Tell me why all the bugs have to hatch at once?

Anybody who was on the river system this weekend knows, that every species of bug known to mankind was hatching on the Delaware River system. Not all in profusion mind you, but rain, bright sun, cold and wind made no difference, they hatched.  The fish?  They ate.  Coming out of the "Doldrums" not ten days ago, many of the fish were long and lean. Today all the fish (except those closest to the dams), resemble NFL footballs that are fully inflated.

Anybody who was on the river system today, learned that there is absolutely no correlation between prolific bug hatches, nonstop fish feeding and angler success. Bright sun, a pesky breeze and the fishes resolve to eat everything subsurface put a crimp into the success rate of most  anglers. Yes, there were risers, even in the bright sun but were they eating off the top? No. Most rises I saw were of the splashy variety that indicated that the fish was picking off emergers in the water column, black caddis being the most likely victims.

Note - There was an anonymous commenter on the pay side this morning suggesting that perhaps a "bad spool" of Cortland's fluorocarbon was responsible for all the breakoffs yesterday. Didn't give it a thought until I had another breakoff today. I changed spools just last Friday. The spool came from an emergency repair bag stored in a container in the car and has been there for I don't know how long (years for sure). When I wrote the blog title yesterday, I was making fun of myself (you know, "Couldn't be, me must be the tippet".) as I have used and liked the Courtland  fluorocarbon since it first came out, but maybe, just maybe, its been in the car for two or three years and with the hot sun --- anyway I'm switching spools tomorrow. Anyone who wants to try the spool to either confirm my fish playing ineptitude or to establish that it was kept long past it's use by date, just let me know. 

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