Tonight The Fish Refused to Rise, But There'll Be Olives, Tomorrow.

 

Walked out on the back porch at 6:30 this morning and the thermometer said it was fifty degrees. Last week I saw a doe about half a mile up Lordville road that was already the dark color they get when the winter coat first shows. This morning she was in the yard looking for apples with several of the locals. She's almost three weeks ahead of schedule and the only deer around here that has shown any color change.

The 50 degree temperature was a welcome sight. It gave me time for a leisurely breakfast and a chat with Jean before heading out to trico fish. During our conversation, Jean mentioned that the wind was blowing at the house. I told her there wasn't a leaf moving here.

The fishing - Arrived at 9:30 with the car telling me it was 63 degrees. Crossed the stream and there were a few tricos on the water and lots in the air. Got to the pool where I wanted to fish and there were risers everywhere. Have fished the pool twice before, (two weeks ago), and it has probably been fished by other fishermen since then. Fished carefully, but you inevitably spook trico eaters who are no more than an inch under the surface. The fish I spooked moved downstream and joined other fish that were feeding, got several refusals, felt a couple of fish the didn't hook up, hooked five fish, landed three, and then the wind that Jean told me about, started to blow. I don't care who you are, you can't get a 15 foot leader with 7x tippet to turn over and layout in front of a feeding fish in even a 10 mile an hour upstream wind. Reeled it in and was driving home at 11:30.

What I did from noon until 5:30 will probably never be disclosed, but by 6:00 I was on the way up the PA side of the BR looking for a place to fish. Saw Adrian at Stockport getting ready to fish for striped bass. Gave him parts of both my cell phone number and the Estate's landline number and asked him to call and let me know how many fishermen were downstream, strangely, my phone never rang. Decided to try Stockport as there were no cars there on the ride up, (now I know why). On my return there was a guy suiting up and I followed him down the road to the river. He went upstream. Another angler showed up a little while later and walked way downstream. That left me "squeezed in the middle" with well over a quarter of a mile of stream from which to extract fish. How'd I do? Saw two fish rise all night,  one never even refused my half dozen casts, (they see the first one), and the second inhaled my very first cast. Caught two fish on blind casts. The only "decent fish" all day were a 16 inch rainbow this morning and a 16 inch brown, (the second riser), this evening. 

Forecast for tomorrow, rain, sleet and snow, high 62, low 53, (for real), there will be olives!

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