Fly fishing in May- West Branch vs Beaverkill

[virgil]

My cousin is coming in from California for opening week of turkey and wants to do some fishing. Interested in opinions on where to go- Roscoe area vs Deposit area?

[Bucksnbows]

How good of fly anglers are you both?  May is Hendricksons, and later March Browns. Plus caddis galore. Both rivers have excellent hatches of both mayflies and the caddis. There will be other bugs as well like Blue Quills (Paraleps). The WBD is by far the more technical of the two and 99% of the trout are wild. The Beaverkill has a combination of wild, recently stocked and holdover fish (browns) plus a smattering of wild rainbows. And the Willowemoc is nearby. 
Unfortunately, since Covid all the waters are extremely packed most days. With so many now able to work from home, I don’t see that changing soon.  You won’t have the constant drift boats going by or anchoring on your fish on the B-kill like you will on the West Branch. 

Edited March 4 by Bucksnbows
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[virgil]

I’m pretty experienced. My cousin is new to fly fishing. I generally prefer smaller water. I’ve fished the Willow and Beaverkill a few times. Never fished the WB. Would really love to find some decent water closer to our area instead of the long ride to the Roscoe area after turkey hunting. 

[Bucksnbows]

9 minutes ago, virgil said:

I’m pretty experienced. My cousin is new to fly fishing. I generally prefer smaller water. I’ve fished the Willow and Beaverkill a few times. Never fished the WB. Would really love to find some decent water closer to our area instead of the long ride to the Roscoe area after turkey hunting. 

Not sure where your area is for turkey. The Neversink is east of the Roscoe area and smaller water like the upper Willow. If you’re west, then the WBD is the better bet. But it’s big water and the dry fly fishing is as tough as it gets. You can nymph the riffles, but they are not as prevalent by far as those on the freestones. I’m a WBD junkie, but I have only fished it maybe 6 days a year since Covid. The throngs have really turned me off. That and the boat traffic. 

[crappyice]

The WB is hard fishing. I only been bit by its bug the last two years and have fished it a few times over the past years. I have not felt over pressured by other anglers and yea there are boats but all have been respectful of wading fishermen. The fish just seem more educated! Or I just haven't figured them or the WB out yet which is also part of my draw to it. 
The Beaverkill offer many option and easily accessible and close to the Willow for even smaller water. 
The neversink near Rock Hill has become one of my favorite stretches that I want to explore more this season 

[lucky118]

Some giant browns in those no kill areas. Got one on a rabbit hair cone head zonker streamer I made and sinking line. This was before cell phones so no pictures. But he was probably  25 inches atleast if not bigger.

[Bucksnbows]

12 hours ago, virgil said:

My cousin is coming in from California for opening week of turkey and wants to do some fishing. Interested in opinions on where to go- Roscoe area vs Deposit area?

What about the upper East Branch?  It’s not as easy to find public access, but it’s much smaller in size up there than the other rivers and has excellent hatches and should be closer to you. From the Downsville covered bridge down is great water. 

[virgil]

17 minutes ago, Bucksnbows said:

What about the upper East Branch?  It’s not as easy to find public access, but it’s much smaller in size up there than the other rivers and has excellent hatches and should be closer to you. From the Downsville covered bridge down is great water. 

Excellent- thanks very much.  i'll look into that.

[BowmanMike]

Hey @virgil.

The west Canada creek would be much closer for you,it is fairly big water too unless you drive way up north. I don't have much for insights on what sections are better than others but it generally isn't very crowded and access is plentiful. I think there are three dams on it.

The creek flows into the Mohawk up by herkimer.and heads north from there along Rt.28.

Another stream I can recommend which is smaller than that and somewhat local is the schenevus creek,if you follow rt.7 from Oneonta to schenevus there is some access. It has wild fish as well as stocked and good hatches for the area. It also has some lunkers well over 20 ". This one is my favorite local stream by a long shot. Not sure how long you want to fish for,but I have gone with a friend before and parked one vehicle at one bridge and another at the next one up. Depending where you do that it could be 4 or more hrs of fishing/walking.

[ATbuckhunter]

I get my ass handed to me every time I fish the WB with Chef and Crappy. I see plenty of huge trout rising, just have a hard time getting a fish on the fly. I've only gotten two all my times up, but one of them was a big 18" brown. I want to explore more Euro nymphing water this year, but I'm always going to make time to fish the WB with Chef and crappy. 

[BowmanMike]

54 minutes ago, ATbuckhunter said:

I get my ass handed to me every time I fish the WB with Chef and Crappy. I see plenty of huge trout rising, just have a hard time getting a fish on the fly. I've only gotten two all my times up, but one of them was a big 18" brown. I want to explore more Euro nymphing water this year, but I'm always going to make time to fish the WB with Chef and crappy. 

I went years ago with a guide on the esopus,he set me up for euro nymphing/short line nymphing and we caught 50+ fish between us,easily. It is a fun way to fish and great for rowdy streams where you can get close to the seams you want to fish.

Most fish were small rainbows but the occasional bigger brown fell for our presentations too.

Edited March 4 by BowmanMike

[riverrat]

Virgil, If you turkey hunting on your land in Garrattsville, here's a couple streams close by with public fishing access that have some decent fishing. It's not big water but it's fishing. And you won't have to fight any crowds.

The Wharton Creek from Hoboken to New Berlin has some bigger water are decent sized Browns. Just over the hill from Garrattesville, in Burlington flats, the Wharton creek has a tremendous stretch of wild Brookies.

https://extapps.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/pfrwhartonck.pdf

The other was the Schenevus as @BowmanMike suggested.

https://extapps.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/pfrschenevus.pdf

And again as @BowmanMike suggested the West Canada has good fishing below the Trenton Falls in Poland all the way to Herkimer. I find that to be to crowded for me though.

 

 

[crappyice]

1 hour ago, ATbuckhunter said:

I get my ass handed to me every time I fish the WB with Chef and Crappy. I see plenty of huge trout rising, just have a hard time getting a fish on the fly. I've only gotten two all my times up, but one of them was a big 18" brown. I want to explore more Euro nymphing water this year, but I'm always going to make time to fish the WB with Chef and crappy. 

By far the greatest hook-set I ever witnessed occurred on the "not 18"er"

[virgil]

15 minutes ago, riverrat said:

Virgil, If you turkey hunting on your land in Garrattsville, here's a couple streams close by with public fishing access that have some decent fishing. It's not big water but it's fishing. And you won't have to fight any crowds.

The Wharton Creek from Hoboken to New Berlin has some bigger water are decent sized Browns. Just over the hill from Garrattesville, in Burlington flats, the Wharton creek has a tremendous stretch of wild Brookies.

https://extapps.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/pfrwhartonck.pdf

The other was the Schenevus as @BowmanMike suggested.

https://extapps.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/pfrschenevus.pdf

And again as @BowmanMike suggested the West Canada has good fishing below the Trenton Falls in Poland all the way to Herkimer. I find that to be to crowded for me though.

 

 

Thanks very much.  I'll definitely look more into Wharton Creek.  We duck hunt on a stretch of the Wharton- haven't seen much sign of fish.  I'll look for access areas.

[The_Real_TCIII]

1 hour ago, ATbuckhunter said:

I get my ass handed to me every time I fish the WB with Chef and Crappy. I see plenty of huge trout rising, just have a hard time getting a fish on the fly. I've only gotten two all my times up, but one of them was a big 18" brown. I want to explore more Euro nymphing water this year, but I'm always going to make time to fish the WB with Chef and crappy. 

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