Miracles Do Happen!


Yesterday was (hopefully ) as bad as it gets. High water, clouds, a cold north wind, frost, no bugs and no risers. As if by magic, at midnight things began to change,  The NYC, DEP cut the releases on both the WB and UEB. The clouds went away, the wind forgot to blow, once again there was frost, but with cloudless skies and bright sunshine the water temps rose rapidly into the bug hatching zone, and the rivers became wade-able. 

Mark, the N.C. bone fishing friend and South Holston fisherman, is back to get his boat after being flooded out of his fishing last week. Today, with the water dropping everywhere, we waded. Left the Lordville Estate at 11:30, ate lunch streamside while watching for risers. Before lunch was finished there were fish chasing nymphs and by the time we suited up and were fishing there were both bugs and rising fish. It was that way for the rest of the day.

The fishing - During one frenetic period I hooked and lost seven out of eight fish I hooked, and never even thought of uttering the fly-fisherman's universal word of disgust (no, not excrement). We fished the EB, WB (two places), and the BR and hooked and landed rising fish everywhere we went.

The FUDR "One Bug" fund raising tournament is tomorrow and Saturday. If you encounter one of the "One Bug" boats, try to be courteous and cut them some slack. They're paying a lot of money for a good cause.

The outlook - It can't get any better than today. The wind seldom lays down this time of year. The weekends are always crowded and with the "One Bug", this weekend promises to be worse. Most of the fish we stuck today had "clean mouths". They will be more careful about what they eat tomorrow. Come if you can, the Hendricksons are waning on the freestones and are peaking on the tailwaters but there is good/excellent dry fly fishing for wade fishermen, everywhere.  

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