SUMMER TAIL WATERS...........COOL,CALM AND REFRESHING

( The tail water arsenal-Orvis Helios 10ft-5wght.-Abel Super 6N new brown trout design, Orvis green wonderline-power wf,Varivas deep green supple standard leader........and a box of selective trout CDC mayfly emergers and duns

( Mr. Big!- a fat and wary tail water brown that fell for my Potamanthus wiggle nymph)

( my Potamanthus wiggle nymphs- using Caucci/Nastasi spectrablend dubbing material which changes color when wet to match the naturals perfectly)

( Potamanthus dun and nymph courtesy of euroflyangler.com-excellent web site packed with great information)

( many tail waters have cold , oxygen loving vegetation like elodea, duckwort and chara- perfect homes for scuds and clinging sulpher and bwo mayflies)

( fog and steam off the tail water is the classic scenario)

Now that summer is here, it is time for tail waters and spring creeks to come into their own spectacular value.Whether you are on the Bighorn or Green out west, the Taneycomo, Muskegon or Cumberland of the Midwest, the White, Holston or Smith of the south, or finally on the wild trout rich Delaware or Neversink of the Catskills, these magnificent trout fisheries were tailor made from hydro dams- without the dams, these fisheries probably wouldn't exist!

In an age of "dam busters" and enviro nazis trying to undo what has already been done, these reservoir fisheries of cool , oxygenated, bio-rich environments are perfect trout homes even during heat waves and droughts- common today with the global climate change conditions and up-and-down weather conditions changing from day-to-day.

So.........before you want to take down a dam, think twice about what already exists-bottom line,' if it ain't broken, don't try to fix it!"- what needs to be fixed is how the dams control their flows- run-of- river stable and mandated releases are the trout friendly things to do-BUT, drinking water for N.Y.C. and hydro power are businesses and the trout thing just happened to come as an after thought.YES........in many cases, taking down non-functional dams is the smart thing to create better upstream spawning migrations and further the range of fish migration.But trout and tail waters are a perfect combination- just like limestone springs and the same.Reservoir impoundments contain tons of plankton, which are the food source for all benthic aquatic vertebrate and invertebrate-this is what the trout need to get fat and sassy!

Muskegon conditions -excellent. Rains and cool weather have good flows. Green caddis starting up and there are still good numbers of gray drakes at dark. The blue-winged olives are at their prime now and will be the whole rest of the season until November.

Catskill tail waters have excellent sulpher and bwo hatches, also the giant golden drake-Potamanthus distinctus.

Have fun!!!

Posted in: Abel , Bighorn , brown trout , Delaware , Green river , Holsten , muskegon trout steelhead , Neversink , Orvis Helios , potamanthus , Smith , tail waters , Taneycomo