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Ain't No Cure For The Summertime Blues

 In the nineties the DEC did some surveys of fishermen on the Delaware River System, it was all wade fishermen back then. Got to know Scott and Mark who did the survey work because I was on the river a lot and they made a point of finding me. They said they knew where practically everyone parked and where they would be fishing, except me. It wasn't until the summer heat made much of the system unfishable and I became acquainted with the Stilesville sulfurs that they could easily track me down. You can call them the good old days if you want, but the tiny releases, ( 45cfs from Cannonsville except  June 15th to August 15th when they ran 325), warm water in all the freestones and a BR fish population that was limited to a fraction of what it is today by the small amount of cold water refuge available to the fish. Today the cold water releases are more than ten times what they were in the 90's. The volume of cold water has created a habitat that supports many many times the fish ...
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This Week, There Are Better Places To Be.

This promises to be a week like I've never seen on the Delaware River System. Today was to be the coolest day and the car reported 88 on the drive up to Deposit. Forecasted highs for Tuesday through Friday are 88, 94, 97, 94. A surge is being sent down the WB from Cannonsville  to try to keep the USGS temperature gage at Lordville at or below 75. The current reading is 74. With the predicted temps, a lot of water will need to be released this week. The thermal releases are normally done in the evening and the cold water travels downstream during the dark of night, arriving at Lordville during the warmest part of the day. It's the best program I've seen, it increases the number of trout able to live in the BR by creating a large, (but artificial), thermal refuge. The problem being created, by what is sure to be a record breaking heatwave, is that the bank of water that can be released is limited, July is historically the hottest month and we aren't even there yet. The se...
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Try To Remember - - -

 Having taken pains assembling a seemingly well qualified panel of septuagenarians  and octogenarians, all  supposedly well versed in music from the 50's and 60's, I was appalled when Jim N., (exquisite fly-tyer though he may be), (but a still wet behind the ears newbie), was first on a Beach Boy's song. Compounding my pain was the fact that he then had the audacity to suggest a Cure by establishing a New Order that would never let me down again.              Things didn't improve today when no one, young or old, gave credit to Spiral Staircase for Every                   Days a New Day. Diana Ross's song didn't appear until 1999. Too bad Black Boat isn't around to                   keel haul the lot of you.              Hope at least one of the eleven cars parked at the Hale Eddy...
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Every Day's A New Day.

Had the best night's sleep of the season last night, no leg cramps and no trips to the loo. Have been doing a series of exercises to tighten up my shoulders which wake me up whenever I turn over in bed. It's a familiar story, do the exercises, get feeling good, sleep well and stop doing the exercises and within a couple of weeks you're waking up every time you roll over in bed again. Spent the morning finishing the annual peach thinning project. Pruned the tree back by over half two years ago, and this year I was able to thin the entire tree in just three sessions. Pulled about 500 peaches off over laden branches each time, the deer do the cleanup. Finished the peaches at noon and I really can't tell you what happened to the next three hours but I didn't get to the WB until three-thirty. Wasn't concerned because the hatch yesterday went from 3:30 until about 4:45 and I didn't catch anything anyway. To my surprise the water was filled with Dorothea nymph husk...
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Buddy Gonna Shut You Down.

It's nine-fifteen and I've been home for over an hour, yesterday I didn't get into the car until 9:37. What happened? Mother nature, the trout, and a guide who apparently thought dropping the anchor no more than 40 FEET below me didn't constitute "low holing". Short term anyways, I'm done praising guides, some are thoughtless, others inconsiderate, and others want to get their sport a fish to ensure a good tip. Started the day by driving down the river from the route 8 intersection with river road to the town bridge in Deposit and it was packed with fishermen, (sorta like sardines when you peel back the lid on the can). At 1:45 every one of them was standing there waiting for it to happen, (with the cloud cover there's a chance it never did). Drove down stream to Hale Eddy, walked out on the bridge, saw a few Dorothea's in the air and decided to fish. Seldom do I get an ass kicking like I got this afternoon. There were bugs, (quite a few), and risi...
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You Don't Have To Fish The Freestones To Catch Fish.

Had several items to cross off the to-do list so I got up early, had breakfast and got to work. Put up the ladder and unplugged the gutter on the backside of the house, turned the ladder around, got the chain saw and cut off two dead limbs on the apple tree, then went down to the back yard and cut down and cut up the dead plumb tree, disposed of the remains of both trees, took down the storms and put them away, came in, took a shower, sat down at the fly tying bench and replenished my iso box, before I knew it it was lunch time. (I did that last sentence just for Mrs. Haskins, a long time admirer of my run on sentences.) May have dozed off for a bit in the recliner after lunch 'cause when I walked out to the kitchen the clock said 2:15. With the sun shining brightly, the freestones were given a reprieve and I headed for Deposit. Stopped at the Hale Eddy bridge for a "look see" and ended up having a good conversation with two guys from the USGS who were checking the river ...
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If I Could Save Time In A Bottle, The First Thing That I'd Like To Do - - - -

 Awoke this morning with two bruises the only evidence of yesterday's encounter with the EB's rock strewn shoreline. Had plans to fish one of my favorite places on the freestones today, but they were put in the TBD category last night. The trip was back on the schedule this morning. Spent a couple hours replenishing my Invarias and Cahills, (always a sign of prior success on the river), and was ready to go. Left the fishing camp promptly at two with the sky overcast and the freestones all showing temps around 60 degrees. To say I felt great would be a lie, (nobody over eighty ever feels great), but I never gave taking an Advil a thought and took on one of the more difficult pieces of water that I still fish.  Never saw a mayfly on the water or in the air, there were a few caddis and but an occasional rising fish. It was evident from the start, however, that the fish were hungry, rising fish ate, and two fish that refused my first offering came back and ate the second. The Cahi...
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