Who Sang "He Stopped Loving Her Today"?

 

When last Friday looked like a replay of Thursday's bugless adventure, I packed it in and headed for home. I was hobbling around on a bruised foot that just might have been caused by walking up and down streamside rocks in a pair of felt bottomed neoprene booties with felts worn paper thin from the seasons fishing. Found a pair of new, (twenty year old),  wading boots on a shelf in the basement and wore them today. Bruised foot feels good, and the new felt bottoms made walking on the algae covered rocks a piece of cake.

On the trip down I drove over, or by, numerous road kills. Squirrels and Porcupines never seem to cross the road safely, but each fall dead racoons and skunks seem to be the most common victims, (until the deer rut). Two dead skunks were on the road before I even got to I-81. Several members of a racoon family were scattered along route 17, as was a possum that wasn't "playing dead", and what appeared to be a yearling, (not a cub), black bear. Also saw a dead fox and either a coyote or dog.

Arrived at the Lordville Estate at 11:00,  put away the food and clothes, and decided to get some yardwork done before lunch. Carried the ladder down to one of the peach trees, along with pruning shears and one of those little battery operated chains saws with a five inch blade, and had at one of the peach trees. I have always let the peach trees grow. This year I spent far too many hours on a ladder throwing down peaches in an effort to keep the branches from breaking. I braced the sagging limbs and the deer then stood on their hind legs and broke off limbs eating both the peaches and the branches. Most of the peaches that were left were consumed by brown rot, and for the first time ever, the peach jam didn't set. By 12:15 I was done with the peach tree, had lunch, and at 1:15 I went fishing.

The fishing - Do you really think I would have blathered on about a possum's demise if the fishing was any good? Like a Lamprey Eel, it sucked. There was a C- iso hatch on the lower WB that was strangely left unaccompanied by olives of any size, until it was so late that it didn't matter. An hour before dark there were Iso spinners over the riffs, but like the big red spinners of summer, they never fell. My 45 minute foray on the BR produced one 12 inch rainbow. Never saw a bug or a rising fish there. 

Fish of the day was a nice 18 inch brown that has taken on the muddy color of the WB, (look at the WBA fish of the day pics and you'll see what I mean). He ate after 10 fish had refused my flies. Never caught another fish over 12 inches long. 

The leaves will be peaking within the next week, some days the bugs hatch and the fish feed, some days you just have to be thankful that you are able to be on the river.

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