Fly and Gear ordering and delivery: We can get flies to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Please see the bottom and of this column for ordering options.
We also have custom Perfect Fly selections in 3 different price ranges for this stream that come with or without fly boxes. They make excellent gifts. Click Here To Order or Call us at 800 594 4726 or email us at sales@perfectflystore.com.
Type of Stream
Freestone
Species
Brown Trout
Brown Trout
Brook Trout
(Wild Trout with some areas Stocked
with Holdovers)
Size Medium
Location
Southeastern New York
Nearest Towns
Roscoe, New York
Season
Year-round in no kill section
Access:
Fair to Good
Non-Resident License
State of New York
Weather
Stream Flow Data:
Real Time USGS Data
Seasons:
As you can see in some of the
pictures, the water level in the
Beaverkill can get rather low in the late summer months.
Spring:
Spring is the best time for fly fishing
the Beaverkill River
Summer:
The fishing in the summer months
depends on the amount of rainfall. It is okay some years and not very good other years.
Fall:
Fall is the second best time for fly fishing the Beaverkill.
Winter:
Trout can be caught (and released) in the no kill section during the better weather days of the winter months.
Recommended Tackle & Gear
Fly Line:
5 or 6 weight
Leaders:
Dry fly: 9 & 12 ft., 5 or 6X, Nymphing:
71/2 ft., 3 or 4X, Streamers 0-2X
Tippets:
Dry fly: 5 or 6X, Nymphing: 3 or 4X,
Streamer 0-2X
Best Fly Rods:
Perfect Fly Superb Five or Ultimate Six
Fly Reels:
For 5/6 fly line
Fly Floatants and Misc Items:
Floatants, KISS Strike Indicators
Tools & Accessories:
Nippers, forceps, retractors, etc.
Fly and Gear ordering and delivery:
Email us at (sales@perfectflystore.com) with the dates you will be fishing and we will send you a list of our fly recommendations. We can get flies and gear to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Your can also call us at 800-594-4726 and we will help you decide what flies and gear to use. All orders are shipped free in the U.S. If under a $100 order requiring Priority mail is a charge of only $8.10. Orders over a $100 are shipped free via Priority Mail.
Copyright 2013 James Marsh
Beaverkill River Fishing Report, November 02, 2024 The stream is flowing well below a normal level and the water is clear. There are good hatches taking place.
Rate: 69.9 cfs
Level: .74 ft
Afternoon Water Temperature: 60
Clarity: clear
USGS Real-Time StreamFlow Data Near Cook Falls NY
7 Day Weather Forecast: (click the box below to see more detailed weather)
Recommended Trout Flies:
Brown Sculpin and White Belly Sculpin and Articulated streamers, size 6/4
Black Matuka and Olive Matuka Sculpin, size 4/6
Blue-winged Olives: size 16, 18 nymph, emergers, duns and spinners
Aquatic Worms, size 12, pink, red, and others
Midges: Cream and Red (Blood) midges sizes 20/22, larva, pupa and adult. Our larva and pupa midge flies, pre-rigged in tandem, are very popular here. You can fish them under a strike indicator keeping the larva fly near the bottom. https://perfectflystore.com/product/pre-rigged-tandem-midge-larva-pupa-tippet
Cinnamon Caddis; 16, pupa and adults
Great Autumn Brown sedge; 10, pupa and adults
Mahogany Duns, size 18, nymphs, emergers, duns and spinners
Description of Beaverkill River: The Beaverkill River is one of the streams that made dry fly fishing popular in the United States back in the early years. It’s a Catskill freestone stream made up of large pools, long riffles and runs. Many of these pools have names they are famous for. Some of them are shown in the photo album section you can reach through the links below. The Beaverkill River is actually a tributary of the East Branch of the Delaware River. When you are fly fishing the Beaverkill River, you are fishing where fly fishing history originated. This beautiful trout stream is over forty (40) miles long. It starts out small and ends up rather large. It has many small tributary streams and one large one – the Willowemoc River. The upper 25 miles of the river is known as the Upper Beaverkill. This part of the river is narrow with lots of rocks and some boulders. The upper section has a lot of tree cover and springs that help keep the water cool. It is mostly consist of small pools and some pocket water. The next stretch below the uppermost section of the upper part, runs from the Balsam Lake outlet down to Shin Creek at Lew Beach. It’s about 30-40 feet in width. The pools become larger and are connected with fast flowing riffles. Jones Falls is the most popular spot in this section. It’s about forty feet high and terminates in a very deep pool. The section of the Beaverkill that runs from Lew Beach to the famous Junction Pool becomes even larger. The river grows to as wide and seventy feet. The pools are much wider and longer. The riffles are longer and generally run faster than the small ones in the uppermost sections. This section contains the famous Covered Bridge Pool shown in the pictures on this section of our site. There’s also a State Campsite located in this section of the river. The lower section of the Beaverkill is much larger and open than its upper headwaters. It contains the water from the Willowemoc River. It starts at the famous Junction Pool at the confluence of the Willowemoc and the Beaverkill. This makes the river much larger, almost twice the size of it upstream. The river consist of nice pools connected by riffles that makes fly fishing the Beaverkill a pure joy. The lower section of the river has two no-kill sections where you must release the trout. They both consist of some very nice looking dry fly water with a lot of riffles. There are also some very long pools in this section, some of them famous for the stories that have been written about over the years. Horse Brook Run and Carin’s Pool are tow of the more famous sections in this part of the Beaverkill. Horse Brook Run is difficult to fish because during the prime season, you better be among the first to get there. It’s some very fine pocket water. Carin’s Pool is a great pool that holds plenty of trout, but not so easy to fish. The very lowest section of the Beaverkill River, approximately ten miles long, has continuing pools connected by riffles. Cooks Falls Pool and the Flats are two of the most popular parts of this section. Painters Bend is yet another. The second no-kill section, Hortons, begins nine miles below Cooks Falls Pool. It’s Cemetery Pool and Horton’s Pool are two pools well known in the lower section. Other famous locations are Stadel’s run and Freeman’s Flat. Below Horton’s no-kill section, the river become wider and slows down. It also can become too warm during the hottest parts of the season. The Trout Brook tributary helps cool the water some and offers the only fishable water at times. There’s a lot of public access water on the Beaverkill River, especially in the lower section where all the famous pools are located. Fly fishing the Beaverkill is great in that area. Upstream of the confluence of the Willowemoc, much of the land is owned by private fishing clubs and other private owners.
Fly Fishing Guide to the Beaverkill
The Beaverkill is famous for its dry fly fishing. Many of the flies that are still used today were originated by some of the anglers that fished the famous stream. Most of the fishing is keyed to the many hatches that occur. Other than its rich tradition, the Beaverkill is a very good trout stream. As mentioned on the main page, the upper section, which is over twenty-five miles long, is tree lined and covered in many places. It isn’t near as large as the other sections. It’s water is also kept cool from the water of many small springs. It is rarely over twenty-five feet wide. The next section runs down to Shin Creek at Lew Beach. It is about twelve miles long and wider than the uppermost part. There are some riffles, small runs and deeper pools in this section of the Beaverkill. It gets over fifty feet wide in several places. From Lew Beach down to the Junction Pool, shown on the right side of the main page, a distance of eleven miles, is even wider and approaching seventy feet wide in places, with longer, deeper pools. The state campground is located on this section of the river. The Junction Pool is where the Willowemoc Creek or River, whichever name you prefer, flows into the Beaverkill. The river becomes much wider and larger. The pools become very long and are connected by some long riffles. There is a section called Horse Brook Run, show in our photo album, that consist mostly of pocket water. The lower section is probably the most popular section of the Beaver Kill. It contains the two no-kill sections and provides some excellent dry fly fishing. At the end of this section, the river flows into the East Branch of the Delaware River. The lower section can get warm during the hot summer months. It is best fished during the spring and fall months.
Beaverkill Hatches and Trout Flies:
Our information on aquatic insects is based on our stream samples of larvae and nymphs, not guess work. We base fly suggestions on imitating the most plentiful and most available insects and other foods at the particular time you are fishing. Unlike the generic fly shop trout flies, we have specific imitations of all the insects in the Beaverkill River and in all stages of life that are applicable to fishing. If you want to fish better, more realistic trout flies, have a much higher degree of success, give us a call. We not only will help you with selections, you will learn why, after trying Perfect Flies, 92% of the thousands of our customers will use nothing else. 1-800-594-4726.
The Beaverkill is a very fertile stream with lots of aquatic insect hatches. In fact, it is known for its hatches and fine dry fly fishing. From about the middle of March through the month of May, Blue-winged Olives are the main aquatic insect that hatches. These are mostly baetis species that can provide some good fishing on good weather days. They hatch again starting about the middle of July and last until near October. Some of these are small BWOs and little BWOs. They will vary from hook sizes 16 down to a size 24. Around the first of April the Little Black Caddisflies, or Grannom Caddis, start hatching along with the Blue Quill mayflies. The caddis hatch last just over a month depending on what part of the stream you are fishing. The Blue Quills can last almost two months. Little Brown Stoneflies will start hatching about the first of April and last just over a month. By the middle of April you can find some Gray Drakes hatching in some areas of the stream. This is when the Hendrickson hatch starts. The river is know for the Hendrickson and the Red Quill. One pool is named after Mr. Hendrickson. The Gray Drakes last less than a month but the Hendrickson hatch will about a full month. This is a great time to fish the stream but it can be crowded. Several mayflies hatch starting about mid-May. The large Eastern Green Drakes and Brown Drakes hatch for about three weeks. The Eastern Pale Evening Duns actually start nearer the first of May. The American March Browns and the Light Cahill both start around the middle of May. The middle of May will also start the first Green Sedge hatch and the Short-horned Sedge hatch. Both hatches last about a month and a half. The Dark Blue Sedges will start about the middle of May and can last for over a month. Most of the caddisflies will be Cinnamon and Spotted Sedges. They hatch from mid-May until around the first of August. Gray-winged Yellow Quills start around the first of June and can last a month and a half. Sulphurs also start the first of June and can last a couple of months. About the middle of June the Golden Drakes will show up in parts of the stream. By the middle of June, the terrestrial insects can be important. Ants, beetles and grass hoppers imitations will catch trout. Don’t forget the streamer flies. They can produce anytime of the year, especially early and late in the day or when the water is stained from heavy rains.