Rain and cold put damper on hatch.

Left the camp with good intentions.   After four days on the upper WB it was time for a change.  I drove up the EB from Hancock to Downsville in the pouring rain, stopping at every vista looking for bugs and risers.  There weren't any.  It was Friday afternoon and the fishermen who had filled every pool from the Sunoco station to
Downsville  last Friday were also missing.   I saw one in the water at Bumps Eddy and three trying their luck at the Corbett  Bridge.  There were only two cars at Long Flat and none at the power line pool.

The rain had been coming down hard since early morning and the temp of forty seven was not promising.  Fearful that there would be no hatch, I had packed the car for an early departure for home. What to do? It was still early (one forty five) but the bugs on the WB had been starting before one. and nothing was happening.  I pulled the plug and headed for the WB, at least it would be closer to home.

For Friday afternoon it too was deserted. The usual "picket fence" of anglers you see lined up at the  game-lands and at West Branch Angler were conspicuous by their absence. I found an empty  pool with a couple of risers and a few bugs on the water. I don't know if it got colder but it rained harder, the bugs never came in any numbers, the fish never got going and enough fishermen showed up to hinder my ability to move around looking for fish.

The fish I did find ate my fly but after four days of the most prolific hatch I have ever seen it was like watching a Zamboni resurface the ice between periods of a hockey game.  Things shut down by four and I headed for home.

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