Seven FATC members made a trip to Montauk to not only fish but to check out the river after the flood they had on Saturday, October 6th. Bill Lowry, Al Blair, Sid Aslin, Jim Craig, Martin Jones, Ron Berger, and Kenny Klimes traveled to Montauk State park to check out the fishing. It was the first “chilly” day of Fall and the guys found the river slightly off color but higher and faster than normal. But the biggest surprise was how much the flood effected the river bottom and surrounding structure. Simply put, the river is not the same. Deep holes in spots where shallow water once ran. Trees down and trees gone in certain places we have fished in the past. It’s a new river.
The guys fished the fly fishing only area. After the flood and a cold front moving through the area, the fish seemed uninterested in any “eating”. The guys caught fish but not in large numbers. Couldn’t even tell you which were the best flies to use since specific flies didn’t catch more than 2-4 fish during the day. Fish were caught on midges, stoneflies, woolybuggers, leeches, glo-bugs, pheasant tail nymphs, etc… We can tell you that black seemed to be a good color especially with the stoneflies, woolybuggers and leeches. Many had good luck dead drifting these flies.
We do want to say welcome back Martin! Martin fished for the first time since his shoulder surgery. He had a good day. We had one member take a swim – twice. I won’t mention names but just to say if you have any trouble navigating the rocks and boulders on the river bottom please buy a wading staff. Using them when walking over difficult areas can help greatly (I highly recommend the Folstaf brand). We all ate at Hicks BBQ on the way home (except Sid – he stayed the night and camped). We even got a “senior” discount – not sure why?
