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It'll Take More Than Three Shirts to Keep you Warm Tomorrow!

 Left the Lordville Estate at 1:30 today, drove up the PA side of the river. There were four boats in sight below the Lordville bridge and over a dozen between Lordville and Buckingham. Both the Buckingham and Shehawken launch sites were packed with cars and trailers. The One Bug Tournament is this weekend. I don't know where the boats are floating but the river is sure to be crowded.  Had a place in mind to fish but took the time to look for bugs on the BR, WB, EB and the BK. In the hour and a half before I started fishing I saw just caddis on the water. The only fish I saw rising were at the 97 bridge in Hancock where three fishermen were wading out to fish them. The fishing - Spent from 2:30 until 4:00 casting at rising fish. There were but a few mayflies, (quill Gordons ??), and a mix of hatching apple caddis and egg laying caddis. Found a bank with five sippers all of whom ate my offerings, (landed four). When I got to the side of the river that the boats travel, there we...
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It's Only Just Begun.

 Today was not what I expected. If I'm not mistaken, it's just Thursday, yet both Shehawken and Buckingham were filled with both trailers and cars. Why? Probably because it's been a long cold winter and people just want to get out and do something. Reports of bug hatches can, and often times are, misleading. On line reports might tell of a good olive hatch when an experienced guide covering the same water would say "paraleps". What might be described as a hatch of Hendrickson's by one angler another might recognize as a hatch of stone flies. The magnitude of a hatch is also rated on a sliding scale where three anglers might say light, medium or heavy when asked to describe the same hatch. What have I seen? Two fair/good Hendrickson hatches on the Neversink, and one poor one today on the EB. I also saw a prolific apple caddis hatch today on the EB and BK. There are countless cadis of all types migrating upstream everywhere to lay eggs. The guide boats say the H...
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It's Got To Be The Goin' Not The Gettin' There That's Good.

 Today the weatherman made choosing where to fish more complicated than it should have been. The predicted high was 60 degrees. All the rivers should have had water temps over 50 degrees today, (Hendrickson hatching water). The day dawned with a heavy overcast and a few drops of rain. When, by 11:00 o'clock, neither the clouds nor the temperature had risen, I took a look at the satellite view of the area. There was a cloud front east of us that was reluctant to move off. The clear skies and sun were between Binghamton and Deposit, and moving slowly eastward. What to do? If the sun came out by noon, it would warm the water and you could fish anywhere. If, however, the clouds didn't clear on time, the water would be too cold for the Hendricksons to hatch. Yesterday the Neversink was the only river to hit 50 degrees, (it was also farther east and unlikely to see any sunshine).  I stopped at the EB at 1:40, saw no bugs and drove straight to the Neversink.  Assoc. Editor Ed S....
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It Was A Great Day To Be Alive!

 Spent Saturday watching our youngest granddaughter's new lacrosse team (Cortland) demolish another hapless opponent. They have won most of their league games by such a comfortable margin that Alana and the other freshmen have gotten to play most, if not all, of the fourth quarter in almost every game. It was another 80 degree day and I didn't mind missing the fishing one bit. Sunday, however, was another story. A cold front moved in, (we got three inches of wet, heavy snow in Lafayette). Looked at the water temps that were still way above 50, and said to Jean, "If the bugs hatch, they'll be glued to the water and the fish will go nuts". If anyone was crazy enough to be on the river Sunday, please  tell me what I missed.  Monday water temperatures plunged into the low 40's, the wind blew, and it snowed. I had an appointment to get my teeth cleaned and walked out with an appointment for a root canal and a crown,  (no I don't want to be king), and I will get...
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Splish splash, I was taking a bath - - -

 Resigned to my designated driver role, I set out at 1:30 this afternoon, made cursory stops at the BE and  the BK, not really expecting to see anything, and I didn't. Continued straight up 17 to the Neversink arriving at 2:30.  Pulled up facing the river with the intent of giving the bugs until 3:30 to get going. They didn't wait. Saw a fish rise, then saw a Hendrickson lift off the water, when two more fish rose I  suited up.  A car pulled in next to me and the driver said, "Hi Angler 119, do you prefer Dick or Richard? He knows three names to call me, and I had to ask him his name again, (which I once more forgot). I need to write down names instead of length of fish caught. He said there were Hendrickson's and caddis yesterday and he had gotten refused on both. Waded into the river and had rising fish to throw at, (thought it would never happen). Some ignored my casts, some refused, some ate the fly and came unstuck, but enough ended up in the net to make it...
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Our Day Will Come

Started the day early, as I had an 8:30 appointment for an oil change and tire rotation at Craig's, CL Repair across the bridge in Equinunk. Arrived ten minutes early, and Craig was taking care for Boris, one of my Lordville neighbors. Oil change and tire rotation went smoothly and while I was squaring up with Craig, (who unlike the people in Homestead and Ft. Pierce, leaves an air hose turned on 24/7, for free), (although he told me once, after I filled a leaky tire, that he charges $4.00 a pound for air), Barry, an Equinunk resident who has done some carpentry work for me, and, as an expert archer, has given me a few pointers that have greatly improved my accuracy with a bow, stopped by and we caught up with both last years hunting stories and this years fishing prospects. I like that in a small town people still judge you by what you say and do, in large metropolitan areas, sadly, this is no longer true.  It's 6:00pm, I'm sitting on the back porch where the temperature i...
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Don't Stop Believe 'in.

 With my printer refusing to print crosswords and sudokus, there was not much more for me to do today, but go for another drive and talk with anglers, (mostly my age), who were all happy to still be upright and above ground, out experiencing some of the most beautiful weather imaginable after a long cold winter cooped up inside. They've done the dance before and none seemed disappointed that there were no bugs or rising fish to throw at. The downside - Degree days matter and this winter, the iced over river did not provide enough degree days to allow nymphs to mature. We've had six straight days where the water got up to, or over 50 degrees, (over 60 today), and yet nothing but micro caddis and stone flies are hatching.   The upside - There have been dandelions in bloom on the south facing banks of homes in Hancock for the last three days, (regular readers will know that the "south bank dandelions" precede the streamside ones by up to a week). Saw my first mayfly toda...
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