Right place for the wrong reason.

Left Lafayette about 6:30 this morning hoping to fish a trico spinner fall on the Upper East branch. With the temp already at 66 degrees the chances of getting there in time were slim to none, but you never know. At Binghamton the car thermometer hit 70 - no hope of arriving on time now. Was pondering my next move when I drove into the WB fog at Deposit. The temp plunged back to 66, maybe just maybe. The BE water is too warm for fog and the temp began to rise again. I kept going anyway and sure enough there was fog on the river at East Branch and the temp went back to 66. There was already a fisherman at the best trico spot on the UE (they must be hatching I thought) so I drove on up the river to the next vacant pool. Was so anxious to get to the river for the spinner fall that I didn't notice that there were no waxwings in the air (or tricos either for that matter) until I was right down to the water.

What to do next? Stood there watching the bugless water flow by when a fish rose. Saw three fish rise in casting range before I made a cast. Rose all three, hooked two and landed one. By the time the third fish came unstuck the pool was alive with rising fish (good sized ones at that). For the next three hours I was into rising fish eating tiny olives and tiny spinners.

The midday was spent unpacking, putting away and staying in the camp out of the hot sun.

Went out about 6:00 and ran into a heavy shower the corner of which hit Deposit, most of it went by to the north. The shower was enough to cover the river in fog so that I wasn't aware of the thermal release until I was in the water. There were sulfurs and rising fish for about a half hour and then the cold release water shut things down. Went down river to Hancock and got out of most of the fog, all of the bugs and all of the rising trout.

If you are fishing the Delaware River system this time of year it helps if you know what you are doing (it's a much bigger help to get lucky!)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All my life's a circle.

  Headed down to the Lordville Estate about nine this morning after watching a nice buck decide  not to tend the scrape I was perched above. Drove through Deposit where the Troutfitter Shop was dark and closed for the season. My fishing equipment did not make the trip. Had far too many things to do in the few hours of daylight we are currently being allotted. The doe with two fawns was in the backyard when I arrived and was joined by the orphaned button buck who spends his time either bedded down in my flower garden or walking around under the peach trees looking for the peaches he grew so fond of in September. Arrived with a trailer full of wood hitched to Jean's car (it has the trailer hitch) and spent the first hour replenishing the wood I burned this season. As if by magic both wood piles topped out just below the garage windows. Was interrupted by the button buck who walked up between the house and the garage and stood watching the wood stacking operation. A river friend and f
Read more

IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK HOME AGAIN!

 It's Wednesday night, a fire is going in the fire place, an empty Perfect Manhattan glass is washed and back up on the shelf, 30 shrimp netted from Zane Gray Creek ((did you know that Zane Gray (famous fly fisherman and writer of westerns) was a dentist and that his office is now a museum that you can visit on the Delaware River?)), have been consumed by Jean and me, prior to the three pieces of venison backstrap that traveled from home to Florida and back, an early spring snowstorm is raging outside and most importantly, we're glad to be back home again! With that season opening sentence, Mrs. Haskins has no doubt thrown in the towel and disavowed all responsibility for my literary malfunctions. Run on sentences she could handle, but my never before attempted "double aside" was apparently beyond the pall. I sent her a "Go Duke" banner with apologies and hopefully she will cool off before the fishing heats up. Our trip back home was uneventful. Started at 2
Read more

A rational explanation escapes me.

 Yesterday after driving up and down the "Sulfur Zone" in the afternoon without seeing bugs or rising fish, I headed back to Lordville without even putting my waders on. Headed out again at 6:00, got into the river around 6:30 and had two hours of delightful dry fly fishing to medium sized fish eating duns in a good sulfur hatch. Today, I made the trip up to deposit at about 1:30 figuring the cloud cover would delay the hatch (if any), it did, but by 2:30 the afternoon sulfurs were going and the fish were up and on them. Enjoyed about two hours of good fishing with four decent fish hooked and landed, two yearlings landed and a passel of refusals. About 4:30 the rise forms changed to boils and my fly was ignored. Tried half a dozen flies without so much as a look from the still feeding fish. Was happy with the afternoon fishing, (a big step up from Sunday), and at 5:00 it was too late to drive all the way back to Lordville. Decided to get something at Wendy's (calorie capi
Read more