Thank the Lord for the Nighttime, forget the days - - -

 With the weekend coming up it's time to take a look at where you should be and just as importantly when you should be there.

Mornings - If you enjoy solitude this is the time to be on the river. Historically, I've done well fishing some of the areas where the water just gets too warm later in the day. Fish are always looking to eat, spinners, caddis, small olives and yes, tricos are on the menu.  Pick a spot away from the crowds, enjoy the beauty of early morning on the river and maybe catch a fish or two.

Midday - So far this year I'm the last person on the planet to be giving advice on where to find the midday sulfurs. If you were to ask me where to fish, the best I can say is don't go where I go. Haven't been in one good afternoon sulfur hatch yet this year.  Yes, I've seen sulfurs and some feeding fish but nothing to compare to the evening action. Are the sulfurs hatching mid day? Well, on several occasions the water where I am fishing has been filled with empty sulfur nymph husks drifting downstream from a hatch taking place above where I'm fishing.  Drift boaters coming by say they have had lots of sulfurs and rising fish (the reported  hours of the hatch start have ranged from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm), and the location of the mythical hatch has varied widely.  By all means be on the water and if you find them catch some fish for me.

The evenings - As disappointing as the two M's have been for me, it just doesn't seem to matter where I go at 7:00 pm, there are bugs, rising fish and lots of them are happy to eat my flies. No one needs to lie about how big the fish are. In all my years on the river I've never seen anything like it. Fish under 15 inches are a rarity. I'm not sure how far below Hale Eddy you should go but everywhere from there up has been on fire as long as the water temp is up around 50 degrees. If you detect a surge or it's been a cool cloudy day you should definitely reel it in and move downstream to warmer water as the hatch is quite likely to shut down early (or worse yet never get started).  As I've said numerous times bring a flash light (or two) and stay late. A 9:30 arrival back at your car is about right. 

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