Esopus report Aug. 8-15

[patrick62]

I just finished up a week on the Esopus.

Mother Nature is making up for last year's lack of rain, that's for sure. Pretty much every seep, trickle, rill, gurgle, spring, and brook is running.

The Big E had some of its traditional green murkiness to it, depending on location. As I always point out, green murky is fine. Brown murky is not.

No rock snot that I saw.

The new fishing access on Route 28 just west of Boiceville has opened up some very nice water. Obviously people fished back there before -- those trails didn't just appear -- but it's easy to get to.

I had my best luck above the Portal, however, with stonefly nymphs.

I also plucked rainbow after rainbow out of the pockets between the two bridges in Phoenicia, also with Stimulator/stonefly nymph rigs.

The silver bullets were a little bigger, seems to me -- more in the 10-14 inch range, rather than the more familiar 6-10 inch variety. At some point they cease being silver bullets and start being medium-sized rainbows.

Got a couple hogs up near the Shandaken cemetery and again down along Plank Road, but for the most part it was a steady mix of rainbows and browns. Nothing fancy, just productive fishing.

 

[looper34]

Thank you for taking the time to post this Patrick. Glad to hear that the mighty Esopus is bouncing back.

 

[ottosmagic13]

Thanks for the report. The Esopus is on my New York bucket list. It's a 4hr drive for me so it would have to be a weekend trip.

Having a newborn kinda put the kibosh on my fishing trips this summer. Soon I'll be able to take her with me though. Then I can tell the wife we are going on "father-daughter bonding" trips.

 

[airborne 82nd]

Sounds great , thank you , as I posted earlier this week I'm in the process of learning this water ...you're post was helpful thank you

Airborne ( David )

 

[patrick62]

The E is never a super-hatchy river, in my experience. There were stone fly shucks, a little black caddis always seemed to be around, some green caddis in the evening. Cloudy days brought tiny olives, known to me as "specks." I hate specks. I can't see them to tie on, and humid weather makes 6x tippet turn into curlicues.

Mostly what I did was probe around with a mix of big bushy attractors, traditional wets, weighted and unweighted nymphs, and those funky Tenkara soft hackles. Most of this was using a 10 foot 4 weight and a 12 foot tenkara rod.

Keep your eye peeled for isonychia. Big bug, hard to miss. A size 10 or 12 Leadwing Coachman wet fly, or a brace of them, is about as close to a sure thing as you're going to get.

 

[patrick62]

I am taking one final crack at the E tomorrow. I have to do a couple things at the cabin and then I'll hit it. It's going to warm up some so that will be pleasant.

The plan is the Meat Lover's Special -- two- and three-fly rigs with scuds, eggs, San Juan and/or squirmy worms, and mops.

Plan B is stoneflies.

Plan C is Woolies.

Plan D is electroshocking with an old Army field telephone. (I have actually seen someone attempt this. The only thing that got shocked was the poacher.)

 

[jmckinl1]

Good luck and let us know how it goes. Wish I could be there for the last open day.

 

[looper34]

How'd it go? I might head up tomorrow for the season finale.

 

[patrick62]

It was green murky and windy as hell. I coaxed one brown to the net but called it a season after a couple hours.

 

[looper34]

Yeah, I got skunked today but it was good to give it a try. Wind wasn't that bad and true to form it was murky but the old Esopus wasn't her usual angry self and enjoyed being out there for a couple hours.
Just wait 'til next year!

 

[patrick62]

On the other hand, the Housatonic was nice and clear yesterday, easy wading flow (for the H that is), and I got three browns looking to fatten up a bit before the deep freeze sets in. All on the green mop.

Housatonic TMA is year-round, by the way.