The hourly catch rate is good but there just aren't enough hours of viable fishing.

The fireworks display that pushed through yesterday dropped the air temp from 90 to70 but it didn't change the humidity. It got to the mid eighties today and I got soaked taking 24 shots with the bow. Watched the one o'clock volleyball game (3 -0) for the good guys and then got in the car and took a  tour.

The east side got hit hardest by yesterday's rain so I went to Deposit and drove along the WB from Stilesville down to the Men's Club. At 5:30 there were no bugs and I saw but one rise. Got on 97 and made the short drive over to East Branch. The BK was far too high to fish and with the second volleyball game scheduled to start at 8:00, I didn't want to drive all the way over to the Willow. Headed up rte.30, stopped at a pull-off, walked along the river and heard rises before I saw 'em. Unfortunately there was a fisherman who had seen them before me and was wading up to them.

Next stop was at one of the better trico spots on the UEB. There were no cars parked so I stopped and took the walk down to the river where there were olives hatching and fish feeding. Unfortunately most of the fish were yearlings and they were all feeding sub-surface. Got a few unenthusiastic refusals before hooking a half dozen fish, all between 9 and eleven inches except for the 14 inch rainbow that ate the wrong olive just as I was about to head back to the car.

This week has been difficult for me. I'm not good at just sitting around until the last hour of daylight to fish. The unseasonably high air temps and bright sun have made fishing during the day a waste of time. The prediction for the coming week is promising IF we don't get hit with thunderstorms that put the streams back up too high to wade. It's supposed to cool down and be rainy. If we get that all day misty rain with stream levels low enough to wade - be here.

UPDATE - The WB got hit with a gulley washer last night, is up around 1.600 cfs and it's sure to be muddy below Oquaga. The east side was spared and both the UEB and the Willow are fishable pending the next batch of storms. Check the gages before you go and bring your raincoat.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All my life's a circle.

  Headed down to the Lordville Estate about nine this morning after watching a nice buck decide  not to tend the scrape I was perched above. Drove through Deposit where the Troutfitter Shop was dark and closed for the season. My fishing equipment did not make the trip. Had far too many things to do in the few hours of daylight we are currently being allotted. The doe with two fawns was in the backyard when I arrived and was joined by the orphaned button buck who spends his time either bedded down in my flower garden or walking around under the peach trees looking for the peaches he grew so fond of in September. Arrived with a trailer full of wood hitched to Jean's car (it has the trailer hitch) and spent the first hour replenishing the wood I burned this season. As if by magic both wood piles topped out just below the garage windows. Was interrupted by the button buck who walked up between the house and the garage and stood watching the wood stacking operation. A river friend and f
Read more

IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK HOME AGAIN!

 It's Wednesday night, a fire is going in the fire place, an empty Perfect Manhattan glass is washed and back up on the shelf, 30 shrimp netted from Zane Gray Creek ((did you know that Zane Gray (famous fly fisherman and writer of westerns) was a dentist and that his office is now a museum that you can visit on the Delaware River?)), have been consumed by Jean and me, prior to the three pieces of venison backstrap that traveled from home to Florida and back, an early spring snowstorm is raging outside and most importantly, we're glad to be back home again! With that season opening sentence, Mrs. Haskins has no doubt thrown in the towel and disavowed all responsibility for my literary malfunctions. Run on sentences she could handle, but my never before attempted "double aside" was apparently beyond the pall. I sent her a "Go Duke" banner with apologies and hopefully she will cool off before the fishing heats up. Our trip back home was uneventful. Started at 2
Read more

A rational explanation escapes me.

 Yesterday after driving up and down the "Sulfur Zone" in the afternoon without seeing bugs or rising fish, I headed back to Lordville without even putting my waders on. Headed out again at 6:00, got into the river around 6:30 and had two hours of delightful dry fly fishing to medium sized fish eating duns in a good sulfur hatch. Today, I made the trip up to deposit at about 1:30 figuring the cloud cover would delay the hatch (if any), it did, but by 2:30 the afternoon sulfurs were going and the fish were up and on them. Enjoyed about two hours of good fishing with four decent fish hooked and landed, two yearlings landed and a passel of refusals. About 4:30 the rise forms changed to boils and my fly was ignored. Tried half a dozen flies without so much as a look from the still feeding fish. Was happy with the afternoon fishing, (a big step up from Sunday), and at 5:00 it was too late to drive all the way back to Lordville. Decided to get something at Wendy's (calorie capi
Read more