boom, Boom, BOOM !!!

 Resolved to stop driving up the price of gas by spending several hours each day going from stream to stream just to look at water with neither bugs, nor rising fish. Did take a short trip up to East Branch to see if there was anything happening in 200cfs of water in the UEB, (there wasn't). Also took a drive over to Deposit to buy floatant and line cleaners, (I get 5% off at the Troutfitter).

At 3:15, sensing the angst in my guest, (created at least in part by my refusal to stop at rest rooms), I pulled over at one of my secret spots and we fished. There were a plethora of bugs, (caddis, olives, and Invaria), with quite a few fish rising. We quickly chalked up enough refusals to give Denny a run for his money, landed a few small fish, and when the boats started to arrive, we reeled it in and left. Moved to a place that was above the boat traffic but lacked both good bug activity and rising fish, we managed to land a couple more fish.

At 6:30 it was time to fish or cut bait. We fished. There were clouds of blue sedge  and green drake spinners, (aka coffin flies), all moving upstream to lay their eggs, and almost no fish rising. With very few bugs on the water if a fish rose within casting range you had a good chance of a hookup. Around 8:30 the green drake spinners started to come down to the water and the fish began to rise in earnest.

How'd we do? With almost 100 years of fly fishing experience between us, Mark, and I weren't about to let the day go by without giving it our best shot. We hooked over 20 fish and landed 17. Ten rainbows and seven browns. Fish sizes ranged from 11 to 20 inches. I'm having a celebratory Perfect Manhattan while Mark is mewling about not being able to see his fly in the dark.   

The outlook - It's happening. Where, is always a mystery, but there are blue sedge, green drakes, march browns, gray foxes, Invaris, Cornuta, and countless other caddis and mayflies both hatching and laying eggs. Just maybe you should think about coming, NOW!       

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