The skunk danced too soon.



With the morning temp in the 40's I didn't have to rush. Left camp about 9:30 and drove up to the EB to fish the trico hatch. Arrived about ten to find lots of bugs - all still in the air. They started to fall about a half hour later and the fish fed for a good two hours. There was no wind, a bright blue sky and lots of fish to throw at. Almost all of my good casts got at least a refusal, many were eaten. BUT, as has been the case since my return from the western trip, all the fish were yearlings about nine inches long. If I threw at anything bigger I wasn't aware of it. I may try another place sometime later this week but the handwriting is on the wall, the big fish are just not up on the tricos.

Again took a pass on the Deposit afternoon fishing. The hatch may have waned, but the number of boats hasn't. One of the fishing Steves (there are two) from Lordville has been going almost every day. His reports keep me from even thinking about it.

Went out early in the evening to see if the colder water got any bugs going. Fished a good spot on the lower WB for almost an hour without seeing a bug or raising a fish. Went to the upper big river and found space between anglers already fishing. There were a few iso's hatching and some epheron spinners flying around with their shed skin still attached to their tail. Hooked three fish within the first ten minutes, all were yearlings, two self released and one required my assistance.

As the setting sun was hitting only the very top of the hill behind me, I had still not caught a countable fish. Over on the shore Petunia was doing her little dance, sure that she was going to end up in my waders. Then, I saw a rise against the bank. The cast was no better than a B- and was just about to drag when the fish ate. I'd like to tell you about the jumps and runs in great detail, but there weren't any. The fish basically swam over to me and asked to be released. It was a 20 inch brown that was either long in the tooth or had spent much of the summer in water that was much too warm.

Petunia? She stopped dancing and walked into the bushes with the knowledge that unless conditions change she will be doing her little dance inside my waders before the week is out..

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Had To Get Out The Neosporin For The Tooth Cuts On My Index Finger.

  To say the Delaware  is a hard river to figure is an understatement. Yesterday was an overcast day that had fishermen thinking olives. Turned out the water was probably too warm for olives and too cold for sulfurs, in short, a dud. Today the air temp was a little cooler, (I think), with a mix of sun and clouds and the sulfurs, (both yesterdays and todays), hatched. The fish? At least where I was, went nuts, threw caution to the wind, and ate everything that came down their feeding lane, both with and without hooks. Heard from two sources that the sulfur hatch at the red barn was also very good today. If my last report on the red barn sulfurs was erroneous, blame it on Ed who has been in Hawaii for the last two weeks, (hence no reliable red barn reports). The fishing mid-day was so good, and the number of fishermen in the "Zone", (it's Friday afternoon), so high, that I decided to fish down river during the evening hours. Fished a pool in the middle section from 6:30 unt
Read more

Fishing A Cold Blow From Out Of The North.

  Jean came down and we spent the weekend watching wildlife in the backyard, driving around the area and enjoying two "nights out", one with David and Maryann, (the apprentice Troutfitter Inn cleaning lady). A shout out of thanks to her for spending four hours on the road to have dinner with us. Not sure the company or the meal was worth the drive. We drove up to Stilesville to witness the hordes of anglers, and then along the reservoir all the way up to Walton, where we usually stop and go in some of the shops. It was threatening to rain so we elected to keep going. It was raining on top of the mountains but we took route 206?? to Downsville anyway. We hit the rain part way up the mountain and then drove down the other side to Downsville in a torrential down pour. Came out of the rain at Downsville and drove down route 30 with the intention of checking  out the trout in some of the BK's thermal refuges, saw the muddy water at "Jaws" and drove back to the Lordvi
Read more

IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK HOME AGAIN!

 It's Wednesday night, a fire is going in the fire place, an empty Perfect Manhattan glass is washed and back up on the shelf, 30 shrimp netted from Zane Gray Creek ((did you know that Zane Gray (famous fly fisherman and writer of westerns) was a dentist and that his office is now a museum that you can visit on the Delaware River?)), have been consumed by Jean and me, prior to the three pieces of venison backstrap that traveled from home to Florida and back, an early spring snowstorm is raging outside and most importantly, we're glad to be back home again! With that season opening sentence, Mrs. Haskins has no doubt thrown in the towel and disavowed all responsibility for my literary malfunctions. Run on sentences she could handle, but my never before attempted "double aside" was apparently beyond the pall. I sent her a "Go Duke" banner with apologies and hopefully she will cool off before the fishing heats up. Our trip back home was uneventful. Started at 2
Read more