It’s the end of June/beginning of July, and we enjoyed a wonderful two weeks of cool temperatures and some ample rain showers heading into the heat of the summer. Water temperatures on the Willowemoc and Beaverkill had been relatively cool but at this writing, Sunday afternoon, are beginning to creep up toward and into the 70s. Monitoring water temperature before beginning a fishing trip is important during these warmer days. Fishing in the cool of the mornings especially before the sun hits the water, and again in the evenings especially around dark will be most productive. Fly hatches have been spotty, continuing with tiny Blue Winged Olives, some Blue Sedges and tan Caddis flies along with the lighter colored summer flies - Sulphurs and Light Cahills.
Water levels are back to below the historical average on both rivers; after some heavy rain showers, the Willowemoc had reached its historic median average flow on Friday afternoon, but by Sunday afternoon had receded to 33.2 cubic feet per second, which is less than the historic median average of 52 cfs based on 40 years of record-keeping. The Beaverkill at Cooks Falls was flowing at 135 cfs on Saturday afternoon, below its historic median flow of 199 over 112 years of record-keeping. And by this week, with air temperatures predicted to be in the 80s to 90s by week’s end, no doubt flyfishers will best be headed for the tailwaters to try their luck.
Reported hatches on the Neversink have not been heavy, but are consistent in the evenings until dark, about 7:30 pm. In addition to a few Blue Sedge and Tan Caddis flies, there are two types of Sulphurs making up the bulk of the hatches on the Neversink lately: size #14 Invaria Sulphurs mixed in with the main hatch of size #16 Dorotheas.
Reports from the East Branch Delaware are similar to that of the Neversink, however the West Branch Delaware has been getting an afternoon hatch of sulphurs and then a second hatch in the evenings.