Big Water Woes

[FollowTheBlueLines]

I got into fly fishing at the beginning of this year, and the concept of bluelining is what really drew me in. The majority of the time I spent fishing this year has been on small/skinny Class A/Wild Repro. streams, and I have gotten addicted to finding new places and exploring what's "around this next bend" type of fishing. While I wouldn't consider myself even decent yet, I surprised myself and found a lot more success than I expected to. Also, starting on these types of streams really forced me to pick up some solid casting techniques.

Fast forward to this past weekend -- the girlfriend and I took a trip up to the Catskills for a long weekend of foliage sighting and fishing. Staying near Roscoe, I tried my hand on the Beaverkill multiple times and to sum it up, I was in over my head... With small streams, the structure is predictable, and there are typically only one or two lanes per cross-section of water. I feel like I can navigate this. On the Beaverkill, I did not even know where to begin.

I tried different tactics, times of day, structure/water types, and came up with a big ol' goose egg 2 days in a row before retreating to my beloved blue lines in the area and plucking some brookies and wild browns/bows. I would like to be able to fish these bigger creeks and rivers, and feel I am missing out on a huge part of this sport. Does anyone have any advice for someone in this predicament?

 

[JimNovo]

Welcome to the Major League of fly fishing. The Catskills humble very experienced fishermen every day.

You had the Beaverkill at low flows and low levels. But you also hit the river at the toughest time of the year in my opinion. Not many hatches that only happen for a few hours each day if they even happen at all. It takes years to even partially understand those rivers. All I can give you for advice is fish it more. You will learn something every time.