Beaverkill River · fly box
The river that invented American dry-fly fishing, and still the best classroom for it.
| Pattern | Imitates | Size | Technique |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hendrickson Comparadun | Ephemerella subvaria dun | #12-14 | Cast upstream on a 4.5-metre leader; the first heavy rise of the year is usually on this fly. |
| Coffin Fly | Green drake nymph | #10 | A Catskill original; fish it deep and slow before the drake hatch starts. |
| Catskill-style Light Cahill | Stenonema dun | #14 | The classic divided-wing dry; requires a slack-line cast and a long drift. |
| Iso Nymph | Isonychia nymph | #10-12 | Swim it actively in the riffle at dusk; Isonychia nymphs are fast swimmers. |
| Black Nose Dace | Dace | #6 | Streamer for autumn browns in the deeper bends below Cooks Falls. |
The dressing plate
On this river
Casting to Catskill trout
These fish are educated and the water is clear and low. Use a 4.5-metre leader with a 60 cm tippet, make the cast from a position where you never cross a fish with your line, and accept that you will sometimes need to wait twenty minutes for one fish to resume feeding.
The dusk drake
Ephemera guttulata hatches in the last half hour of light in the first two weeks of June. Position yourself before the hatch starts, fish a single #10 dry, and cover rising fish on the near bank first because the light will be gone before you can reach the far side.
Autumn streamers
From late September the browns turn aggressive and the fly can be bigger than anything you used in spring. Fish a #6 streamer across the current on a sinking tip, strip it in 20 cm pulls, and concentrate on log jams and undercut banks — the fish are defending lies rather than feeding.