The Trip
This was our 6th Annual Fish Camp in the Catskills! We got some much needed rain and the rivers were in great shape for us when we arrived. We decided to spend more time on the West Branch of the Delaware this year, so we stayed in a cabin at the WBA. It was right on the river, at a great location on the West Branch. We fished the West Branch and the Mainstem for three or four days and then headed on down to Roscoe and the Beaverkill area for the rest of the week. In general, the fishing was spotty and challenging. There were some tough days, but there were also some pretty good days with some big fish. Risty came up for a couple of days, and then Hector came up for the last two days. We all caught some nice fish. Risty caught his first fish on a fly rod! And Hector caught some really nice browns the last day out. It was a great trip as usual. We saw some huge March Browns on the water the last couple of days, so now we have to go back in a couple of weeks to fish big flies on the surface. We have to go back. We have no choice. Fish we will, because fish we must. So we'll be back at the WBA June 2 - 4. Can't wait to see those big Green Drakes on the water!

The Hatch
The first day I arrived at Fish Camp, I fished the West Branch at Gamelands and Balls Eddy. The fishing was really tough at Gamelands, but I finally landed a fish on a small no-hackle Red Quill (#16). They were taking Hendricksons and Blue Quills, but they were really picky. They're all wild browns there, so it can be tough. I did a bit better at Balls Eddy taking two fish on Hendricksons and Blue Quills. Later on in the afternoon when Jimmer showed up, they started taking small rusty spinners (#18). I finally hooked a real nice fish on one, but he quickly snapped off my fly. (Damn!!) The West Branch also had some caddis and BWOs coming off in addition to the flies I mentioned above. Jimmer caught a nice fish at Gamelands the next day on his buddy Robert's Paralep (a big #12, I think). I hooked one as well on that fly but didn't keep him on very long. I think Jimmer was the only one that landed a fish that day. I caught a monster brown right in front of our cabin the last night at the WBA, on a BWO (#16). They were rising all over the place just before dark, taking Hendricksons and BWOs, and also rusty spinners. That was really fun! We got skunked on the Mainstem one day. It was really hard to solve the puzzle. I fished over a monster brown for an hour, but could not get him to take anything. Jimmer finally hooked into a fish with a flying ant but quickly lost his tippet. The Mainstem can be VERY tough! Down in Roscoe, we fished the Willowemoc quite a bit, because the Beaverkill was still pretty high from the recent rains. We saw the same flies on the Willow, but we also started seeing some big March Browns coming off. There were also a lot of black caddis on the Willow. Jimmer caught a nice brown on a BWO nymph he tied, and I caught a big brown on an RS2 (small olive emerger - #22) that I tied. We're having fun catching fish on our own flies now. Risty caught some nice fish during a real good evening hatch of female Hendricksons on the Willowemoc, at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center bridge. The fish were rising to these female Hendricksons (with egg sacks) and also to rusty spinners (#16 - 18). The last day out, we fished Barrel Pool on the Beaverkill with big March Browns (#10 - 12). We hooked a lot fish and landed about six between the three of us. Hector had lots of action using some big Adams and some generic Wulff-style, grey duns. Jimmer hooked some nice fish with a March Brown emerger. We saw the most surface activity that last day at Barrel Pool. But we'll be back on the West Branch in two weeks for the Green Drakes!!

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