I've Got Better Things To Do.

 

After yesterdays effort in the hot, humid weather (morning, afternoon and evening ), for a total of  four fish, it was an easy decision to forego the fishing until evening. Besides I had better things to do, buy aqua seal, patch waders, mix up a batch of fly float, replace the Styrofoam in the Iso box, weed out the beat up flies from the sulfur box, and tie 2023 model perfect sulfurs to fill in the empty spaces, didn't even have time to do a crossword or take a nap.

Tuesday I chatted with a river friend and Troutfitter regular who just happens to spend summers where he can sit inside and look out a big picture window onto one of the best pools in the river. He said days have been tough but there have been enough bugs in the evening to get a few fish up and that he has been "Doing OK". Well, doing OK is much better than most people have been doing, so I decided to give it a try, (no not at the pool where he was fishing, that's just not how the game should be played). As luck would have it, someone was just walking into the pool where I was going to fish, leaving his wife sitting on a fold up chair reading a book. We both saw the big fish that porpoised right in front of her and I left while her husband was wading over to try to catch it.

The fishing - Drove downstream until I found an empty pool. By empty I mean no fishermen, no bugs and no rising fish, and it stayed that way for close to an hour. During that time I surprised myself by catching three fish on blind casts. Was drying off the fly after the third fish when I saw a fish rise, also noticed some sulfurs on the water. The fish wouldn't eat my steno, but thought my sulfur was just the nuts. From that point until dark, there were rising fish. Never got refused, but got ignored quite a bit. The fish were moving around for bugs and often times the fly just never got in front of them, but when it did it was eaten. Wasn't the best day I've ever had but it was a big step up from yesterday. Three 18 inch fish tied for fish of the day. Got back to the car at 9:39. 

Just a couple of observations - Have caught several yearlings in the upper WB this week. Usually by this time they are between eight and nine inches. The yearlings I have caught are between six and seven inches and as skinny as a marathon runner. Tonight's big fish all had sunken soft bellies and looked like they were 8/10 years old. Quite sure they were the same fish from the 2018 year class that I caught during Hendrickson's when they were fat as pigs. The dearth of bugs looks like it has taken a bigger toll on the fish than it has on the fishermen, just sayin'.  

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