It's A Great Day To Be Alive!

 

If the DRC said it was a nice day to be on the river today - they lied. Woke this morning to a sparkling white lawn covered with a heavy frost (temp 28). Thankfully the sun came out and tried its best to warm things up. Air temp got to the mid fifties, water temps got close to 48. It would have gotten up over 50 except for the clouds and rain that showed up about an hour before Hendrickson time. 

Bundled up, put on my new Gortex rain coat and went fishing. Saw cars at every pull off and fishermen everywhere. Went to a place where I've encountered another fisherman just once in the over thirty years that I've fished it -and - there was a guy there who had fished it for thirty-five years. He knew me (by my married name) and we had a pleasant chat about what fishermen talk about. He graciously offered to share the water but I don't do that, first come, first served, went downstream to the next pool and ended up glad I did..

The fishing - There were caddis and paraleps hatching and fish rising while we talked and I had risers before I was fifty yards below where he was fishing, but the fish are no longer anyone's fool. They look at every Hendrickson carefully before eating. Many casts were ignored, several were refused, and then the clouds blocked out the sun, the rain came over the hill and it was not a nice day to be on the river. Except for the fact that the Hendricksons started to hatch and not a single one of them was able to get airborne. Every trout in the river turned on, there were trout feeding between me and shore (and I wasn't out very far). One cast intended for a rising fish landed among four tightly bunched Hendricksons, not a word of a lie, the fish ate mine. My CDC flies got soaked and wouldn't float. The fish continued to feed and I continued to fish, enough fish let their appetite get in the way of their eye sight that it turned out to be, a great day to be alive and to be on the river after all.

Note - To those who questioned the "Bank Sipper " photo. I understand, there was a time long ago when I took quite a few pictures. For over ten years I have taken but one picture a year. I carry my camera until I catch a fish that will be the year's background picture for my PC. I think most will agree that the fish in the picture is worthy of that honor. As to laying the fish on the grass, I had no choice. He was a bank sipper and the bank water was at least two feet deep where I caught him. He cooperated fully, never moved a muscle and was back in the water within 20 seconds max.

Note - Note - I lied, last year I took two pictures. Both on the same night. One was of the second biggest brown I've taken in the river and the other was the biggest 'bow I've  taken in the river. If I ever finish editing "Upping Your Game" you can see the photos of the two fish (July and August). You should note that both fish are in the water when photographed.     

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Had To Get Out The Neosporin For The Tooth Cuts On My Index Finger.

  To say the Delaware  is a hard river to figure is an understatement. Yesterday was an overcast day that had fishermen thinking olives. Turned out the water was probably too warm for olives and too cold for sulfurs, in short, a dud. Today the air temp was a little cooler, (I think), with a mix of sun and clouds and the sulfurs, (both yesterdays and todays), hatched. The fish? At least where I was, went nuts, threw caution to the wind, and ate everything that came down their feeding lane, both with and without hooks. Heard from two sources that the sulfur hatch at the red barn was also very good today. If my last report on the red barn sulfurs was erroneous, blame it on Ed who has been in Hawaii for the last two weeks, (hence no reliable red barn reports). The fishing mid-day was so good, and the number of fishermen in the "Zone", (it's Friday afternoon), so high, that I decided to fish down river during the evening hours. Fished a pool in the middle section from 6:30 unt...
Read more

Fishing A Cold Blow From Out Of The North.

  Jean came down and we spent the weekend watching wildlife in the backyard, driving around the area and enjoying two "nights out", one with David and Maryann, (the apprentice Troutfitter Inn cleaning lady). A shout out of thanks to her for spending four hours on the road to have dinner with us. Not sure the company or the meal was worth the drive. We drove up to Stilesville to witness the hordes of anglers, and then along the reservoir all the way up to Walton, where we usually stop and go in some of the shops. It was threatening to rain so we elected to keep going. It was raining on top of the mountains but we took route 206?? to Downsville anyway. We hit the rain part way up the mountain and then drove down the other side to Downsville in a torrential down pour. Came out of the rain at Downsville and drove down route 30 with the intention of checking  out the trout in some of the BK's thermal refuges, saw the muddy water at "Jaws" and drove back to the Lordvi...
Read more

Don't let that that rain come down.

 My South Holston river friend, (one of only two people who will fish with me), (the other is currently on injured reserve), is up for a visit (he brought his boat) and today we floated. There might have been some question about where we chose to float (no one else launched where we did), but we enjoyed the fact that we never saw another fisherman, let alone another boat, on the river all day. The weatherman might well have gilded the lily a bit when he predicted a chance of showers and a high temp of sixty degrees. It rained all day, and the temperature peaked at fifty three degrees. When I read the forecast for the rest of Mark's stay (rain for the next four days) I was thankful that we got in the day that we did today.  How was our day? We sucked it up, paid an extra $5.00 to launch (didn't have the proper change), parked in the wrong place (got a note from the owner where we put in), never made it to the predetermined takeout place, and had a delightful day counting bugs (...
Read more