Fishing conditions are downgraded to Poor.
My wife came down to take in the annual Fourth of July parade in Lordville. It was a scorcher with both the car and porch thermometers registering 92 degrees. As predicted the BK, EB and BR gauges all were up over 70 degrees.
Spent the day just trying to keep cool. Took a drive up the West Branch in the afternoon (more for the car air than anything else) and was amazed to see the river void of fishermen. We counted five wade fishermen and two boats. On Tuesday there were somewhere around 30 - 40 trailers at Balls Eddy alone.
Watched a nice display of fireworks from the back porch to close out the holiday.
The fishing on the 5th -
Holiday weekends are not the time to fish the UE. There were over 20 cars parked at Al's in Shinhopple waiting for the kayakers and canoeists to arrive on their down the river journey from Downsville. It was a great day to be on the water and lots of people took advantage of it..
Tried the early morning again on the WB, it was a total bust. No bugs and no rising fish. Hooked a nice fish early that came unstuck and then suffered through 8 refusals. Drove up to Deposit to fish the sulfur hatch. Arrived at 1:30 and couldn't even get in the stream. There were six boats anchored between Butler Brook and the town bridge with a seventh boat weaving its way through them. The hatch was sparse at best and there were very few fish rising in the hot sun. Spent an hour at the sewage treatment plant catching yearlings and watching two creel carrying fly fishermen beat the water to a froth. Retreated to Lordville until about seven when I again ventured out to the WB. This time I drove along the river to see how many boats would be coming by. The boat traffic below West Branch Angler didn't seem to bad so I went to the gamelands. There were bugs and a few rising fish to keep me occupied ("only" eight boats came by). The fish turned out to be more than a match for me as I counted over a dozen refusals. It wasn't until about 9:15 that I hooked my second decent fish of the day, a 16 incher that held the skunk at bay.
In a very short period of time conditions have changed dramatically. The water is now at summer levels. All but the two branches are too warm to fish. Several days of hot sunshine haven't helped. Add to that the incredible pressure put on the WB this week by drift boat anglers and it's easy to see why the fishing has become as poor as it has.
Spent the day just trying to keep cool. Took a drive up the West Branch in the afternoon (more for the car air than anything else) and was amazed to see the river void of fishermen. We counted five wade fishermen and two boats. On Tuesday there were somewhere around 30 - 40 trailers at Balls Eddy alone.
Watched a nice display of fireworks from the back porch to close out the holiday.
The fishing on the 5th -
Holiday weekends are not the time to fish the UE. There were over 20 cars parked at Al's in Shinhopple waiting for the kayakers and canoeists to arrive on their down the river journey from Downsville. It was a great day to be on the water and lots of people took advantage of it..
Tried the early morning again on the WB, it was a total bust. No bugs and no rising fish. Hooked a nice fish early that came unstuck and then suffered through 8 refusals. Drove up to Deposit to fish the sulfur hatch. Arrived at 1:30 and couldn't even get in the stream. There were six boats anchored between Butler Brook and the town bridge with a seventh boat weaving its way through them. The hatch was sparse at best and there were very few fish rising in the hot sun. Spent an hour at the sewage treatment plant catching yearlings and watching two creel carrying fly fishermen beat the water to a froth. Retreated to Lordville until about seven when I again ventured out to the WB. This time I drove along the river to see how many boats would be coming by. The boat traffic below West Branch Angler didn't seem to bad so I went to the gamelands. There were bugs and a few rising fish to keep me occupied ("only" eight boats came by). The fish turned out to be more than a match for me as I counted over a dozen refusals. It wasn't until about 9:15 that I hooked my second decent fish of the day, a 16 incher that held the skunk at bay.
In a very short period of time conditions have changed dramatically. The water is now at summer levels. All but the two branches are too warm to fish. Several days of hot sunshine haven't helped. Add to that the incredible pressure put on the WB this week by drift boat anglers and it's easy to see why the fishing has become as poor as it has.
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