Wade fishermen, an endangered species.

If this weekend is any indication, wade fishermen are fast becoming  dinosaurs.  Boats alone outnumbered them and if you count all the people in the boats it wasn't close. Maybe the waders saw all the high water and made other plans but there has been an obvious trend towards more boats and fewer waders for several years.  As long as floaters are courteous I'm fine with it.  This weekend dozens and dozens of boats went by me and all tried not to disturb my fishing. With the absence of wade fishermen and the high water it has been easy for the drifters to give waders wide berths. As the waters drop and perhaps more waders appear the potential for conflicts will increase.

Wildlife in Lordville - Have been puzzled by the early morning presence of a hen turkey who feeds in the neighbors yard and then comes over and dusts under my porch. Have also wondered about the absence of my deceased neighbor Emily's now feral cats. It kinda came together this morning when I saw the turkey sit down in the tall grass with only her head showing.  Something caught my eye and I turned in time to see a fox trot down the road in broad daylight, not 20 feet from my front door with breakfast for the family in her mouth.  I would much prefer having a family of foxes than the feral cats but I miss seeing the hen turkey bringing her brood to dust under the porch every morning.

The fishing -  Splendid or frustrating, take your pick. Didn't get riverside until 1:45 and the caddis/Hendrickson hatch was over by 3:45. Neither hatch was as good as yesterday (was later told by a Troutfitter regular that the caddis were all over the water at 11:00 and the fish were on'em).  Didn't care, there were enough bugs to get the fish up and a good cast got, in many cases, an eat. Seemed like I had a bent rod for most of the two hours. Drove around after the hatch and mostly looked at boats. Got  serious about 7:00, heeded my own advice, and went down to the middle section of the WB to take in the spinner fall.  There were Hendrickson egg layers over the riffs and both apple caddis duns and spinners on the water. The line of boats rowed by seemingly oblivious to what was going on (perhaps they had already caught all the fish they wanted).  There were fish up and feeding everywhere.  How'd I do?  Not so well.  The fish ignored the spinners and duns and were chowing down on midges.  When fish eat midges on the Delaware they put on their bifocals and see nothing but the midges.  Floated fly after fly right over the feeding fish (couldn't even put them down).  Finally, just before dark I got two nice fish to look up and eat my spinner. As they say on the DRC blog "It was a great day to be on the water".    

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