Week of April 11, 2026: Opening Day

This is the weather that sings: Opening day!  The morning air temps hovered just below fifty and it was comfortable when the wind wasn’t blowing.  With a strong gust, the numb fingers come back and when the cloud covers the sun you may shiver, but by 10:00 the sunshine brings the heat and hopefully the wind dies down.  The crowds showed up early with family traditions and fish dinner expectations.  For several days the parking lots and pull offs will be swamped, but this is the best time of year so it is worth walking away from the crowds and looking for a quiet stretch.  Keep two basic tenets of etiquette in mind: 

• Do not crowd or jump into someone’s hole (or riffle or run).  Don’t wade through water; people may fish up or downstream so try to get a sense of their plan. 

• Respect space and, at least, ask first if you’d like to fish within twenty yards of another angler; they may have been stealthily moving towards a fish.

This modicum of decency applies to both sides of the stream.  Unfortunately, I had the experience of getting to a popular hole, predawn, to have some time before coming to open the shop. There was no one else in the lot or within sight and still the next guy in geared up, entered the stream and walked up the opposite bank right through where I was looking to fish in a few minutes and stopped - dead across the stream from me.  I just stared.  Finally I said, “You just walked through some great water!”  He replied, “you are fishing the best spot on the river,” and proceeded to cast towards my feet. What are you going to do?  I left.

Anglers with a fly rod can expect to see a multitude of bugs - Blue Winged Olives (BWO), Hendricksons, and Caddis are the most prevalent. The Hendrickson hatch is likely between 2:00 and 3:00, but you can fish the nymphs and wets until you see the actual flies being eaten. Visit Connor's stream conditions page to see what to expect.

Once the hendos cool off, try an elk wing caddis - light brown or little and black - until dark.  The caddis hatches have been pretty heavy throughout the day, so be sure to have plenty of Lafontaine sparkle pupa emergers or caddis pupa emergers with or without beads. There are plenty of colors and sizes in stock and the actual insects  emerge consistently for the next few weeks, at least.  Like a pheasant tail or BWO, a caddis pupa emerger is a must have spring pattern.  Other buggy patterns we have are bird’s nest, XT caddis emergers, and hung caddis pupa emergers. Even when we think fish are eating dries, they may still be on emerging bugs. 

Dry fly choices include deer or elk wing caddis, X-caddis and shad caddis, Adams, BWOs, and blue and red quills. Hendricksons in the mid afternoon.

Note we have a change in shop hours: Tuesdays we will open at 11 and open until 7pm. The South Branch is closed for weekly stocking until 5 pm on Tuesdays, so you can stop by before an evening of fishing or after work on your way home.  

The NJ Fly Tyers Guild will hold an open fly tying night on Wednesday night, April 29th, from 6 - 8 pm.  

The coming week looks lovely! Stop by before heading out for the latest news and pick up the Trout Fest flyer to put on the fridge, as if you needed a reminder!

See you out there,

Roy B.