Special Fishing Report, May 8th: Catskill Rivers and L.I. Sound

Greetings Compleat Anglers!  Here is your special report on the Catskill rivers and L.I. Sound:

If you're contemplating a trip up to the Catskills to fish either the branches of the Delaware, the Beaverkill or the Willowemoc now is the time!  There were numerous Compleat Angler clients and staff fishing these rivers over the past few days, showing some great results for it, and reporting back. All Catskill rivers are falling but still at a very healthy flow. Water temperatures on the Delaware branches go from the high 40s to the mid-50s (and 50 degrees is the magic number for the trout to become active.) On the Delaware branches, the last few days have seen epic hatches of caddis - literally snowstorm/blizzard-like hatches of millions of caddis that last from morning to dark. (A shot of them is posted as our featured image.)  Mixed in with this are the first emerging Hendsricksons, Paraleps, Olives and Apple Caddis as well. Sal Renzuella and Bob Reichart floated the Delaware Main Stem yesterday and reported  lots of bugs including Caddis, Apple Caddis, a few Hendricksons and some Paraleps. They brought five beautiful fish to the net including a beastly 21-inch Brown landed by Bob Reichart (next time take a camera Buffy!) The pic below is of another beastly 21" Brown that Sal caught. Bob reported that most of their fish were caught on Apple Caddis and Hendricksons.

Sal can be reached at Riverkeeper Guide Service (203722-8901), netroutbum@gmail.com.  David Nelson also was up on the Delaware East Branch with Guide Ben Rinker. David took five lovely fish, three on dries and and two swinging with his 3-WT Spey rod. The dry fly fish were taken on Hendricksons. David and Ben are pictured below with one of those lovely trout. Ben Can be reached at East Branch Outfitters, 267-221-4383, info@eastbranchoutfitters.com.

I was fortunate to float the Delaware East Branch yesterday with Ben Rinker and we had a great day. There were snowstorm-like hatches of caddis with some Hendricksons mixed in. But the thrill of the day came from the first Brown we landed. As I've previously written about in this column, there is a project underway under the auspices of the New York DEC to tag thousands of Delaware River trout with small, wireless capsules that can be scanned whenever that fish is either caught or shocked. About thirty Delware River guides are now tagging and scanning for these fish (I've had 27 of mine tagged to-date) and scanners are being set up in many of the major feeder creeks that are known spawning locations. In this way, these fish can be followed and their whereabouts mapped - therefore gaining important information on where and how they move throughout the system, how they survive in  thermally-challenged conditions, and other crucial data. Yesterday, before tagging the first trout, when Ben scanned it - it turned out that it had previously been tagged! - the first previously-tagged trout to be caught in the East Branch!  And here's the kicker -  it had been tagged high up in Stilesville on the West Branch - miles and miles away! So it had journeyed all the way down the Delaware West Branch and then up the Delaware East Branch to the spot where we caught it!  Pretty cool and very encouraging for the program! (By the way, it took a Hendrickson dry and was a respectable 18". (It is pictured below).

And reports have filtered back that the one-and-only Jonny King had an epic day on Monday bringing a whomping 11 fish to the net from 17"-20". (I'll try to get pics for the next report.) Congratulations, Jonny!

Here is the flow information for the Catskill rivers:

Delaware East Branch at Fishs Eddy:  1590cfs @55 degrees;

Delaware West Branch at Hale Eddy:  1470cfs @ 47 degrees;

Delaware Main Stem at Lordville:  3580cfs @ 52 degrees;

Beaverkill at Cooks Falls:  607cfs at 49 degrees;

On Long Island Sound fishing is hot!  The schoolies (with some bigger bass mixed in) have arrived and they are providing some great sport up and down the shoreline. Roger Gendron from Connecticut Island Outfitters (203-216-0991) info@ctislandoutfitters.com reports that the Bass fishing at the mouth of the Housatonic is consistently good in the mornings. Roger says that both incoming and outgoing tides are producing at dawn although outgoing seems to be a bit better. Roger says he and his clients have had some nice activity as well along the Southport and Westport beaches. Most of Roger's fly-fishing clients have taken their fish on Clousers, but Deceiver patterns are also effective. Roger says that water temperatures are now above the 50-degree mark and that is the magic number!  Roger is pictured below from one of his recent outings.

Our very own "Fish Doctor", Scott Loecher (203-246-4118) also reported some great schoolie fishing this week as well, as did many of our other clients. There are fish around all the beaches and coves from Greenwich North.  So get your gear together, get out and take a whack at some great fishing!

Our Sage event this past Friday was a huge success!  Thanks to the good folks at Sage for bringing staff and product down to be tested and to all at Compleat Angler for the great food and vibes. Our great clients got to throw all the latest Sage Rods and get some casting tips thrown in for free!  It's really great when product manufacturers stand behind their products and work with the retailers to promote both the product and our amazing pastime! The food and company was superb, the event was educational and a great time was had by all!

We are fully-inventoried with waders, boots, rods, reels, clothing, accessories, fly-tying equipment, lines, coolers, luggage, and so much more. We represent ALL the major brands such as Sage, Scott, Winston, Loomis, TFO, Reddington, Nautilus, Hardy, Abel, Ross, Hatch, Simms, Columbia, Patagonia, Korkers, Rio, Airflo, Sci-Anglers and so much more. And check out our limitless supply of flies - we have flies for every major Northeastern insect hatch and almost all Western hatches as well, plus saltwater flies for Bonefish, Tarpon, Permit, Jack, Striped Bass, Bluefish and much more! And a large percentage of them are tied by American tiers! If you need info on rivers, fishing, how/where to connect with a guide, casting instruction - come-on in - we'd love to see you!

Hope we meet out on the water!