And The Thunder Rolled.

 

It was a day of ups and downs with tornado warnings, (still in effect), south winds up to 30mph, hot sun, water temps at Lordville again exceeding the mandated 75 degrees, an ass kicking during the mid-day sulfurs, a nice conversation with river friend Stuart, which kept me in Deposit long enough for the bugs to start hatching, and fishing so good in the evening that I didn't mind leaving the river with 45 minutes of daylight left and fish rising all around me when the thunder began to rumble. 

How to begin? First, my yesterday's blog comment about fly shop owners passed the humor police, (Jean), with flying colors, Dave at the Troutfitter who has endured my humor for well over half a century, (he's older than he looks), knew I was just kidding, relax, all is good.

From noon 'til three-thirty, would have been better spent anywhere but in a trout stream. Yes there was a sulfur hatch but the wind was right up there in the 8.2 to 8.7 range of difficulty and that's not counting the gusts and what the constant switching from bright sun to clouds did to visibility. Never caught or even saw a fish over 13 inches.

After forfeiting my 5% discount at the Troutfitter when buying a bottle of  fly float, as punishment for my ribald comment in yesterdays report, I retreated to the Men's Club parking area and took a little nap. Moved up to the Lee Conklin tree and then to my preferred parking spot at Dale and Carol's to see if I couldn't find some justification for staying in Deposit with Tornado warnings and 100% chance of rain by 8:00pm. With no rises to be seen, I started the car with the intention of calling it a day and heading for Lordville. Looked in the rear view mirror before pulling out and saw Stuart walking towards the car. Turned off the car and we talked long enough for both the bugs and fish to get going, and was I glad I stayed.

The fishing - From 6:45 until the first rumbles of thunder at 8:30, there were bugs hatching and fish eating, and enough of the fish liked my fly to make it a very good day. At first it was mostly two year old's, now between 12 and 13 inches long, but before I left the big guys started to feed and without stopping to even wipe the spray off my glasses I was able to land five fish between 16 and 19 inches. Netted the last fish, headed for the car, and drove back to the Lordville Estate in the daylight. 

The tornado watch was extended but is set to expire in ten minutes. The rain that was pounding down on the porch roof a few minutes ago has abated, although the thunder can still be heard. 

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