I Just Wasn't Up To The Task.

 

Again opted out of the afternoon sulfur fishing in favor of mundane chores around the camp. When I looked at the clock it was just three and I waivered for a minute, then sat down and tied some of the sulfurs that worked so well Tuesday night. I needn't have bothered. 

Left the camp at 4:30 and drove up to Deposit and circled the "Sulfur Zone". The busiest part was up around Stilesville although the river from Deposit down was much busier than Tuesday. Saw lots of wade anglers, and a marked increase in the boat traffic down to the Barking Dog takeout. There were still a few bugs at Stilesville and I did see a rising fish along the far bank. Saw neither bugs nor risers from Deposit to Hale Eddy. To be fair, 5:00 to 7:00 is the dead period between the hatches. Talked with anglers at Stilesville who said their were bugs and risers but very few fish hooked. Downriver at Barking Dog the report wasn't as rosy.

The fishing - It started promptly at 7:00 when the sun went behind the hill. Sulfurs came in the best numbers I've seen this season and the fish fed, lots of the big ones were up, some taking duns and some feeding sub surface. Had rising fish for two hours, and got my a-- kicked. Hooked three fish, all good sized. I was in a crotch deep fast paced run and I couldn't get the first fish back up to me as the combined weight of the algae that built up on the line and the fish were too heavy for my tippet. The hooked pulled out when the fish twisted in the water. Hooked and landed a 19 and a 16 incher, both of which I was able to work into slower water along the shore. BUT - maybe you don't understand, for the last half hour there were fish rising everywhere, eating everything that came by them - except my fly. I fished as well as I can. The fish were easy casts. The fly floated over fish countless times. Got six or eight refusals with all the rest of my casts seemingly ignored. It was exciting, frustrating and some of the most difficult dry fly fishing anyone could ask for.

 Know this - the evening fishing is the only sure thing. If you fish the "A" pools in the afternoon  you may or may not see sulfurs and rising fish. Just don't count on catching them. In the evening, you will see sulfurs and rising fish, some nights they will eat your fly and some nights they just won't.   

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