NarrowsburgFair, 63°
Wind: 10.4 mph
Narrowsburg
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We went forward on this early September day with almost no expectations. The river had been quiet these last weeks—few hatching mayflies and fewer rising trout. Normally, at this time of fall …
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By TONY BONAVIST
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9/23/20
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A very long time ago, in what seems like another life, I had the opportunity to fish the Bitterroot River in Western Montana for most of one summer. At the time I was a student enrolled in the School …
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By TONY BONAVIST
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9/9/20
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For those involved with the effort that led to the adoption of the Water Releases Legislation, Part 671 of the Environmental Conservation Law (ECL), none of us knew, back in 1976, the dilemma that …
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By TONY BONAVIST
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8/26/20
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A few months ago, an old friend suggested that my writing style was a bit too technical and professorial for a fishing column, so for this piece, I decided to lighten things up a bit. While the event …
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By TONY BONAVIST
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8/12/20
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Fly fishing is a fragile and fickle sport. By that, I don’t mean to imply that rivers are fragile, or that trout are fragile, although, in some instances, both are. What I do mean is, unlike a …
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By Tony Bonavist
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7/29/20
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Some of my angling friends call this time of year “The Dead Time” because hatches of mayflies and other aquatic insects are on the wane. For the most part, they are absolutely correct in …
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By TONY BONAVIST
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7/15/20
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Isonychia bicolor is a large, dun-colored mayfly that does not receive a lot of attention from the Catskill fly-fishing community. Perhaps that is because the species is not as widely distributed as …
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By TONY BONAVIST
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7/1/20
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As a group, it seems that fly fishers are always waiting. In the early spring, they wait for the equipment they might’ve ordered for the coming season. Then they wait for April 1, the opening …
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By TONY BONAVIST
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6/17/20
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It was in late 1972 or early 1973 at a Catskill Mountain’s Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU) meeting in Kingston, NY that I met Arthur Flick. I was at that meeting as a fisheries biologist …
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By TONY BONAVIST
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6/3/20
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Soon, if not already—stream flows permitting—Catskill anglers well be treated to hatches of March Brown and Grey Fox mayflies. Both flies are large with the March Brown being the larger …
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By TONY BONAVIST
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5/20/20
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Those words may sound like an odd title for an article, but they describe one of the most confounding fishing situations anglers are likely to be confronted with. I know that up versus down has been …
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By TONY BONAVIST
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5/5/20
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Very soon, and with a little cooperation from the weather, the season’s first, eagerly awaited mayfly hatches will begin. Right now, most fly fishers are looking over their tackle, waders, …
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By TONY BONAVIST
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4/21/20
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It was a long time ago—a cool rainy morning, late April in the Catskill’s. I was one of five instructors gathered in the little schoolhouse at the Wulff School of Fly Fishing on the Upper …
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By TONY BONAVIST
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4/8/20
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Each year at this time, right around the end of March, anglers eagerly await the start of another trout season. In some angling circles, that is all the talk is about. I know I’ve been hearing …
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By TONY BONAVIST
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3/25/20
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Those of you that read this column may recall that the name William (Bill) Dorato; it has appeared several times. I first met Bill at the Rivers Edge Motel, along the East Branch of the Delaware in …
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By TONY BONAVIST
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3/11/20
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In his book, “Small in the Eye of a River,” my old friend Frank Mele wrote: “On having turned his 75th year in reasonably good health, any fly-fisher must feel immense gratitude for …
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By TONY BONAVIST
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2/26/20
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Whether you call them patterns or (in the new vernacular) recipes, things change with fly fishing and fly-tying nomenclature over time—only the natural flies and trout stay the same. One of the …
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By TONY BONAVIST
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2/13/20
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Sound like a strange title? Perhaps, yet it is the very method that fly fishers should adopt if they wish to maximize angling opportunities when fishing small flies, dun colored flies, or when …
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By TONY BONAVIST
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1/29/20
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A long time ago, when I started to fly fish and began the process of weaning off worms, Mepps Spinners, assorted lures and baits, I adopted the standard up-and-across-stream practice of casting my …
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By TONY BONAVIST
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1/15/20
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One could legitimately ask, why would fly fishers want to fish a reservoir? But yes, the title is correct. This piece is about the Pepacton Reservoir and the possibilities it offers fly …
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By TONY BONAVIST
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12/31/19
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