If you want to land big fish - leave your net home!
With the "Flash Flood Watch" set to expire at 8:00 pm, wouldn't you know that at 7:30 a thunder boomer hit Deposit ending my fishing for the week. Drove back to camp and as I write this Lordville has at 8:15 (despite three days of the flash flood watch), not had enough rain to increase the flow in Humphrey's Brook.
Today, with morning rain spiking river levels everywhere else, I went above Oquaga on the WB in hopes of finding clear water. It wasn't that the flows were too high, just too muddy. At two o'clock, Cold Springs Brook and Butler Brook had two thirds of the WB muddy.
I waded out to the clean water and watched for risers. Bugs started going and a few fish started rising. There was a good fish working in a back eddy that I made numerous casts to. He never gave my fly a look. As the flow from the tribs dropped more of the river cleared and I had fish to fish to. Caught numerous 11 inch hatchery fish, some washovers and some from Oquaga. Hooked and landed a 19 inch rainbow which took ages to "bring to hand" (a term coined by those who find it to expensive to buy a net). I always carry a net, except except today when I brought my vest into camp to dry off, hung my net up on the porch, and left without it.
Carry a net and use it! You land fish quicker and can let them go in far better shape than that poor rainbow.
Oh yeah. The back eddy sipper. Kept my eye on him and he kept feeding. As the hatch was waning I wandered over to the back eddy and give him another try. After something like 50 casts with no acknowledgment whatsoever. he came over and ate my little olive like he'd been waiting for it all afternoon. Big fish on and me with no net, enter cooperative, obliging and helpful angler/photographer who stopped fishing ran up the bank and lent me his net (still attached to him). Ended up sort of beaching/netting the fish. Angler was great and took 6 or eight pictures the best one of which is shown below.
Today, with morning rain spiking river levels everywhere else, I went above Oquaga on the WB in hopes of finding clear water. It wasn't that the flows were too high, just too muddy. At two o'clock, Cold Springs Brook and Butler Brook had two thirds of the WB muddy.
I waded out to the clean water and watched for risers. Bugs started going and a few fish started rising. There was a good fish working in a back eddy that I made numerous casts to. He never gave my fly a look. As the flow from the tribs dropped more of the river cleared and I had fish to fish to. Caught numerous 11 inch hatchery fish, some washovers and some from Oquaga. Hooked and landed a 19 inch rainbow which took ages to "bring to hand" (a term coined by those who find it to expensive to buy a net). I always carry a net, except except today when I brought my vest into camp to dry off, hung my net up on the porch, and left without it.
Carry a net and use it! You land fish quicker and can let them go in far better shape than that poor rainbow.
Oh yeah. The back eddy sipper. Kept my eye on him and he kept feeding. As the hatch was waning I wandered over to the back eddy and give him another try. After something like 50 casts with no acknowledgment whatsoever. he came over and ate my little olive like he'd been waiting for it all afternoon. Big fish on and me with no net, enter cooperative, obliging and helpful angler/photographer who stopped fishing ran up the bank and lent me his net (still attached to him). Ended up sort of beaching/netting the fish. Angler was great and took 6 or eight pictures the best one of which is shown below.
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