Sometimes It's Not How Well You Play The Game, But How Long You Keep Playing.

 It's become obvious to me by reading our angler's comments, that the A-119 team is getting badly out fished by the group of photo happy, bobber rigging guides over at the DRC. I may or may not have previously mentioned that there have been no "Got This One On A Dry" comments under their photos this year. And an embarrassingly large number of  twelve to sixteen inchers finding their way into the photos, but still, they are kicking our collective a$$es.

What to do? Associate Editor Jim N., (tier of exquisite flies) was on top of  this in his late, but still timely post this morning, (or was it afternoon). He said in part, (and I don't know how Mr. Buffet got into the mix), "you've got to double down", and today, without even reading Jim N's tardy post, that's exactly what I did.

The bugs - Yesterday I fished PARTWAY through an upriver, (Deposit), Hendrickson hatch and left empty handed, today I fished an ENTIRE, (entire and partway being important words here), Hendrickson hatch, in the lower WB. Long after the hatch was over, I picked a red quill, (the male Hendrickson), up off the water in the home pool at Lordville on the BR.   

The fishing - Lost what was, probably by four inches, the fish of the day not three feet from the net at the end of my outstretched  arm. A big brown took a look at me and decided he wasn't as tired as he thought he was, turned and broke the leader at the five-x-to leader connection. He's got my caddis and a length of both 5 and 6 x tippet in his mouth as a souvenir.

 Was on the lower WB for the entire Hendrickson hatch and if the fish were eating duns, it would have been a perfect hatch, enough to get the fish up, but not so many that the fish wouldn't see your fly. As the hatch started to wain, I had but one fish, when the hatch was over, I had seven. Piggy fish that are still hungry when the hatch is almost over start, eating duns, and sometimes turn what for the last hour had been a clueless, inept fishermen into a fish hooking machine. It's lots of fun when that happens.

Finished up the day in the Lordville riff, where I was able to get enough rainbows to eat my flies to restore my confidence that I can still play the game.

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