Michael, Row The Boat Ashore.

 

Decided to take it easy today. Mowed the lawn as soon as it dried out this morning, made some business calls, had lunch and at 1:30 headed out fishing, destination unknown.

I seldom stop to fish if there is someone else fishing the pool, (except in the sulfur zone). I also don't like to wade in unless I see rising fish. So far this year meeting those two requirements has required a lot of driving. To be sure, there have been, (and still are), a lot of places with neither drifters nor waders fishing, but most of them also have had no fish rising.

Today, the first of May, was no different than April, except that the boats are leaving the lower BR and moving up the WB. Why? Because there are some Hendricksons hatching there. Given my disdain for crowds of any kind on a trout stream, I often am not present during the apex of an insect hatch, but I'm usually aware of where it's happening. This year, if there has been a good Hendrickson hatch anywhere except the UEB or the Neversink, no ones talking about it. I again drove from Lordville to Hancock, then to Horton, back to East Branch, then to Hale Eddy, and on up to Deposit. First rises, (two), that I saw were in the no kill where almost no one was fishing. That's where I fished.

The  fishing - Better than I expected, but not as good as I would have liked. There were pseudos, hendricksons, and apple caddis hatching. My first two blind casts were refused. Saw a huge boil in a slot along the bank and on my third cast, (it was windy you know), the huge boil was repeated. Trout seem to know that if they do that, they will get an A-119 fly as a souvenir, at least this one did, (first break off of the year, which is really good for me). I'd like to say I settled down and had a good afternoon, but the truth is I landed but two fish out of six. Fished my way back up to the car with the hatch over and no fish rising. A nice fish came up under the fly not twenty feet from me but didn't eat it. Changed flies three times and he looked at the first two but didn't eat. On the third he came up slowly under the fly and at the last second he ate the fly with an audible pop. It was a 19.5 inch brown that jumped twice and was the first fish of the year to get into my backing. May every fisherman get to enjoy a half hour of excitement and pleasure that that fish gave me.

The Hendricksons are in the WB and UEB for sure and you should be too. Me? I've got my annual physical tomorrow, an appointment with the ENT guy Monday, and in view of the ten day forecast I might also start work on an Ark.