My trip to the Catskills has been interesting. On the way up I fished a small tributary of the Shenandoah and then the main branch, working my way through a number of long deep pools but had no luck with poppers and wooly buggers.
When I got to Forestburgh, Ken Schultz and I went fishing in Gilman pond, where I have caught many fish, usually on one of Ken’s spinning rigs. Friday evening, however, I decided to fish with my eight weight fly rod. Nothing happened, despite a good hour of fishing hard with poppers and wooly buggers. When I finally switched to a spinning rig I got four or five good hits but no fish. Certainly, if I were relying on my fish catching skills to provide food, I would be very hungry.
The next day rain prevented me from fishing in the morning, but by noon I was at one of my favorite pools on the Neversink. I have caught hundreds of fish here, but I have also been shut out, so I was ready for anything. Even though nothing was rising, I worked my way up very slowly, placing my large Royal Wulff behind boulders, in current lines, in pockets near the bank. Nothing. I then worked slowly down with a black, bead-head wooly bugger and I knew that this technique would be my best chance. When things are slow a wooly bugger will usually give me some action, but nothing happened, not a single hit.
After that I began my drive up to the East and West Branches of the Delaware, for the beginning of my didymo photo shoot. Below the Pepacton dam near Downsville, I got a few photos of some DEC warning signs and later near Colcester, a few more pictures of a sign with the river in the background. The weather was again threatening and much, much colder and by the time I reached the West Branch near Walton, it was windy and the dark clouds were spitting rain. The river was also very high and muddy, not exactly the tranquil setting I had hoped for.