Glad I'm Still And Able To Do This.

 

After yesterdays fiasco I was in no hurry to get to the river. The meeting with the assoc. editors was scheduled for 4:00 and I saw no reason to fish before the meeting. Planned on doing a little yard work, and then shooting my bow. Finished up tying a few olives and isos by 10:30, walked out on the porch to get my bow and it was raining. Went back inside, did a hard sudoku, filled in a substantial part of a NYT Friday crossword, looked outside ,and the sun was shining. Took a shower and headed for the porch only to find the water was pouring off the roof again. It was after 1:00 when I said to hell with it, and went fishing.

Drove up to Deposit where David was happy to tell me that there had been a sulfur/olive, combo hatch at barking dog last night and every fish in the river was up. There is a possibility he was pulling my chain. Walked out on the town bridge at about 2:00 and saw enough risers to merit suiting up. Glad I did.

The fishing - Was very good. In the roughly two hours I fished, (I was a tad late to the meeting), it only rained twice, got under a Norway Spruce in time to put the vest under the raincoat. Meanwhile the fish were going nuts, reentered the fray and found fish more than willing to eat my olives. Dennis who was fishing downstream from me, drove over the bridge while I was trying to get my backing back on the reel from a rainbow who had designs on Delaware Bay. Thought Dennis was quitting because of a little rain, landed the fish and two out of the next three before I thought of checking my phone, it was 4:07. Reeled it in and hustled to the meeting.

The meeting - I don't think about some things much, but I've been doing the reports quite a while now, I've met many of those making comments and many who just read the reports and you are all a large part of why I keep writing. You have become river friends, sharing the love of both trout fishing and the environs where trout are found. Everyone at the meeting brought their sulfurs, Jim gave us some of his flies, and  politely declined to take the live flies I brought for him to use as models as his wife does not allow bugs in the house. Ed put all his cards on the table and gave each of us one of his still born sulfurs along with several of his other flies. Greg, who is new to the group showed us his slim bodied sulfurs patterns . Dennis, whose flies I have often ridiculed, not only brought delicious chocolate cookies, (thank you Mrs. Dennis), but also landed five fish on his sulfurs before coming to the meeting.

Shorty after 5:00 we all headed out hoping to find the super olive hatch I've seen the last two nights. I'm sure someone will have found the olives, but I sure didn't. With several possible stops occupied, I ended up down on the BR, where I talked with a fisherman who was pulling his boat, caught a couple on nymphs, no bugs, no risers, several rain events and gusty wind, still better than a day at work, he said. Undaunted, with the car showing 58 degrees, I put on a fourth shirt, my rain coat over my vest, and waded in. In about two hours of fishing, saw no bugs, two rises, (hooked them both), and had a total of six fish eat my fly. Landed three, with a 19 inch rainbow leading me on a merry chase downstream, (along the shore), before letting me take the hook out and send him on his way.   

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