October has begun with chilly mornings warming up to beautiful afternoons filled with vibrant foliage, coloring up gradually each day. 

Our rivers and streams have been dropping and, after several weeks of “above average” flows, are now just barely at the historic median average, with water temperatures down in the 50s to low 60s. 

And as a result, with this lower, cooler water, the trout are mostly found in the deeper pockets and pools and are a bit spooky. Pools are glassy and still, which causes the fishing to be much more demanding, especially when fishing in bright sun. 

These conditions call for finer tippets and tiny flies, as the fish have plenty of time to see your fly, and a sloppy or inaccurate cast that disturbs the water will surely put a rising fish down.

Fly hatches are getting sparser, with a few residual Trichos in midge sizes in the mornings, along with some Isonychias and tiny Blue-Winged Olives later in the afternoons and evenings just before dark. 

We are still waiting for more of the October peach-colored caddis flies to emerge; a couple of anglers were successful last week using an Elk Hair Caddis. 

A group of our fishing friends gathered on the lower Beaverkill this past weekend and found that the most opportune time for fishing was in the afternoon, just after sunset (6:35 pm) until twilight, about 7 pm, when a few tiny flies appeared in the air traveling upstream.

 Pam Pacciocco, of Ontario (Canada) was fishing a 10-foot, 3-weight nymphing rod with a 15-foot leader and about 3 feet of 6x tippet and managed to raise and net a brown trout in the afternoon. She caught it on a dropper (bead head nymph) in faster water, using a dry fly (Isonychia) as an indicator. 

Jan Castelli, of Carmel and Roscoe, fishing with her Sage Sonic 9-foot 5-weight rod, caught a feisty rainbow trout on a small size #16 Adams on 5.5X Trout Hunter tippet; while Laurie Pacciocco, also of Ontario, Canada,was surprised by what appeared to be a strong trout take her tiny soft-hackle Dun Variant-type imitation on its way down, and promptly headed under a large rock across the river, where it remained after a lengthy attempt to recover it.

The way we witnessed the fish take her fly reminded me of a story recently told to me by friend Jim Newton, of Livingston Manor, who recounted a fishing trip to Alaska he had taken many years ago. 

Jim relates that it was way back in the 1960s, when he, his wife Emaline, and his mother-in-law took a motor trip to Alaska.  Jim also brought along the fly rod he had purchased from Will Hardware, Livingston Manor (which sadly has just closed its doors as of Wednesday, September 30) and some dry flies from Darbee’s Sport Shop – a couple of Quill Gordons and the same number of Royal Coachmans.

 On a stop for gas at a “lonely place between Tok Junction and Valdez”, they stayed and struck up a conversation with some fellow New Yorkers (identified by their license plates which, at the time, clearly revealed which county in NYS they were from) who had already spent several months at “Posty’s”, the local gas station and supply store there. 

Jim remembered that there was a stream not far from the house/store/gas pumps and was told by Mr. Posty that the King Salmon were running (mostly at night) but the stream also held a good number of Arctic Grayling.  

Jim already had the good fortune to have caught a 38-inch King Salmon just the night before and was intrigued by the thought of catching Arctic Grayling. And so, after trying his luck with his Beaverkill flies but raising no fish, he was advised by Mrs. Posty that he should “try these”, which were a simple black dry fly.  As he left the shop, she said, “Remember, they take it ‘on the down’”.

 He was not sure what she meant, as he was used to our New York trout approaching the fly from beneath the surface.  The result was that he missed several graylings before he caught on to what Mrs. Posty was saying. 

He waited before striking and saw that the grayling broke the water ‘next’ to the fly and took it “going down”!!  “Then,” Jim continued, “I caught some fish - great color and that large dorsal fin!  Special, for sure.”

Successful fishing involves the powers of observation and concentration. No matter how many days or years you spend on the water, fishing always has another secret to share - a new insect hatch to understand, a new type of current to master, a subtle change in casting technique, a fish that reacts differently.

 Each time you step into the water, you return home with a new piece of knowledge– adding to the rich lore of fishing.