A guy could get lonesome fishing the upper East Branch

With the DRC saying the WB was "brown", there was never any doubt about where I was going to fish today.  My only concern was how crowded it would be.  I needn't have worried. Left camp about one thirty intending to fish sulfurs on the upper EB.  Was surprised at how muddy the big EB was in Hancock.  It didn't start to clear until
the seventeen rest area.  When I turned up route thirty at the Sunoco station there was still color in the upper EB but it was quite clear by Centerville and back to normal at Harvard.

My worries about the crowds of anglers?  I drove from the Sunoco station to the transfer station below Downsville and the only cars I saw were parked at Al's in Shinhopple. I think they belonged to a group of kayakers who went by me while I was fishing.  Never saw another angler!

The fishing? It was a seesaw battle.  The sulfurs were going when I got there and so were the fish. Hooked and landed five in short order - and then - the tide turned,  the wind started to blow and for a couple of hours I couldn't make a good enough cast to catch a fish. When the wind let up the fish were eating sulfur nymphs and wouldn't
even look at my fly.  When the sun went behind the hill, the evening sulfurs started to hatch  and spinners started to fall.  The water was soon covered with bugs and noses started to appear everywhere. For some reason the same flies that they wouldn't look at forty five minutes before were now picked out and eaten with relish. It ended up being my third best day of the year.

If I had fifteen miles of stream to myself because you thought it wouldn't be any good - shame on you.  If you weren't there because, like many I know, you are out west fishing, I hope you did as well as I did!

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