blackfoots

Being a Western guy who has read all the great books on Fly fishing & about all the great ones from the past. I have always been wondered about fishing the Catskills. Been thinking about making a trip out there - flying into Albany or? and visit some of the storied places. When would be a good time to go and where would you go. Is it worthwhile to fish and better left as a memory or is it a tourist mob scene w/ planted fish dumped off a bridge from a tank truck? I honestly don't know anything about the area except what was written 50-75 years ago. Any thoughts? Thanks

How you doing! Just joined,been around for a while but not on here. I have fly fished for 60 years - started out in the UP ,caught my 1st trout a beautiful Brookie on an ugly fly I tied near Mellen Wisconsin when I was 14. I fished mainly in the UP and the Wolf River in Wisconsin until I had to go off to war during the 60's. I came back ,went to school @ U of Wisconsin. Fished up around Door County for the trout and Salmon running the rivers for a few years. I then headed west to Washington and fished everything there was in the NW for over 40 years. also during that time I bought a home in Montana and fished every Summer for 15 years every stream in that State that had flowing water. I had a river list when I was a kid of all the Montana streams that were storied in the outdoor magazines- I fished everyone! I then started to move north into Alberta and BC and fished all the great cutt rivers- lots of water and no fishermen. Got a chance to fish Alaska for 2 years - wonderful rainbows and grayling. Lucked out and had an job that traveled me to South America and Asia( New Zealand)- fished some great places during that time. All that time I learned from those who traveled before me. Where am I today?- landlocked in Arizona. I do plan and get out for 5-6months to Wisconsin,Central Oregon, Montana,&Idaho after trout. I am now passing on to my 3 adult girls all that I can teach and my stuff from when I caught my first trout on a fly in Mellen Wisconsin. I've been blessed to fish when things were much more civilized and fishers were more Zen! Later

It was my 1st and last visit to SJ. I live in Montana for part of the year and mainly fish there,BC and Alberta. It was not very crowded and expected more. Was able to fish out of sight of others most of the time. Fished I believe Back Sloughs and I think Cable Hole and a private stretch( don't know the local name). CFS - ? Clarity was about 12-18" w/ some chalk color. The 2 fly shops were dumps: used my ties all 20-22 midges and did well with a 18 & 20 Griffith Gnat- all w/Wulff Hairwings as an indicator.

I thought I was doing a service by providing a real time take on the reality of fishing the San Juan River. I was there 3 days ago and would hate to have more guys drive the 400 miles to fish and have a bad experience. You guys sound like most of us who have a fond memory of many years gone by - like me! FYI Abe's is closed and looks like it needs to remain that way- looks like a crack house!

Just returned from a fishing trip on the San Juan River. Here is the bottom line, very remote to get there from any major city 400 miles + through the Reservation to get there, the only way to fish it is to stay in the State Park w/ your RV. The local village is called Navajo Dam and is an absolute dump/a major Sanford and Son deal. There are no properties to stay in,those few should be condemned, the guide shops are run down crappy,The Lodges are run down and misrepresented on their web sites . I have been catching fish all over the world and this is the worse I have been.You have to be hard up to fish the San Juan. The other thing that pissed me off is that "fishermen" are snagging fish- I caught 6 rainbows and everyone had body snag wounds,not good. This is not a good Karma place! Sorry to vent on here but this place is not what shows on YouTube and I have not read anything that talks about or shows how run down and lousy the place is and I just wanted to pass on what I saw and experienced!

Have used them for 25 years everywhere-mainly the West,NW,West Canada,Alaska,and S. America, New Zealand.Use them for mainly a searching pattern and is my go to hopper and stone pattern. It helps cut down the # of flies I have to carry. They float! Orange/Yellow, black w/ light wing,orange/green body, yellow/yellow are probably my favs but there are many more versions. They are all tied the same way- I tie the original Randall Kaufmann version except I don't like using Angora Goat.