozen fish I took were all schoolies. A school of Albies blew up momentarily but they were gone before I could get a line over them. But good to know they're still there. So this is the time for all of us beach bangers to shine! Right now, pretty much any fly will work - especially silver/white deceivers, Clousers, - or anything that looks like a Peanut Bunker or Bay Anchovy. And tide or time of day really doesn't matter! I've been fishing from two hours before high tide to an hour after it.
