90. The number of minutes that it took, once Mike was in the Jeep with me, to get to the Catskill Fly Shop. Now, you'd think that this 90 minutes would feel like 3 hours, but honestly, with good company, a solid playlist, 70 degree weather and child-like excitement, it felt like 20.
80. The average MPH on route 17 heading to Roscoe. (for reference sake, 70 was the average on the way home)
25. The obscene number of flies I bought upon arriving in Roscoe. Would I need them? No. Did I already have some of them, yes. Does it matter? Not in the slightest bit.
5:30pm. Let the fishing, and this report of a trip of a lifetime begin.
I was lucky enough to hook up with my first fish on Friday evening. It was special because of how I was able to examine the seams I was fishing, make a plan for hitting one very specific seam that ran behind a large boulder, and be paid off with a nice Willowemoc Brown Trout for my efforts.
That night I would find these tracks, stream-side. Any hunters out there want to chime in?
The setting on the Willowemoc is truly beautiful. A mountain side running into a stream, wildlife and all.
After months of hyping up this trip, attempting to round out our abilities, endless discussions on fly selection. leader length, knot debates, and all the other wonderful elements that make fly fishing just as exciting off the water, we were here, and the pressure was off on catching that first fish.
The next morning and afternoon would bring a sense of validation to the two of us, as every fisherman we spoke to over the next 24 hours, would be cursing the trout, for not being on the bite. That was not the case for us.
The Willowemoc would open up it's precious purse for me again on Saturday morning, granting me 2 netted fish out of 4 bites in about 90 minutes.
Olive Wooly Bugger, break of dawn:
See you in the fall my friend.
Once the light hit the water, I switched back to my nymphing setup.
6:15am - Size 14 Pheasant Tail
Whole lotta Rosie:
To say I was riding high at this point, would be an understatement. I had 3 fish on, it was only 7am on Saturday, and the pressure was off of both parties involved. With a spring in my step, we ventured off to breakfast at the famous Roscoe Diner. It was at the Diner we discussed hitting up the Beaverkill. Sounds great, right? Well, not so much for me. That River has my number. It's skunked me 3x in the past 2 years prior to this trip, and I wore that goose egg like a wreath of failure around my neck as I would wade into, and through 3 or 4 famous Beaverkill pools.
It pains me to tell you that I've now been skunked 4x in 2 years on this historic river.
Even with 3 wonderful brown trout checked off the list, you would have thought someone poked a hole in my waders. I had a puss on my face, my head was hung, and it was second guessing everything I had learned. I had gone from trout sniper, to a babbling idiot in the matter of 3 hours. Got to love this sport!
Somewhere in our travels of the weekend, we had learned of a decent access point for the East Branch of the Delaware River. We would substitute a lunch for a can of pringles, bag of beef jerky, and a bag of doritos and make that trip.
The stretch of river that we came across was breathtaking. It was complicated, and intimidating, but it just didnt poses that factor that makes me cringe every time we fish the Beaverkill. I would go right in, and on my third cast in a very fast, tight seam that sits over a huge drop-off, I would hook the largest trout I've ever netted.
2:00pm
Flashback Hares Ear dropper
I would ride the rush that this fish gave me for the next 8 hours.
While calming down from the sidelines, i snapped these pix:
The "Willow" would welcome us back with open arms. And even though this trout had a real angry look on his face, I was all Smiles.
Willowemoc:
When I say this was a trip of a lifetime, I mean that. And you may scoff, thinking that one big Bow shouldn't equate to a trip of a lifetime, but it's not the size or the quantity of the fish that made the trip so wonderful. It was the perfect get-a-way, in the perfect setting, with perfect company with successful results.
Oh yea... and the beer was good too!
