No One Needed A Second Shirt To Fish The Evening Hatch.

 

It's 8:00am Tuesday morning, an attempt, yesterday, to "clean up" A-119's computer did not go as smoothly as anticipated. The blog, (among many other things) disappeared, it was too late to call the grandkids, so I had to await regular business hours for our techie to resolve the matter.

Yesterday was hot, not as hot as the next four days are predicted to be, but hot. The bright sun warmed the water, the sulfurs (still Invaria) came early, and the fish fed. As you would expect, it was crowded. In a way, it was like a class reunion with fishermen you don't usually see until everyone is crowded into the "sulfur zone" all back fishing in the WB above Hale Eddy.

The fishing - Saw rising fish from the car, geared up and fished a riff/run where you seldom see a fish rise. Yesterday it was full of fish. Spent twenty minutes throwing a dun with no effect. The fish were feeding on the emerging nymphs. There was nary a nose to be seen. Historically, I have done poorly with emergers during a sulfur hatch. Yesterday I chose a fly that's been in the box for years and has never caught a fish. It knocked the spots off 'em. The hook is tiny and I pulled it out of the mouths of half a dozen fish, but when I hooked gently I was into one fish after another. 

When the hatch subsided the fishing became much harder. Took some time off to sit in the air conditioned car and drink fluids. About 7:00 I drove down to the lower section of the WB where last week the water was covered with bugs. The water was 66 degrees with not a bug to be seen. It was almost 8:30 before bugs began to hatch and spinners began to fall. The rising fish were almost exclusively feeding subsurface on emergers. Found one 13 inch brown willing to eat my fly to avoid a shutout. Standing waist deep in cool water was a nice way to end a hot day of fishing.