I found a break in my schedule and decided to take a couple of days off to fish some local waters. I wanted to spend one day on the Esopus, a river I’d heard much about but never explored, and the Farmington, where I first learned to flyfish. Unfortunately the weekend forecast of light rain and overcast skies turned into much more. Both of these trips were cut short by the weather. That said, here’s a brief summary:
The Esopus
I’ve always heard great things about this river, but up until now, haven’t had a chance to give it a try. The section I fished is a series of great runs and riffles, with a large glassy pool at the end. The water level was lower than ideal, but I felt quite a few hits from what I believe to be small rainbows. It was easy to wade and although the water is somewhat milky due to a high concentration of sediment, it doesn’t seem to stop the fish. After a few hours of on-again off-again rain, I called it a day.
Aside from the 2 bears that I encountered during my hike to the river, this was the biggest thing I saw all day.
That said, I’ll be back in the spring.
The Farmington
I never cease to find new water here, even though I’ve been fishing this river for years.
Originally this was supposed to be a weekend camping trip, but again, forecasted light and intermittent rain turned out to be much heaver and lasted for hours, effectively ruining the evening hatch.
The first day started out slow, but I had no complaints under sunny skies and mid-70’s temps with low humidity. After 2 hours I put this beautiful fat rainbow in the net. It was hiding in less than two feet of water behind a rock the size of a bowling ball.
Midday fishing was slow, but as it started to approach dusk the water began to boil and I brought a few browns, all 10″ – 12″ to hand. This was not my biggest brown nor my best picture, but it is representative of what I caught.
There’s a few more days like this left this year. If you can dodge the rain there’s some good fishing to be had. Enjoy!
