You Earn Every Fish You Catch On The Delaware.

 With a cold north wind predicted to blow in the twenties, my first priority as guide/host was to get us out of the wind. In this endeavor I did fairly well. Started out on the BK, (which was crowded with weekend warriors), at a place that had two pools, about a quarter mile apart, that were somewhat sheltered from the wind and had no other anglers in attendance.  There was a prolific hatch of miniscule mayflies that had a dozen or more large fish, (maybe trout, maybe fallfish), feeding just off the current on the far side of a deep run with an upstream "draft". We got several refusals but never actually hooked any of them. We did hook two trout midstream, landing one rainbow.

Tucked into a spot on the UEB that was out of the wind, but after clambering down a steep slope we saw two anglers were already in the pool we wanted to fish and we retreated. Spent an hour or so buying mayonnaise, filling the tank, (with gas, not mayo), and checking out places to make the "last stand".

Entered the water about 6:30, the wind had subsided, there were a few drakes hatching and a few fish feeding, (not on drakes). We got ignores, refusals, (these fish have been fished to), and almost surprisingly, we got seven fish to eat. Two broke off and the other five were added to the weeks total.

The bugs - Didn't do there job. Saw one green drake, lots of caddis, and the hatch of tiny mayflies on the BK. There was a mix of bugs on the BE. Once again the Blue Sedge was #1 on the list, Green Drake duns hatched in modest numbers, coffin flies could be counted on one hand, and the rest of the bugs, both mayflies and caddis didn't merit mentioning. Absent from the bug list were the Cornuta which have been a fish favorite on the WB.

The fishing - Wasn't easy. There just weren't enough bugs to get fish up and gulping. One time risers have to be close enough for you to cast to, some were, but not enough. If you luck into a good hatch, you will see lots of fish up and feeding. Without a good bug hatch, many dry fly anglers will end up fighting the skunk.    

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