Yesterday All My Troubles Seemed So Far Away - - - -

 Yesterday was a day to remember, a blizzard apple caddis hatch that was so thick you can't help but wonder how all the nymphs could possibly fit on the stream bottom, followed by very good hatches of paraleps and Hendricksons. Every fish in the river was up feeding on the Hendricksons. The wind was no factor and I imagine that up and down the river, a lot of fish got to feel the point of a hook. It didn't last a full two hours but for sure I got my money's worth.

Today there was rain hitting the porch roof at 6:00 am with a forecast calling for intermittent showers and a cloudy day with a high temp of 60 degrees, "A great day to be on the river", says the DRC report. Regular readers of this missive know better. With water coming out of Cannonsville at about 44 degrees we need sunshine to get the water up to a temp where Hendricksons will hatch. 

Watched the USGS real time temps on the WB creep slowly up under a light overcast sky in the morning, but around noon darker clouds moved in and it started to rain a little. Nowhere on the WB did the water temp hit 50 degrees today. Where I fished there were a smattering of Apple caddis and paraleps, didn't see a dozen Hendricksons. Yesterday the water temp hit 52 at Hale Eddy and Hendricksons probably hatched in good numbers in Deposit for the first time this season. Today there were six drift boats anchored waiting for it to happen between the 17 bridge and the Men's Club in Deposit, my bet is, it never did.

The fishing - Waded through mud, tree branches, and old tires in an effort to reach a pod of half a dozen fish audibly gulping caddis and paraleps blown along the far bank. With water soaking the bottom of my fishing vest, (yes I still wear one), and an upstream wind bending the last six feet of my leader straight up stream, I couldn't get a fly even close enough to put them down. I swear a couple of them had grins on their faces when they saw my casts.

How'd I do? NWAS. One nice fish, (any fish that eats your fly is a nice fish), ate two paraleps right in front of me, waded out and gave him a third one which he thankfully also ate, (kept the skunk out of my waders).

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