End of Trico Season - the East Branch of the Croton River

                                                                                             Phoebe Hole                                                                                                                                   

It was the third time we fished the Trico hatch in Phoebe Hole last Saturday morning.

Though the presence of Trico and other bugs had become less,

we could catch some fish.

Obviously the Trico hatch season will be over soon.

We didn't experienced any exciting fishing these three times.

I wonder we might have more interesting fishing if we had come earlier for Trico dun.

Trestle Pool used to be a popular place for fishing Trico hatch, and I experienced such good fishing long ago, but we didn't see any Trico in Trestle Pool these three times.

Well, Trico season will be about end for us.    

      

Trico, Black Caddis and tiny BWO - the East Branch of the Croton River

We went to the East Branch again last Sunday morning to fish the Trico hatches.
In this morning there were more other bugs, besides Trico, than last week.
Especially a lot of Black Caddis were flying just above the water.
We were able to use similar flies to catch some fish.  It is fun to catch fish with Caddis flies because for the past few weeks we have been using tiny flies (midge and BWO).
When Black Caddis had gone, we fished with Trico Spinner flies.

In the afternoon we fished under the bridge at the junction of Brewster's East Main Street and Route 22.
Fish was eating really small BWO mayfly. My smallest imitation was #26.
These trouts couldn't be easily fooled by #26 and 7X.
We were kind of frustrated.  
I think I will try to tie the #26 BWO with less material to make it low profile instead of tying with smaller hook.

Trico Spinner

Blue Wing Olive Dun

Trico and Ant - the East Branch of the Croton River

Phoebe Hole in the morning.

We started earlier than usual last Saturday to fish the Trico hatch and its spinner fall in Trestle Pool of the East Branch of the Croton River.
Trico hatch and its spinner fall were something special I was looking forward to because this tiny mayfly can bring up large fish to the surface of the water.  Many years ago I enjoyed such a feeding frenzy experience.

But when we got to Trestle Pool,  there was nothing
going on, no bugs or rising fish.
So we moved on to the bridge near the dam of the East Branch.

She always has a good time in Bathtub Pool.

My wife fished in Bathtub Pool upstream of the bridge.  

I went to Phoebe Hole - about 200 yards downstream from the bridge - to search for Trico.
On the way I saw some Trico flying back and forth over the river.
It seemed to be enough Trico to make a good spinner fall although it had no comparison to the one like powder snowfall which I witnessed many years ago.

In Phoebe Hole a lot of fish was rising and that was what I was looking forward to.
So I rushed back to the bridge to tell my wife.

We finally fished with the Trico.

Trico spinner in Phoebe Hole

 

I caught a brown with a Trico spinner fly right away.  But that was it with the Trico fly.

Nevertheless, my wife struggled with the Trico fly.

I wandered if my Trico fly imitations were good enough for these picky trouts in the Hole.
We managed to catch some with other flies.

We went back to Trestle Pool before lunch.
This time some tiny BWO mayflies were on the water.
We caught a few fish by matching flies with the BWOs.
But one particular fish didn't take any of my flies no matter what.
So my wife said, "how about ants."
I also came up with using an ant fly because I saw an ant on the water.
After changing to an ant fly, I immediately caught this finicky brown.

What a good fighter it was!!  I enjoyed a lot.

After lunch and some rest, we fished in Trestle Pool again.
Then towards early evening, we went to the bridge near the dam.
My wife fished around the bridge and
I went to Phoebe Hole again.
Fish was eating tiny BWOs and something else.
I got a couple of fish.
As evening approaching, bugs and rising fish became less and less, so I was getting ready to leave.
But before leaving, I hit on the idea of why not trying an ant fly.
With a few castings, I hooked a 16+ inches  fat  
                                                                                       rainbow. It snatched the ant fly with a splash.
                                                                                      This rainbow was the biggest I ever caught in
                                                                                       Phoebe Hole.

                                                                                       Ants seemed to be the special favorite food for the
                                                                                       trouts today.  Or anytime?

Fishing the Blue Wing Olive Hatches - East Branch of the Croton River

The Resident Heron

Last Saturday we fished under the bridge at the junction of Route 22 and East Main Street in Brewster.
There were a good number of Blue Wing Olive Mayfly Duns drifting in the pool under the bridge and many fishes were rising for them.
I caught two rainbows and one brown.

A Groundhog ??

My wife tried nymphing in the rapid water upstream of the bridge,
but she didn't even get one bite, unlike two weeks ago.
I guess every fish in the rapid went down to the pool to feed on  BWO Duns.  I wonder if such a thing can happen.

We fished in the Trestle Pool in the early evening.
We saw a lot of BWO Duns on the water and fishes were rising quietly on the other side of the stream under some hanging trees.
I continued using the hackle flies, but it didn't work well here.
So we changed to a CDC dun pattern.  It fooled more fishes.

So far we caught only browns in the Trestle pool.  Though they were not large, they were a joy to catch as they were healthy and energetic.

On our way to Brewster, we stopped by The Bedford Sportsman fly shop to buy a few things.
I asked about how were Trico hatches.
Many years ago I had such a great fun fishing in the Trestle Pool during the Trico spinner fall.
The store owner told me that Trico hatches were going on at this time but they had become less in volume in recent years than they used to be.  Let me find out.