Happy trout season!

[Jim]

Well in NY its the opener of the trout season today, I always laugh when I realize that its on April fools day!

Happy trails.

[TightLines]

I hear the Ausable, Delaware and the Beaver Kill calling you Jim. Gear up.

[Jim]

I hear the Ausable, Delaware and the Beaver Kill calling you Jim. Gear up.

I hear the siren song of my favorite stream the Esopus Creek

Time to break out the old cane!

[ScottS]

I hear the Ausable, Delaware and the Beaver Kill calling you Jim. Gear up.

Me on the Willowemoc

[TightLines]

That's what I'm talking about, well done Scott, nice Brown. Was that recent ? 5wt ? wet or dry fly ?

That makes me so envious I wish the weather in Colo. would get righteous.

Now I see the date, focused on the fish.

[ScottS]

That's what I'm talking about, well done Scott, nice Brown. Was that recent ? 5wt ? wet or dry fly ?

That makes me so envious I wish the weather in Colo. would get righteous.

Now I see the date, focused on the fish.

Last June 1rst, above the Rusty Bridge pool on the Willow, right in Roscoe. Not far from Mary Dette's backyard, I would think. That was a day or two before an angler drowned to death in the Junction Pool (I was on the water that day too, and it was rough).

The rod was my Sage SP 3wt. I was a tad under-rodded given all the water, and switched to a T&T 5wt for the rest of the trip. That fish was on a dry, but I honestly don't remember which one. Could very well have been a Usual in sulfur, based on my personal preference and the time of year, but it might even have been a big drake (I really should keep a log-- maybe this season!). Fishing was rough last year because of all the tent caterpillars. The trout were full-time gorged.

If my local stream holds at THIS LEVEL, where its barely wadeable, or doesn't go up, I might just go out on Easter Sunday. Nice and quiet, and this time of year you can often swing streamers to hungry fish.

[ScottS]

By the way, the Shave that morning was with an Omega Boar and a Valobra Shave Stick, using the Feather AC with a Super Pro blade!

[TightLines]

If my local stream holds, where its barely wadeable, or doesn't go up, I might just go out on Easter Sunday. Nice and quiet, and this time of year you can often swing streamers to hungry fish.

Oh Man well as they say Tight Lines......

[TightLines]

By the way, the Shave that morning was with an Omega Boar and a Valobra Shave Stick, using the Feather AC with a Super Pro blade!

You remember the shave but not the fly ? I've got the fever so bad. Went out to breakfast this A.M., read the paper and then cruised thru the latest Orvis, L.L. Bean, Feather-Craft and Fly Shop catalogs to tempt the FFAD.

[ScottS]

You remember the shave but not the fly ? I've got the fever so bad. Went out to breakfast this A.M., read the paper and then cruised thru the latest Orvis, L.L. Bean, Feather-Craft and Fly Shop catalogs to tempt the FFAD.

These are tough trips for me. I head down to the Catskills to attend the NY State Council TU meetings, and I try to get in fishing in between the Exec Meeting and the General Meeting. I book numerous cabins, and bring Chapter Members with me. The weekend gets pretty involved, but I remember the shave because it was in a campground restroom.

When you've been tying as long as I have, you've got hundreds of flies along on a trip, and I've probably tied thousands onto the tippets over the years. Sometimes the fly selection needs to be worked on, and other times so long as you put a fly in the right spot, it makes no difference what you cast, and this was one of the latter, so the fly doesn't stand out. Also, these days, most of my dry flies are really simple Usuals or CDC patterns.

There are some flies you'll never forget. Once, I spend twenty minutes on my knees, moving about 15' to get into position to put a size 16 burned-wing sulfur pattern over an 8" trout on a dead still pool with a bow and arrow cast. I won't forget that one. I remember a lovely caddis fall, where everyone around me was fishing unsuccessfully with elk hairs or deer hairs, and I couldn't reel them in fast enough by using a subtler, but lesser known, fluttering caddis. Last season, I spent some time convincing myself that wet flies (as opposed to nymphs) can be a deadly effective method, and a lovely lazy way to fish. I remember a bunch of those fish.