The end of August/beginning of September tends to be a slow period for fly-fishing. Despite having some mid-August rainfall keeping rivers and streams at just above average flows, water levels are dropping again with typical warmer weather that makes fishing challenging. 

Pat Cooke, of Dette Flies, concurred, stating that the recent warm spell and humidity stalled the late summer/early fall hatches a bit. He advises dry-fly fishers to continue to expect slow periods during the day, and to have searching patterns ready, such as Isonychia, or terrestrials, such as beetles or flying ant patterns.

Phil Street has been out fishing a number of times lately, along with Tom Mason. Phil reports that it was tough going, despite fish rising on the Beaverkill between 1:30-3:30 pm. The fish were sipping tiny Blue Winged Olives, and that a size #24 Blue Winged Olive emerger worked, as did a Sulphur Comparadun. But in between, the trout “rose to our flies and rejected them many times. We joked that we needed a size 54 BWO and 9x tippet.” 

With the evenings being a bit cooler, fishing was more productive. Between 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. there were small rises and Tom caught a couple of fish, again on size #24 Blue Winged Olives.

Seth Cavarretta, also of Dette Flies, was out with his co-worker Mike a few times recently and, although fishing “has been tough with the usual summer conditions” they managed some trout of up to 15 or 16 inches in length. They found a decent number of flies on the water with Blue Winged Olives from size #18-24, Sulphurs in sizes #18-20, Light Cahills sizes #14-16 and a few Isonychia size #12-14. They found the best fishing occurred mainly during the last hour to 45 minutes before dark.

Another facet of the pleasure of fly-fishing is the art of fly-tying, that is practiced by so many fly-fishers, and is not weather-related! Seth was the guest fly-tyer at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum’s continuing Fly Tyer series on Saturday, August 24, and at the session was a six-year-old boy named Ira who, according to Phil Street, was really fascinated by Seth’s tying. Seth taught him to tie a couple of flies and he seemed to be “a natural.” 

Catskill Fly Tyers Guild members Dave Catizone, Ed Walsh, and Tom Mason gathered a variety of things out of the donated materials, and set him up with a fly-tying kit, tools and a vise. CFTGuild member Ron Mroz talked with Ira’s father and made arrangements to send him some more materials as well. The Guild members were particularly helpful and encouraging, making it a special day. Seth agreed, stating that Ira was great! He was enthralled with tying, and it was a lot of fun.

Ira’s father, Rich, said later that Ira was super excited to come into his office and bring all his fly tying materials, along with a package of materials that arrived in the mail from Mroz. Ira “watched a load of YouTube videos today and followed a book he got from Seth and came up with his own unique design which he says is a nymph/subsurface fly he has named the “Sub-nomatic”! All I did was help him tie the whip finish at the end.

He’s been at it all day and is so engaged, thanks so much to Dave, and all the guys for everything.” Rich believes that just the fact that fly-tying has had his son busy all day long probably means this is something he will stick with for quite some time.

The CFTGuild Saturday Fly-Tying Series are always enjoyable; the next Guest Fly-Tyer will be Mike Stewart on Saturday, September 14, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the CFFC Museum. Don’t miss out!

And also on September 14, Joe Rist of Trout Town Flies mentions on his website that there are a few spots left in the last class of the year - Chris Gallagher of “Team USA” will be holding one more Euro class on September 14 beginning at 9 a.m. The date was changed due to the warm and low water conditions. To sign up or for more information, please call the shop at 607-290-4107.