There's a moon out tonight - - -

 After two days in the Sulfur Zone trying to catch fish that are feeding on spring sulfurs with, of all things, a spring sulfur dry, I admit defeat. Fished from 2:30 until six and never even had a fish look at a sulfur dun.  Did raise 8 to 10 really nice fish on an assortment of flies but not one of them ate my offering. Wide open mouths came at the fly only to turn away at the last second. Was clearly not even in the game.

Drove down river tired and discouraged.  Decided to try a place just up from Hale Eddy that I walked out of for lack of bugs and rising fish a couple weeks ago. It was about six thirty and the sun was still on the river. First thing I saw were Dortheas!!!  Not a lot, but I would rate it a poor/fair hatch. The trout were unimpressed in spite of what I thought were an adequate number of bugs to get them feeding. Caught a three year old on a blind cast and then a fish I saw rise, ate my sulfur. It was another entry in the saddest big fish contest. It was a 21 inch brown that looked like he had just won the TV show contest for losing the most weight.  After those two fish nothing happened for a long, long while.  At 8:00 the night had the makings of a disaster. The sulfurs petered out and I was thinking of calling it quits when a fish or two started to rise. Then I saw some spinners on the water (Cahill's I think). Didn't matter, the fish got eating off the top and for almost an hour my fly apparently tasted good to them.  It more than made up for the late afternoon fiasco. Got back to the car at 9:45 and drove back to the "Lordville Estate" looking at a beautiful full moon.

Don't know where to tell you to fish or how to catch them on sulfurs (ask Dennis) but when I stay on the river 'til dark good things seem to happen.     

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