The Catskill Fly Fishing Report
August 14, 2026
Beaverkill River, Willowemoc Creek, and the Delaware River System
STORE HOURS:
Monday 9am to 5pm
Tuesday 9am to 5pm
Wednesday 9am to 5pm
Thursday 9am to 5pm
Friday 9am to 5pm
Saturday 9am to 5pm
Sunday 9am to 5pm
Today will be a high of 76 degrees and sunny throughout the day. It looks like Saturday will bring very similar conditions before a good chance of rain on Sunday. Recent precipitation has really spiked flows on the Beaverkill and Willowemoc so make sure to keep an eye on the gauges in the beginning of next week. That said, there’s just as good a chance that we won’t see much change at all.
As this is being written, the Beaverkill is running just over 530 CFS which is a bit on the higher side but still approachable. That said, the river is running pretty warm (65 degrees at 11:30am) so expect that it will be too warm by early afternoon both today and tomorrow. Hopefully Sunday’s rain will cool things off a bit again. In any case, you should still have a morning window of solid temperatures so that will definitely be the best time to get out.
If you are fishing in the mornings, expect that most takes will come on subsurface imitation. Nymphing tactics will of course be most successful; however, it’s not a bad idea to swing a streamer especially with flows where they’re at. For “nymphing,” we recommend throwing a dry dropper because its subtle and you do always have that chance of getting hit on the surface. In terms of flies, keep things small. There aren’t too many around anymore but a sulphur parachute (#16-18) won’t be entirely out of place and will pair nicely with a #18-20 (or smaller) nymph. You’ll likely want to go with a weighted nymph which can present some challenges with small dry flies, so mess around with sizes and weight to optimize your rig.
It will be a good idea to seek out well-oxygenated seams which are often adjacent to turbulent water; a situation that often sets up well for contact nymphing tactics so keep the Euro stick close by can’t hurt either. These areas also set up well for a jigged streamer which can be a bit more engaging than drifting nymphs, so don’t be afraid to give that a try as well.
The Willowemoc is running a few degrees cooler than the Beaverkill and is a great secondary option. It’s running a little bit on the higher side, just under 120 CFS as this is being written, but still very approachable for wading. Your approach on the Willow won’t differ too much from the Beaverkill. Prospect with nymph rigs for your best chance at fish or bump a small streamer around the rocks. All this being said, should you run into consistent rising activity—which is not super common at this point in the year—do your best to determine what the fish is eating and go straight at it with a single fly.
The West Branch of the Delaware is fishing solidly at the moment despite late summer pressure. It’s running just a touch high, 740 CFS as this is being written, but still very approachable for wading and relatively ideal for fishing from a boat. Reports indicate that insect activity is somewhat limited as the sulphurs start to dwindle, however, we sure have been selling a lot of tricos here at the shop. Trico fishing can get a bit maddening as you strain to keep an eye on those tiny flies so do yourself a favor and drop your trico off a #20 sulphur of some type. In the absence of risers, prospecting with a dry dropper is always a good second guess. The rig we mentioned above for the Beaverkill & Willow will also do fine on the West Branch, but when in doubt, consider sizing things down.
Reports for the East Branch indicate pretty limited activity from both bugs and fish. A good amount of people coming through the shop talking about only seeing a few heads here and there and not much else beyond that. That said, the East Branch is obviously more temperature stable than Beaverkill or Willow and isn’t too far down the road, so it can’t hurt to at least take a peek should you find yourself in that area. Flows on the East are approachable, just over 250 CFS as this is being written. We wouldn’t change too much in terms of approach for the East Branch either. At the end of the day, nymphing and small flies are going to give you your best chance at catching fish right now.
With all this said about trout fishing, keep the area’s many warm water opportunities closely in mind as well. The Delaware system offers really solid opportuntieis at smallmouth bass, a fish that we argue you should be fishing for if you’re not already. Smallies are notoriously aggressive, hard-fighting fish that are often willing to smoke a fly that comes too close. The main consideration with smallmouth fishing is determining where in the column they want to eat. Generally, this will mean the choice between a streamer or a topwater bug of some kind (ex: sneaky Pete, diver, popper etc.), however, there are a ton of crawfish in the Delaware system so sinking line approaches are also a good idea. That being said, there are a lot of other considerations in bass fishing on the fly so feel free to give us a call or stop by the shop if you want to unpack some of that.
Other than bass, you might also want to consider taking a whack at common carp but be careful, once you start there’s no going back for a lot of people. Carp are an increasingly popular target for fly anglers and present one of the most challenging eats in all of freshwater fishing. Carp are uncommonly intelligent—like think mammal-level smart—and disappear the second a hair falls out of place. To successfully pattern them you must pay close attention to their feeding habits, which change from fishery to fishery, and approach them with absolute silence. Like bass, rigging up for carp is a much different game than going for trout so reach out if you’re trying to get started.
We are open 7 days a week from 9am-5pm and can be reached by email, phone or on our social media channels. If you have any questions or reports, please feel free to reach out. We wish you luck next time you’re out and hope to see you soon!
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FLOWS AND TEMPERATURES REPORTED IN REAL TIME
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