Afternoon bath fails to dampen spirits.

Headed for Deposit about 9:30 Monday morning. Was delighted to see that paving has started on the fourteen mile stretch of I-81 between Marathon and Castle Creek. The top coat was being ground off, a tack coat applied and a long line of trucks full of asphalt were waiting their turn to fill the paver.

Got in the water just as the sulfurs (and olives) started hatching and had three hours of good fishing until I stepped on a  large slab of  very slippery ledge rock that tilted towards deeper water.  Couldn't stop the slide no matter how hard I tried to curl my toes. Wasn't in any current and the water was no more than three feet deep but my waders were full of air and I had difficulty getting my feet under me. I do not wear a wader belt for this very reason. If you are fishing in a place where you have the possibility of being carried into deep water, a wader belt will help keep you afloat. If, however, you are wading in relatively shallow water there is no advantage in keeping the water out of your waders, it just makes it harder to get your feet down so you can stand up.

Retreated to the Troutfitter parking lot, turned the waders inside out and laid them on the hood of the car, opened the fly boxes on the dashboard and pestered David. By five o'clock everything was dry (fortunately the car was full of a week's supply of clothes).

Caught three nice fish in one of my slow period (four to six) spots and added four nice fish just before dark when I stopped down river on the way to the Lordville Estate.  

The afternoon bath notwithstanding it was one of the best days of August fishing I can remember. The fish are eating bugs on top, who can ask for anything more?

 Note to Rich - In Finding The Magic Fly, I said that TWO YEARS AGO I tried a whole bunch of sulfur patterns (including a comparadun) on fish feeding on sulfurs during a good hatch. Frankly the comparadun didn't do well and it was one of many flies that are no longer in my sulfur boxes. Why? It is an impressionistic fly that no doubt works well on lightly fished fish. However, it does not look very much like a real sulfur (the wing is at right angle to the body) and fish in the sulfur zone are far less likely to eat a comparadun  than flies that are tied in a way more closely resembling the real thing. Sorry for the confusion.

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