The sulfurs are hatching (and their spinners are falling).

Cooler days and hatching sulfurs have fishing on an upswing. The water levels are excellent for wading while challenging for drift boaters. All fishermen and guides should refrain from fishing the BR below Stockport and on most days even fishing below junction pool should be avoided.  A significant rise in the water combined with cooler temps would sure be welcomed by all.

Painting (and cleanup) ran overtime this morning and I didn't get on the river until 2:00. Was able to find an empty run on the WB near Deposit.  A couple of anglers walked up to where I was fishing but both gave me plenty of space. The fish on the WB are as tough to fool as any trout I have ever fished for anywhere. If I was awarded a dollar for every refusal (when the trout rises but doesn't eat your fly)  I've had the last two days I could take my wife out to dinner at the fanciest restaurant she could find (after the Covid pandemic) and still have enough money left for a generous tip.

Fished two to five, hooked five and landed two and felt I did well. There were some good fish feeding (very carefully) and all of the fish hooked were three year olds (15/16 inches). Can't stress enough, throwing the same fly over a feeding fish (even if he didn't refuse it ) is a waste of time.  Change flies often and if possible move around enough to cast at different fish.

Went back out at 7:00.  Drove by the game land lots where twenty cars were equally divided between the upper and lower lots.  Had my hopes up as there were only three trailers at Balls Eddy.  Kept going and found a spot above Hale Eddy where I saw only one other angler.  Three drift boats came by, one (unguided) came within twenty feet of me, rowed threw the pod I was fishing to and cast at all the other fish in the area.

The evening fishing - is a must do.  Sulfurs are hatching and the fish are up feeding but the best part is  the spinners fall.  When the first noses appear switch to a spinner.  When fish are feeding exclusively on top (spinner time) you finally have them where you want them.  Fishing to sulfur spinner eaters, while facing into the light of the western sky had me getting back to the car at 9:50 (and it wasn't that long a walk). Some nice fish got sore mouths tonight.

Comments

  1. JamesJune 28, 2020 at 9:27 AM

    THANK YOU FOR YOUR POSTS. I AM A SORT OF "INTERMEDIATE" FLY FISHER, MEANING I CAN CATCH TROUT ON EASY STREAMS, BUT STRUGGLE ON THE WB. IN YOUR "THINGS I KNOW" LIST, YOU RIGHTLY STATE THE IMPORTANCE OF ACCURATE CASTING. I AM ABOUT TO PURCHASE A FLY RODD SPECIFICALLY FOR WB DRY FLY FISHING. HAVING READ YOUR STATEMENT ABOUT SHORTER, ACCURATE CASTS, WHAT WEIGHT ROD AND TIPPET LENGTH/SIZE DDO YOU USE/RECOMMEND. SINCE I NEVER SEEM TO GET WITHIN THE 30 FOOT RANGE YOU MENTION, I HAVE BEEN LOOKING AT 6 WT. RODS, BUT, DO YOU SUGGESTS GOING LIGHTER AND SOMEHOW GETTING CLOSER. IF SO, ANY RECOMMENDATIONS? THANK YOU

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Had To Get Out The Neosporin For The Tooth Cuts On My Index Finger.

  To say the Delaware  is a hard river to figure is an understatement. Yesterday was an overcast day that had fishermen thinking olives. Turned out the water was probably too warm for olives and too cold for sulfurs, in short, a dud. Today the air temp was a little cooler, (I think), with a mix of sun and clouds and the sulfurs, (both yesterdays and todays), hatched. The fish? At least where I was, went nuts, threw caution to the wind, and ate everything that came down their feeding lane, both with and without hooks. Heard from two sources that the sulfur hatch at the red barn was also very good today. If my last report on the red barn sulfurs was erroneous, blame it on Ed who has been in Hawaii for the last two weeks, (hence no reliable red barn reports). The fishing mid-day was so good, and the number of fishermen in the "Zone", (it's Friday afternoon), so high, that I decided to fish down river during the evening hours. Fished a pool in the middle section from 6:30 unt...
Read more

Fishing A Cold Blow From Out Of The North.

  Jean came down and we spent the weekend watching wildlife in the backyard, driving around the area and enjoying two "nights out", one with David and Maryann, (the apprentice Troutfitter Inn cleaning lady). A shout out of thanks to her for spending four hours on the road to have dinner with us. Not sure the company or the meal was worth the drive. We drove up to Stilesville to witness the hordes of anglers, and then along the reservoir all the way up to Walton, where we usually stop and go in some of the shops. It was threatening to rain so we elected to keep going. It was raining on top of the mountains but we took route 206?? to Downsville anyway. We hit the rain part way up the mountain and then drove down the other side to Downsville in a torrential down pour. Came out of the rain at Downsville and drove down route 30 with the intention of checking  out the trout in some of the BK's thermal refuges, saw the muddy water at "Jaws" and drove back to the Lordvi...
Read more

Don't let that that rain come down.

 My South Holston river friend, (one of only two people who will fish with me), (the other is currently on injured reserve), is up for a visit (he brought his boat) and today we floated. There might have been some question about where we chose to float (no one else launched where we did), but we enjoyed the fact that we never saw another fisherman, let alone another boat, on the river all day. The weatherman might well have gilded the lily a bit when he predicted a chance of showers and a high temp of sixty degrees. It rained all day, and the temperature peaked at fifty three degrees. When I read the forecast for the rest of Mark's stay (rain for the next four days) I was thankful that we got in the day that we did today.  How was our day? We sucked it up, paid an extra $5.00 to launch (didn't have the proper change), parked in the wrong place (got a note from the owner where we put in), never made it to the predetermined takeout place, and had a delightful day counting bugs (...
Read more