Well, another season has come and gone in the Catskills. What a perfect way to end it. Beautiful surroundings, food, friends and fishing. Reports leading up to our trip were very promising but it appears that we were a few days late in hitting the hot fishing.
Thursday started off by picking up Brandon's disabled boat and taking it for a short float with Josh and Nick. Quite possibly the best question of the trip came from NickR as we were leaving the car. "I don't need my rain jacket, do I?" 2 minutes after launching the boat we had a pouring rain for 30 minutes. I think it's a safe bet that he never asks that question again.
Some of the crew rolled in Thursday evening and we met up at the motel. I'd like to say that we formulated a plan on attack for the following day but we drank beer and did a little BS-ing.
Friday involved a trip on the lower EB. Me, Josh and new / future forum member Tom from Jersey were in one boat while DaveS and NickR put his boat to good use. The water was slightly stained and the fishing was tough but not as tough as what we experienced at the Fishes Eddy access. As we neared the slow bend in the river, we heard guys shooting semi-automatics on the hill. We were trying to guess if they were AK-47, Mini-14 or AR-15's. Just about that time, bullets began ricocheting over our heads and striking the far bank. The idiots were shooting down hill and directly at the river. We dropped to the floor of the boat and waited for a break in the shooting. I rowed like hell to get us out of there. As we looked back, we could see Dave and Nick coming into the pool. Nick was nymphing the seam as they floated. Still shaking, we met up on the near bank behind a rock bluff. Everyone seemed to be well aware of how dangerous that was except Nick. He asked if we saw the fish rising between the boats. We said "those were bullets hitting the water!". I don't even remember how the fishing was that day but was happy to make it out alive. I do remember that it was the second straight day with nearly zero bug activity. As we rounded the corner to the take out, Brandon was standing there in jeans, made a cast and yelled "fish on". After a skunkfest, he snatches one right out from in front of our boat. Pretty funny.
Saturday was met with weather that looked like it could rain us out but the clouds lifted. Fishidiot and DaveS set off for the WB to see if they could do any better that we had been doing on the EB. Dryflyguy was on the WB to see if he could keep his fish catching streak alive. I floated the EB again with Beeber and PhilC. By 2pm we had good hatches of olives, isos, hebes and caddis. The fish were up and feeding. Only one to make it to net was a smallie Phil took. We had our chances but failed to convert. Nick and his dad tried all branches and areas. They had some luck on the upper EB.
Sunday we did a very short float with Phil, Nick and Nick's dad. After the first 90 minutes it appeared that mother nature was going to hand us another dud. With the blink of an eye, the hatches began. Olives 18-26, hebes, Iso and caddis. We relentlessly pounded the pods of fish for hours. Nick’s dad hooked up on a small olive and was promptly broken off by a rainbow. I stung several and hooked one that jumped into the side of my pontoon before coming unbuttoned.
I fished less on this trip than any other but didn’t seem to mind. I was content to row the boat and get others on fish. If you categorize the quality of the trip by fish caught, it was poor. Fish or no fish, I had a blast. What a good group of guys. Once again, DaveS showed that he is the cream of the crop by catching when and where others didn’t. Fishidiot presented him with a life size painting of the Youghness Monster as well as donating a hand painted brookie for the FUDR raffle.
Below is a short video of our trip. Awesome guys, awesome place. Anyone that floated in Brandon’s boat owes him a “thank you for lending us your boat”. Please have the courtesy to shoot him a quick email at esopusguide@yahoo.com
Also check out under “shop talk” thread for an offer from Coz at Border Water Outfitters.
