here we go again. leaves in the rivers

Kyle

Kyle

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 21, 2022
Messages
607
Location
western jersey
its that time of year. leaves falling in the rivers. boy do they really get on my nerves. how do you deal with it? i love fishing the fall season but during the leaf drop will drive any fly fisherman crazy! every leaf simulates a strike. then your fly is flapping in the breeze to remove the leaf. drives me nuts every year. but i cant not fish the fall season.
 
I nymph upstream and don't find the leaf hatch to be all that bothersome. The exception to that is when they gather in a nice stinky mass in eddies and send that cloud into the run if you are not careful.

One upside of the leaf hatch and nymphing is that those big old orange and yellow thingamabobbers can't scare a thing. Even in clear, low fall water, you can have a nice lazy day watching the bobber bounce....
 
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Dear Kyle,

I hear you. I remember a beautiful Fall day when I met a buddy on Fishing Creek in Columbia County. The trees were gorgeous, the air was crisp, and the stream was perfect.

Then the wind picked up and you would have had a hard time drop-shotting the crick
 
Leaves, schmeaves. I'll take it as a trade off for this....
 

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krayfish2 said:
Leaves, schmeaves. I'll take it as a trade off for this....
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Dear kray,

They are very nice pictures but good Lord is Fall way behind in upstate NY. For most of the 11 years I lived up there you would have been looking at mostly bare sticks by now.

The best Fall I ever saw in my lifetime ended the Thursday before the last weekend of September in 1994 or 1995. My parents were coming up to visit and the trees were spectacular all week long. I was so looking forward to them coming. But a front came, with cold rain and colder wind and every single tree in 5 counties was stripped bare over night.

They got to see the other side of upstate NY for Easter when they came up and left Easter Monday in near blizzard conditions.

I really miss upstate NY!

Regards,

Tim Murphy :)
 
I try to fish as much as I can in the rather short window when the water temps cool down, and the leaves start dropping pretty good.
Usually from mid sept to mid oct.

Luck and timing has a lot to do with it too.

I fished central PA streams this week Monday thru Thursday.
First three days were calm in the morning until around 11.
Then the wind gusted up and put leaves down until about 4, calming down again for the last few hours of the day.

Yesterday was cool and overcast all day, and virtually no breeze at all.
And my best day of the week fishing wise
 
Speaking of fall foliage -
Wife and I are headed to the finger lakes Sunday to do some leaf peeping, hike waterfall trails, and hit some wineries.
The foliage peak is supposed to be 2nd and 3rd week of the month there.
Anybody know what the conditions are there right now?
 
For the last 10 to 12 years, I've made a trip up to the Catskills somewhere between October 1st and October 5th. I expected it to be in full bloom of colors but it doesn't seem to happen until about mid October. You should hit it pretty good Bill.

Speaking of invasive, here's some knot weed. Later this month they'll be covered in small white flowers which looks like the whole shoreline is Frosty
 

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Kyle said:
its that time of year. leaves falling in the rivers. boy do they really get on my nerves. how do you deal with it? i love fishing the fall season but during the leaf drop will drive any fly fisherman crazy! every leaf simulates a strike. then your fly is flapping in the breeze to remove the leaf. drives me nuts every year. but i cant not fish the fall season.
Click to expand...
The trick is to fish enough the rest of the year so that when the leaves fall, or the weather is nasty, or stream conditions suck, you can just relax and do other things and not feel like you are missing anything.
 
PennKev said:
The trick is to fish enough the rest of the year so that when the leaves fall, or the weather is nasty, or stream conditions suck, you can just relax and do other things and not feel like you are missing anything.
Click to expand...
Exactly.

Feel the same way over the winter.
I fish hard for 9 months of the year.
Then don't really mind taking a break from it for the 3 winter months.
Just tie a bunch of flies to be ready for spring
 

here we go again. leaves in the rivers​


There oughta be a law.
 
PennKev said:
The trick is to fish enough the rest of the year so that when the leaves fall, or the weather is nasty, or stream conditions suck, you can just relax and do other things and not feel like you are missing anything.
Click to expand...
i fish heavily from jan-dec. its ok the leaf drop only lasts few weeks. was just seeing other members reactions to the leaf drop.
 
TimMurphy said:
Dear kray,

They are very nice pictures but good Lord is Fall way behind in upstate NY. For most of the 11 years I lived up there you would have been looking at mostly bare sticks by now.
Click to expand...
Same here in NEPA. We still have green leaves on trees.
 
We had a VERY dry spring and a VERY wet summer here in SE PA. Generally my understanding is the leaves tend to hang on and stay greener longer when things are wet like that
 
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