Almost didn't fish.

I split the day again.  Fished above Hale Eddy in the morning.  Bright sunshine, cold water, no bugs or risers.  As I was wading up to where I intended to fish I saw a nice fish out on a gravel bar.  Made a poor cast that landed two feet to his left and he swam over and ate it.  This at least gave me hope, in about two hours of fishing I rose six, hooked five and landed four.

With the bright sun and breeze I was content to eat lunch, do yard work and take a power nap. There were no afternoon sulfurs on the UEB yesterday and there has been no mention of them on the WB either.  Without the sulfurs there is little incentive to spend the afternoon on the water.

About six I got in the car and drove around looking for a sign that said I should be fishing - there wasn't any.  Was headed back to camp when I decided to give the big river a try.  With water temps climbing the season on the big river is drawing to a close.  With the big bug hatches over the guides avoid it on sunny days as it usually turns into just a boat ride. The action, if any, is usually condensed into an hour or so just before dark.  Sometimes it happens and sometimes you just admire the scenery.

Tonight I watched a doe cross the river and dine along the shoreline not fifty feet away.  Also saw an adult bald eagle with two youngsters eating one of the many shad that are now swimming around just under the surface in the slow water pools.

The fishing?  Tonight it happened!  There were olives hatching when I got there and a few isos, cahills and sulfurs also came off.  The fish were eating both subsurface and on top.  Had little luck with the subsurface boils but did well on the ones eating on top - until the spinners came.  Don't know if there were just so many that the odds were against them eating mine or if I need to find a better fly tier.  After hooking fish left and right for an hour and a half, I stood there casting at rising fish for the last half hour as if I was fishing without a fly on the end of the leader.

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