Born To Fish Again, I'm A Brand New Man.

 

Promised to finish answering the questions so here goes. 

Dennis 2 - Anyone who has ever watched me fish, knows, that I keep the fly in the water. Often I pick the fly up and put it back down on the forward cast, almost never do I take more than one false cast. Roy Ryan, rest his soul, made a big impression on me in that regard. I probably wasn't even a teeenager yet and was constantly waving the fly around in the air when he said, "Never saw a fish hooked with the G-- D-- fly up in the air." I digress. To answer your question more directly, whether I fish up stream or down is mostly dependent on where I park the car and where I want to fish. I blind cast in all directions without giving it a thought. If the wind is a factor, I prefer to fish with the wind at my back. On slow water pools, I generally don't throw over fish's backs until after the sun is off the water.

Chris - A long time ago I was allowed to share my views at a meeting with the head of the region. At that time there was open hostility between waders and drifters, I suggested a drift free zone in the upper WB, (from Stilesville to either the Deposit sewage treatment plant or the barking dog put in, until the summer sulfur season. I also suggested that a minimum float level be established for floating the UEB. Both proposals were rejected. Things have changed since then, almost all guides now go out of there way to be courteous to wade fishermen, almost all problems that occur now are either the result of AAH's either in a boat or in waders, or by people who just don't know what they are doing, (please cut the latter group some slack). I've mentioned many times the number of miles of the river system that hold fish at this time of year, if you don't like boats, (and I don't), don't fish where the boats are floating.

Jack - What is a "Good Day"?  Easy answer -Any day I get to go fishing. Yes, I'm frustrated by the high water and the lack of Hendricksons, but I've enjoyed every minute I've been able to get into the river this season. Had my worst May in over thirty years and still loved it. Would rather get skunked fishing than spend the day sitting in front of the TV drinking beer.

The Fishing - Of course I went. Had to jump through some hurdles, Dr's. appointment at 2:00 and lawn mowing 4:45 - 6:00, (it's been 9 days), but the water level at Hale Eddy said you could wade your high water spots. So I did. How'd I do? Better than even I could have expected, From 7:00 until 9:00, I had rising fish. What flies? Sulfurs and black caddis mostly, but there were gray foxes and small olives with a surprisingly small number of spinners late. 

How I do?  For the first forty-five minutes I got an ass kicking, (no not from the proctologist), but then the tide turned. When the sun dropped into the smoky haze, (Canada's most recent attempt to get even with POTUS t), the hatch waned a bit, and the fish started eating things that they turned up their noses at just a few minutes earlier. For a good hour I was either hooking a fish, fighting a fish, or cleaning off the fly, (a sulfur), to cast at the next fish. It's fun when fish suddenly get stupid.   

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