On a misty Catskill morning in early April I met fishing compadre Brett on the tailwater section of the West Branch Delaware River near Deposit, NY to harass some big, wild trout on Climax’s new tippet materials – 98 and Fluorocarbon. The water release was a low 200 cubic feet per second at the dam, and the bottom-fed release from the depths of the Cannonsville Reservoir ensures that the West Branch always flows ice-cold. After scanning the river at Deposit, we opted to drive ten miles downriver and start off nymphing a large run near Hancock.
Bug activity was slow early on, but as the sun hit the water some caddis took flight from streamside vegetation and some Blue Quill spinners swarmed over the riffle. Rigging up with the new Climax fluorocarbon material, we took a couple fish early on a #16 tan/gray cress bug with 6x fluoro, and also on a #6 Golden Stonefly nymph using 4x fluoro. Around midmorning some Blue Quill mayflies began to hatch, and the trout began to take a #16 narrow bodied dark nymph, fished on 6x fluoro, to match the slender swimming mayflies. We caught browns and rainbows up to 18’’, but failed to hook anything spectacular. Around 11 we packed it up and headed upriver to try the Hale Eddy area.
At Hale Eddy the Blue Quills were really coming off strong and Hendricksons and caddis were in the mix as well. Very few fish were taking flies off the surface, but rainbow and brown trout were actively feeding in the riffled current where mayfly nymphs, caddis pupae, and drowned adult mayflies and caddis were available. Fishing was good, and we pitted the new Climax Fluorocarbon successfully against some larger fish, including a 19’’ rainbow that I took on a Blue Quill nymph and 6x.
By early afternoon we were ready for a change of pace, and we decided to head downstream to the Delaware Main Stem. We parked at a run where the entire river slopes from a fishy looking riffle into a long flat pool, and there were caddis everywhere. There were Apple Caddis hatching, floating, and flying everywhere –breathing through the nose was critical! With all the food available, some large rainbows had moved into the shallow riffle to feed on caddis. We rigged up with Climax 98 brand tapered leaders and tippet, and tried our luck on the surface. Brett stuck a beautiful rainbow that we measured at 19.5’’ on a caddis dry in about 8 inches of water, and I took a similar rainbow soon afterward. As dark approached it became very calm, and we finished off the night unsuccessfully bombing casts to some very large gulpers feeding in the middle seam of the river, eventually leaving the water at dark still hearing the occasional sound of a large trout clomping down on spinners and spent caddis.
