Wind Knots, Tailing Loops and " ya shoulda been here yesterday"

 In looking back over your comments I was surprised to see that the last Q & A session was back in July. Since I  have ample free time so there really is no excuse for not doing a better job answering questions promptly.

Dennis - The word is mewling and you really haven't done any all year. The most abundant fall flies include olives of all sizes (I try to fish the size the fish are willing to eat),tricos, isos, ephorons (aka white flies), ants, brown caddis, October (aka pumpkin) caddis and finally pseudos.

Jack M. - I had intended to fish a tailout of a small pool and a narrow riff that is best fished in low water. The increased flow made wading more difficult and picked up the pace of the water in the tailout to a point where I felt it was unlikely there would be fish up sipping duns. Stayed a half hour with olives on the water and didn't see one eaten. Chose a wider part of the river where the rise in the water was barely noticable and was glad I did.

Greg T. - My bug knowledge is from observation rather than formal education. People call gray overcast days "olive days" but I think they are more likely to hatch when the water is cold enough. The big release chilled down the whole river and the olives hatched in the bright sunshine. I'm not aware of the olive hatch progressing upstream like, say, the Hendricksons. Same is true in reverse for the white flies. They are a warm water fly and will hatch in astounding numbers in some warmish freestone streams. They are seen in the big river in greater numbers the closer to Callicoon you get. 

The fishing - I don't try to rent rooms or fill drift boats, when fishing is tough, I say so, and when I say "It's as close to a dead cert as it gets", it's your fault if you don't show up when and where you are supposed to. My GHOF and I put together two days of fishing that would rival anything anybody did back in May and June during the "Big Bug Season".  My GHOF had his all time best Delaware River big fish day Tuesday.  We were over a mile apart Tuesday and on separate rivers today and we both had non stop bugs with every fish in the river up and feeding, a lot of them ate flies with hooks in 'em.

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