Time flies when you're havin' fun.

After fishing the lower portion of the UE in what one would call a modest drake hatch yesterday, I returned today expecting the hatch would build and encompass the prime drake area around Long Flat. It didn't. I saw drakes from the Pleasant Valley campground pool all the way down to jaws. But there just weren't enough to even get the fish interested. There were a variety of bugs on the water and some rising fish, but not like yesterday. Things came to a halt about 6:30 and I decided not to wait to see if the drakes came just before dark or even if there was a spinner fall. The one car at powerline and half a dozen at Long Flat was evidence enough that Monday night was no great shakes.

With the BR unwadeable in most places and the BE having laid an egg last night, I headed for the WB. Both reservoirs are overflowing and the water in both branches is up and stained. Decided on a spot well below Hale Eddy where the river is quite wide and the higher water would be no problem. The last time I fished there, there were no bugs and very few rising fish. Tonight there was a big time sulfur hatch along with Stenos, and olives mixed in. The trout went nuts.

When trout ignore your fly it's fashionable to say "They're feeding in the water column and not looking up". Tonight, some were, for sure, but I saw countless sulfur duns get eaten. For two hours I threw cast after cast at sulfur eating fish. Five fish ate the fly and another half dozen refused it. Hundreds of casts were disdainfully ignored, this in high and off color water. Trout do make mistakes once in a while but they are real good at picking out the right flies to eat.

Green Drakes notwithstanding, things are different on the river. The numbers of drift boats on the system (at least during the week) has decreased markedly. You can count the number of trailers in the take out lots while driving by. The drakes, may or may not be over, but the "big bug season" appears to be history in the minds of many fishermen. No one can promise you solitude on the Delaware River system but if the craziness that marked the last two months on the river has kept you away it's time to come back.

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