The river is entering prime season. Last week I saw hatches of caddis and Hendrickson’s. The river was at 61 degrees Fahrenheit. I didn’t fish this weekend due to the holiday crowd. It did rain a bit and that brought the river level up. I may try for the evening hatch (today is May 27, 2003. I’ll let you know how things are.

May 27,2003: The river is in good condition even after all the rain we had. I only fished for an hour from 5:30 to 6:45 PM today. I have a very sore knee making wading a real challenge. The West Branch AuSable is the toughest river to wade I have ever been in. It has a very rocky bottom making it tough to wade but a great home for trout. I fly-fished today using an AuSable Wullf (purchased locally at The Adirondack Sport Shop i.e. Fran Betters Shop) and a Brown Wullf purchased in the Internet at Northforkflies.com. I was, "skunked." It wasn't the bait or the fish it was me. It was my first day fly-fishing this season and my casting was as pathetic as my wading. I did see a caddis hatch as well as some March Browns. I did not see any trout rising. They must still be feeding off of nymphs at the river's bottom. I fished a remote section of the West Branch and with my sore knee and high river conditions I had to be careful. I'm going to drowned myself one of these days (just kidding - I hope). I have found I have to be really willing to work hard to catch trout fly-fishing. This means to keep moving using as much stealth as possible. Cover all the water available with your casts and keep changing flies until you find what is working. My thermometer broke so I could not take the river's temperature but my hand told me it was in the upper fifties to lower sixties. I plan to try again this evening and hope to see some trout coming to the surface o feed. I'll let you know.

May 28, 2003: I stopped to try a few roll casts from the River's bank (too lazy to put on my waders). It's 2:30 in the afternoon and the DEC Stocking Truck came by. I decided to stay a while. I tried an AuSable Wullf without luck. I put on a beadhead nymph, again no luck. Tried a Wooly Bugger and had a few hits but landed nothing. I went to a Brown Wullf and was about to quit fly-fishing when while trying to untangle my leader a brown hits the fly. This was a little embarrassing. I recast and another trout hits the strike indicator I had left on from nymph fishing. This is more than embarrassing it's pathetic. I decide to go to my spinning rod using a black Panther Martin with green spots and a gold blade. I catch eight more browns and decide to leave. I forgot to mention it was pouring and I did not have rain gear on. I am soaked and pleased with my hardware fishing but ashamed of my fly-fishing. I will be back tomorrow evening.

Below is a report from last year’s early fishing and river conditions to give you an idea of what happens here in late May and early June.

This part of my web site is dedicated to the accurate and true reporting on the status of fishing the Ausable River in the Adirondacks. Most of this will be about the West Branch, but not all. There are a few web sites about this river. They are run by businesses that make a living from the river and they are more concerned with money than truth. An example is this spring one site is reporting great fishing and catches of twenty four-inch trout when the river's temperature is 40 degrees Fahrenheit (right and I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn). Many of these sites lie and mislead you. I will not. Here is the real condition of the West Branch of the Ausable River.

May 3^rd, 2002: The river's temperature at 4:45 PM was forty degrees F. That is way too cold for any fly hatches. It’s also way too cold for cold-blooded trout to be active. Forget about fishing right now. It actually snowed today! If you insist on fishing, use worms in feeder streams with a split shot and appreciate the physical beauty of your surroundings. You probably are not going to catch "@#$%".

The river’s level is pretty good but low for this time of the year. I think this will result in good early fishing and the ability to wade the river easier during prime trout season than most years (if you have ever fished the west branch you know how tough and dangerous it is to wade, I get "dumped every year"). So plan to be here when the river’s temperature reaches 50 and above. This can occur quickly with some warm days. I would love to be here to record the rivers daily temperature for you but problems selling another house a long way from here prevent me from doing so. I promise to do so next year. The USGS can help you here at: USGA.

Where to fish: Forget about that easy slow moving water with a "smooth bottom." You are wasting your time there. Fish the fast moving pocket water!

What is pocket water? It’s water that moves rapidly. It moves around rocks and other structure and looks dangerous and beautiful. That’s where you want to fish (for trout and for life)! Fish where others are afraid to go. That is where the best fish are.

I will be adding to this when time permits. Unfortunately I have to sell a house and move and this is going to occupy me greatly during prime trout fishing of the Ausable. I will make it up to you in the future. Stick with me. You will get the truth here!

May 24th, 2002: I fished for half an hour at Lake Everest on the West Branch of the Ausable. It was obviously stocked. I saw fish rising. I didn't have any fly-fishing gear so I fished spinning hardware (all Panther Martin spinners). I didn't have any luck. It was cold, windy and I saw two "worm" fishermen. They didn't have any luck either. I did not see any hatches.

Memorial Day Weekend. I didn't have time to fish but a good friend of mine did. He is a very skilled fisherman and did catch one brown in the no-kill section on a March Brown dry fly. He caught a few more in the 16" to 17" range on Panther Martin spinners (using a variety of trout patterns). All of those caught were in the no-kill section and caught by a very experienced fisherman. He left my house and fished a pool nearby and had a terrible experience. Some "crazy person" across the river said he had just purchased the land and started throwing rocks into the river and at my friend. This is in a pool I have fished for twenty years. I intend to find out who this person is and report him to the local Rangers for assault. The fishing is still not great despite local web sites saying otherwise and what can I say about local "rock throwing" hospitality.

June 6, 2002: An overcast day with temperatures in the 60s. Last night we had very heavy thunderstorms. These weather fronts do not help fishing. The river was at 64 degrees F. I decided to fly-fish even though there were no hatches or rises. I only had an hour but I decided to spend it working hard on two of my favorite pools. They are deep but do not have any pocket water. I fished an Ausable Wulff and a Hornberg streamer. No luck again. I saw one trout just beneath the surface. I casted to it and it ignored my fly. That was probably my fault. I had a bad loop in my leader three inches above the fly. I still have not seen a hatch.

It is June 7th and a truly beautiful day. I am still moving (relocating my home) but I could not resist going to the river. I arrived at one of my favorite fishing holes at 3:30 PM. I had little time to fish but had both fly and spinning gear with me. I didn't see any rises or hatches so I grabbed my spinning rod and castled a Panther Martin black (with green spots) spinner into the river. I didn't have any hits after 15 minutes of this. During that time I saw one mayfly and one caddis. The river's temperature was 64 degrees Fahrenheit. Where are the hatches? I left and went home to continue working. I won't fish again until the weekend crowd leaves. I am sure the river will be heavily fished this weekend. All the local web sites and fishing shops are reporting great fishing. That will bring the people and make the shops money. This area has very little economy and these shops need the business but the truth is I have not yet this spring talked to one fly-fishermen "on the river" that has said the fishing is good. They are all waiting for the real trout season to begin.

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