Catskills on Fire: Winter on the West Branch of the Delaware

With winter closing it's icy hand and choking the fishable water with shelf ice I started to develop a little cabin fever. I need to get to a river was all I could think about like a Vampire needs blood I needed to fish. But where? I do have one of the best tailwaters in the northeast just an hour and a half away..........so I went.

Rolled into the town of Hancock around 8am and found the Circle E diner. Knowing I was in for a day of hiking through the snow I decided to stop in to load up on some calories. With breakfast done it was time for the task at hand....... to find some fish.

Pulling into the state parking lot there was no one there. For once I thought this can't be good. The usualls and locals must know something I did not considering the the days projected temps were above freezing and the rivers flow being good for wading which it had not been in weeks prior. Oh well I'm here so let's just do it.

To cold and early for even the Winter Caddis or Midges yet so bug selection was fun to say the least. Digging through my boxes I came acrossone of my favorite bugs,latex caddis larva. Caddis are always in the drift so onto the anchor position it went. Hmmmmm. dropper. Figuring the trout must be used to seeing some small BWO's or Midges I tied on a generic pattern I simply call The Cripple.

Fishing within 2-3ft off of seems produced well and as the sun rose higher the fish pushed higher into the riffles in the softer side seams. I was getting into fish in less than 18in of water.