Tenkara Fishing - Exploring New Mountain Streams in the Catskills, NY ( II )

   

Again I pick out two mountain streams for brook trout fishing in the Catskills from Google map.

From the map, I can see one is flowing in a high altitude mountain valley where should be brookies' territory.  Another one, which is a tributary in a lower valley, and its main stream is a famous brook stream, I figure should have brookies too.

Yesterday I did catch many brookies in both mountain streams . Although they were not big, I had a good time catching them in these cool water streams in such a hot early summer day.
                                     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Here are some countryside scenery of a secluded village in the Catskills.
                                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 




       

The Outside of a Post Office

                                                                           

                 

Making Hip Boots from Old Leaking Wader

My wader started leaking last season when I waded in deep water and for an extended time.
I bought a new one this season. So I made hip boots from the leaking one which is still ok for wading in shallow water and for a short time. That is the case in fishing small mountain streams.

The process is quite simple.  Cut off the upper part of the chest high wader, but leave enough material for folding back to make loop for the waist belt, then sew the seam and secure the loop.

I wore them to mountain stream fishing in the Catskills last weekend.
It was more comfortable and cooler for walking around than the chest high wader, especially in summer.

Tenkara Fishing - Exploring New Mountain Streams in the Catskills, NY

I have been searching fishable small streams in the Catskills by Google map. I pick out two mountain streams as their upstream sections flow in the public land and long enough for gathering good amount of water from the mountain slope.  

Yesterday I explored these two unknown streams.
One stream is not reachable because the road to it is private.
The other one is good. Beyond the end of the road is public.    

I fished about half mile of this stream. All the fish I caught were browns and their sizes were similar to the one in the picture above, except the one in the picture below which was about 10 inches. The parr marks on their bodies reminded me Japanese trout called "yamame".

Because all the fish I caught were browns, I guess brookies might be living further upstream.

I caught the largest wild brown shown below in this mossy plunge pool.

                                                                                                                                                 

The Day of Doubleheader - Surf Fly Fishing and Stream Tenkara Fishing

Since mid-May, I have been fishing in Robert Moses along the beach on the ocean side. In all my outings,
I got a few schoolies in one morning only.
Again Saturday I was skunked.

Later I drove to the Croton Watershed for fishing spots hopping.
In Amawalk I caught several beautiful small browns.  

After checking out some other favorite spots, I got to the pool in the East Branch where I had a good time last weekend, but a fisherman was fishing there. So I fished the rapid in the upstream of the pool with tenkara wet flies.
I caught several nice browns and rainbows. In contrast to the dry flies, catching them with the tenkara wet flies made me feel really like a traditional style tenkara fisherman fishing the mountain stream in Japan. It was a lucky day for me.

In Saturday's tenkara fishing, I saw sulphur in every spot I visited.  In the afternoon, in one stretch of the upstream of the East Branch, light cahill, caddis and many other insects were also hatching.
A lot of small birds were busy flying back and forth catching insects. They caught almost all insects in the air and on the water.  It seemed the trouts couldn't get a chance to rise for them. It is interesting to think whether it was a good day or not for dry fly fishing - there were an abundant of insects, but the trouts couldn't taste them.

Tenkara Fishing in the Croton Watershed

Today I went fishing spot hopping: the Amawalk Outlet, West Branch Outlet and East Branch of Croton River. When I arrived at Amawalk, each access point had already parked with cars.  Sunday is usually quite crowded here.

I wasn't even able to catch one fish in my couple hours of fishing. This stream is just too small for too many fishermen.  I'd better go as early as possible to beat other fishermen for my favorite spots on Sunday.

My luck turned around when I fished in the pool under the bridge of East Main Street in Brewster.
There was a good caddis hatch, so I could enjoy catching many browns with elk wing caddis flies.
Dry fly fishing with tenkara rod is indeed as much fun as with the regular fly rod.
I had a good fishing day!