Will Wage War On The Crab Grass Tomorrow.

 

It's been three weeks since the groin pull and last night was the first full night's sleep that I've had. It felt great. After yesterdays yard work blitz I decided to concentrate on the back porch. Vacuumed up dead bugs, filled the wood pile and prepared things for the "Home Defense" spray I'll do tomorrow. One spray in the fall and another mid-summer keeps the porch spider free, reduces the spiders inside and keeps the carpenter ants under control.

The bugs - I've mentioned before that I usually turn on the three spotlights that light up the back yard when I get home from fishing.  If I don't, the bugs find a way to get onto the porch and are attracted to the slider because of the lights in the kitchen. Sometimes I leave them on all night to see what bugs are hatching on the BR. Except for possibly some tricos, the only bugs to be seen anywhere on the system during daylight hours are the sulfurs and olives in the zone. Last night, within 30 seconds of turning on the lights there were hundreds, if not thousands of bugs swarming around the lights. Left the lights on all night and in the morning the screens were covered with flies. A couple dozen Cahill's, two isos, a Dobson fly, several stone flies, at least half a dozen different kinds of caddis, and dozens of other bugs, some big, most very small that I just couldn't identify. I wonder when the BR fish are feeding.

Made good on my promise not to take the drive up to Deposit. Tied a few flies using models I picked off the screen this morning. Did a difficult LA times crossword puzzle and at three thirty laid down on the bed and fell asleep, woke up at 6:00. Hopefully I'm now caught up on sleep. Decided to have dinner before fishing, ate, did the dishes, and set out to fish at 7:15, knowing full well that I was over an hour too early.

The fishing - First stop found three cars parked where none have been for the past two weeks, drove on. Second stop was at a bridge where there were no cars, no fishermen, seemingly no bugs and one rising trout. Waded out, waited for him to rise, he was eating size 22 olives, and on the third cast of my smallest olive, a nice 15/16 inch brown ate, was hooked, jumped, ran upstream, caught the leader, (still 7x) on some underwater object, and was gone. Time elapsed from take until freedom not more than five seconds, but it was exciting. Pulled hard on the line expecting to break the 7x but I got my fly back with a badly frayed piece of seven x.

 Left the bridge and arrived at a spot I haven't fished since high water a month ago. It was 8:15, still too early. Fished my little olive, (now on 6x), for 15/20 minutes, cast to two rises and got no response. Gave both fish a one digit salute that let them know what I thought of them, and moved up into a flat water pool. 

It's now time. Saw a few fish rising and put two of them down before getting into casting range, (the water was about 8 inches deep). Moved more slowly, and was able to cast at a rising fish within 30 feet of me, it was a hard fighting 17 inch rainbow. Moved to a group of three risers and hooked the downstream fish, (I'm working upstream), it was a 16 inch brown. The two other fish continued to rise but both ignored my offerings.

On the way back to shore I threw over the backs of three more rising fish. Even in the dark I got two refusals, the 9 incher ate.   

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