When The Fog Is On The River, The Wind Forgets to Blow.

 

There has been considerable grumbling this season about having to fish in the fog. I've written about it as recently as June 30th. My only complaint about the fog is that it seems to negatively affect my depth perception and hence the accuracy of my casts. I did my best to dispel that theory tonight, more on that later. 

With both Lafayette and Lordville on flood watches for the past two days I had very little hope of getting to fish today. Looked at the stream flows at breakfast this morning and was surprised to see that the WB was spared yesterdays onslaught. Hopes not dashed, I assembled my freshly washed clothes, patched waders, food that Jean prepared, and headed for Lordville. Stopped in Deposit to confirm that the river was running clear and at a fishable level, (it was), and then motored on down to the Lordville Estate. 

By the time I'd unpacked my clothes and food and put them away, the skies had darkened and the thunder had begun to rumble. When the rain started I crossed the afternoon sulfur hatch foray off  the list and hoped that the forecast calling for the rain to end by six was correct. For once it was. Checked the damage done by this afternoon's rain, (none), and set out to fish the WB in the fog.

Let me state this for all to hear, "I love to fish in the fog." Why? No, it's not because at my age I'm in a fog most of the time anyway. The big reason, I think, is because it creates the illusion of solitude which I have always treasured when trout fishing and which now, is nearly impossible to find. Many years ago on the WB in a heavy fog, I thought I was the only person on the planet, until I smelled a cigar. The guy wasn't 50 feet from me. The biggest danger today is being run over by a boat. When faced with foggy conditions know these few things, most fishermen have quit because of the fog, the flies hatch anyway, (they don't know it's foggy), the fish are more likely to feed as they can't see the eagles or the fishermen, and you don't need to see more than 50 feet to catch fish, (if you wade quietly and don't throw a wake).

The fishing - Tried the balancing act again, downstream far enough to get out of the crowds, yet where there were still enough sulfurs hatching to get fish up. Tonight I hit the nail on the head. One boat appeared out of the fog early, if there was a fisherman within a mile I couldn't see him or smell his cigar. The sulfurs hatched, again in modest numbers, the fish rose carefully and with restraint. Strangely I didn't have the depth perception problems the fog  causes on but a very few fish. 

How'd I do? I was tickled pink, (if anyone knows where that expression comes from tell Dave at the Troutfitter you are entitled to a dozen flies on A119). Had one of the best big fish nights in a long long time. Hooked 8 fish. One came unstuck right away and a 16ish fish came unstuck ten feet from me when I was pulling him up against a crotch deep, reasonably heavy current. The other six fish totaled one-hundred twelve inches and no matter how you divide it up - it was a hell of a night.     

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fishing A Cold Blow From Out Of The North.

  Jean came down and we spent the weekend watching wildlife in the backyard, driving around the area and enjoying two "nights out", one with David and Maryann, (the apprentice Troutfitter Inn cleaning lady). A shout out of thanks to her for spending four hours on the road to have dinner with us. Not sure the company or the meal was worth the drive. We drove up to Stilesville to witness the hordes of anglers, and then along the reservoir all the way up to Walton, where we usually stop and go in some of the shops. It was threatening to rain so we elected to keep going. It was raining on top of the mountains but we took route 206?? to Downsville anyway. We hit the rain part way up the mountain and then drove down the other side to Downsville in a torrential down pour. Came out of the rain at Downsville and drove down route 30 with the intention of checking  out the trout in some of the BK's thermal refuges, saw the muddy water at "Jaws" and drove back to the Lordvi...
Read more

Don't let that that rain come down.

 My South Holston river friend, (one of only two people who will fish with me), (the other is currently on injured reserve), is up for a visit (he brought his boat) and today we floated. There might have been some question about where we chose to float (no one else launched where we did), but we enjoyed the fact that we never saw another fisherman, let alone another boat, on the river all day. The weatherman might well have gilded the lily a bit when he predicted a chance of showers and a high temp of sixty degrees. It rained all day, and the temperature peaked at fifty three degrees. When I read the forecast for the rest of Mark's stay (rain for the next four days) I was thankful that we got in the day that we did today.  How was our day? We sucked it up, paid an extra $5.00 to launch (didn't have the proper change), parked in the wrong place (got a note from the owner where we put in), never made it to the predetermined takeout place, and had a delightful day counting bugs (...
Read more

The closure.

 Picked one of the most beautiful November days imaginable to drive down to Lordville and shut down the estate. Bright sun, early morning fog, with flocks of geese on their way out to cut cornfields to feed. Temps varied from 45 to 35 depending on the fog density. The trees are bare, save for a few oaks  and larch with color but the hills are basically gray.  I've been busy in Lafayette. Spend an hour or two each morning and evening up in a tree hoping for a buck to come by. So far the only buck I've seen in real life has been what is now a unicorn. A week ago when he walked around not 20 yards in front of me he sported two slightly curved six inch spikes. Last night when he walked right under my other stand he was missing one of his horns.  In addition to the hunting we had loggers come and fell almost 100 dead and dying ash trees that had fallen victim to the Emerald ash borer. While they were at it they also took down a dying maple that leaned over the house and a...
Read more