Wind Knots And Tailing Loops

 

Dennis asked about the differences between March Browns and Gray Foxes. It was such a good question that I'm going to do a whole page on it.

D. Becke - BK is indeed the Beaverkill.

G. Tarris - The little mayflies of which you speak are in all probability either blue quills or black quills. (aka paraleps). Both show up in the coldest water when Hendricksons refuse to hatch. When it gets impossible to get a fish to eat a Hendrickson, try a paralep as the fish have not had as many bad experiences eating paraleps and are quite often willing to eat one with less scrutiny.

Ed S. - You had a great day if you add up the two stops on the Willow and the stop on the WB. I fished the WB the next day at your spot and did hook and land a 19 inch brown. Might well have been the one you caught the day before as he had very little fight left in him.

Jim N. - You asked about fly boxes in my vest. Had to get the vest out and count. Two boxes of spinners, one box of Hendricksons, one box of olives, one box of caddis, one box with just grannom and apple caddis, a combo box of March Browns and Gray Foxes, one box of small emergers, and one box of paraleps. Will be adding a box of invaria and a box of big bug emergers on Monday, with a boxes of green and brown drakes including spinners, and a box of isos all on stand by. The bugs find their way to the same pockets every year in hopes of avoiding fruitless searches. Put my new clippers on the wrong side of the vest this year and finally had to relocate them to their old position after pulling on the thermometer zinger every time I wanted to use them for a full month. Some boxes come out (only stone flies so far) and others will be added as the season progresses. Mind numbing, but fun! 

Jim N. - Also asked why there were very few fish rising with the water covered with caddis? Two reasons come to mind; first, the fish are right now fat as pigs and have full stomachs, and second, caddis really don't taste all that good, and they are probably sick of eating them.

Brian - Asked what data besides number and length of fish do I collect or monitor. I record water flow  levels and temps, wind and pressure readings and anything else I feel might have been an important factor in a days success or lack there of. Water levels determine where I can wade safely. Water temps determine what is likely to hatch and later in the season, where I can fish. Sunshine is an important factor in warming the water for spring time hatches and seems necessary for good caddis hatches. The first day a high pressure front moves in after a low is best for mowing the lawn and tying flies, fish and bugs don't like it. I don't believe they are fond of north wind either (although I think north wind goes hand in hand with high pressure).

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