If you are going to fish the sulfur spinner fall, book a room.
Did another split day. The best thing about the morning was that I was smart enough to quit after only an hour. Spinners were on the water along with a few mayfly duns and caddis but the fish were nowhere to be seen. Home before 11:00, grass mowed and peach tree limbs propped up out of reach of the deer before 1:00.
Left camp at 3:30 and headed up to Deposit "Just to take a look". Saw an old river friend Mike Carey standing on the town bridge and asked him if he was thinking of jumping. He said no that he was thinking of getting his waders and fishing as there were quite a few risers upstream of the bridge. He said there were good hatches of sulfurs last week and lots of fishermen but that the hatch seemed to be dying down and there were fewer fishermen this week.
After watching fish rise for about 15 minutes I decided to suit up and give it a try. Was refused by yearling fish on four of my first six casts. In about three hours of fishing I hooked six good fish and landed three. Never saw a boat and there wasn't another fisherman within 300 yards. Don't ask about the algae, nymph fishing is out of the question and if you are dry fly fishing you have to check your fly for algae before every cast.
Went downstream about 7:00 and found the evening sulfur hatch in progress. Somehow the fish are never caught unawares. They were chowing down on the sulfurs even if someone forgot to ring the dinner bell. Unlike last night when they were eating the nymphs subsurface, the fish gave my flies their full attention. They didn't always eat 'em but most of them at least looked.
There is a lot of algae in suspension in the water. Sometimes it's not a problem and sometimes it is. If a big wad of it hits your line and slides down it can easily more than double the weight of the fish and break your tippet. The ideal situation is to get a small glob of it to slide down the line and over the fishes eyes. The fish can't see and is easy to net.
When the hatch finally quieted down, I headed for the car (over a half mile away). When I was crossing back to the road side of the river with my flashlight on, I saw that the river was covered with sulfur spinners. The fish? Going like crazy. Looked upstream towards the west and there were fish gulping spinners everywhere. Didn't get back to the car 'til 9:55.
If I was a photographer who knew how to take a picture in that light it would be framed and on the camp wall. The only picture I took was of the 20 inch rainbow that was easily fish of the day.
Left camp at 3:30 and headed up to Deposit "Just to take a look". Saw an old river friend Mike Carey standing on the town bridge and asked him if he was thinking of jumping. He said no that he was thinking of getting his waders and fishing as there were quite a few risers upstream of the bridge. He said there were good hatches of sulfurs last week and lots of fishermen but that the hatch seemed to be dying down and there were fewer fishermen this week.
After watching fish rise for about 15 minutes I decided to suit up and give it a try. Was refused by yearling fish on four of my first six casts. In about three hours of fishing I hooked six good fish and landed three. Never saw a boat and there wasn't another fisherman within 300 yards. Don't ask about the algae, nymph fishing is out of the question and if you are dry fly fishing you have to check your fly for algae before every cast.
Went downstream about 7:00 and found the evening sulfur hatch in progress. Somehow the fish are never caught unawares. They were chowing down on the sulfurs even if someone forgot to ring the dinner bell. Unlike last night when they were eating the nymphs subsurface, the fish gave my flies their full attention. They didn't always eat 'em but most of them at least looked.
There is a lot of algae in suspension in the water. Sometimes it's not a problem and sometimes it is. If a big wad of it hits your line and slides down it can easily more than double the weight of the fish and break your tippet. The ideal situation is to get a small glob of it to slide down the line and over the fishes eyes. The fish can't see and is easy to net.
When the hatch finally quieted down, I headed for the car (over a half mile away). When I was crossing back to the road side of the river with my flashlight on, I saw that the river was covered with sulfur spinners. The fish? Going like crazy. Looked upstream towards the west and there were fish gulping spinners everywhere. Didn't get back to the car 'til 9:55.
If I was a photographer who knew how to take a picture in that light it would be framed and on the camp wall. The only picture I took was of the 20 inch rainbow that was easily fish of the day.
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