Fishing Report 3/14/22

Paulinskill River: 378 CFS
Flat Brook: 148 CFS, 36°F

Once again, the bite has been slow but there are fish to be caught. We continue to see small winter stones hatching on the Paulinskill and Flat Brook. You can occasionally get on a dry bite during a the warmest part of the day but focusing on subsurface stonefly imitations has been way more effective. It’s still winter, so keep fishing your stonefly nymphs low and slow. We have also been seeing a steady midge hatch this week, and we are even getting eats on dries. To fish this hatch, I like a size 18-22 Griffith’s Gnat with a size 20-24 midge pupa or larvae fished off the back on 6x fluorocarbon. If you aren’t seeing any surface action, fish a double nymph rig with an attractor pattern (small eggs, worms, stoneflies) paired with a micro midge. I have been having success with red, cream, and black flies. There is also a steady streamer bite if you can find some eager holdovers. I like small white, green, and black streamers swung through the deep wintering pools. Get creative this time of year!

The wild trout bite is hot as well. If your big freestones aren’t fishing well, hit a blue line for brookies and browns. These fish are getting more active as the weather warms and the brook trout will even start to eat dries. Fish Purple Hazes and Adam’s Parachutes in sizes 12-16 to trigger splashy reaction bites.

As always, if you are seeing false takes, try downsizing or clipping the tail off of your dry, Sometimes this minor adjustment can be the ticket. You can also hang a zebra midge off the back for the more hesitant fish.

As the weather continues to warm, keep an eye on those stonefly hatches as well as some little BWO hatches. We should also start to see some March Browns and Caddis popping up if the weather keeps getting better.

Tight lines!