If Only I Could Remember Her Name.

Couldn't get excited about the Sulfur Zone today. There were sulfurs on the water in limited numbers while I was there but, few fish seemed to be interested. Yesterday I fished a good enough hatch to get fish up but it was well off the peak hatches I've seen this year. Talked with some of the anglers who said the hatch in the Red Barn pool started about 1:30 Tuesday and it was a good one. My drive-bys were at noon and four and there was nothing doing either time. Today the population of fishermen at the Red Barn swelled to numbers that on a trout stream are incomprehensible to me. Ran into, (no serious damage done), a guide later in the day that I saw anchored well below the melee at 12:30. He said a very good hatch of sulfurs started at about 1:30, which confirmed the report on Tuesday's hatch. 

Me? I drove around in disbelief at the number of anglers. Stopped at one of the Dollar stores to buy sponges and popcorn, (they were both on my list last Monday, but I didn't need twelve sponges or the 64 bags of popcorn offered by BJ's). The two places I would liked to have fished were each occupied by a drift boat and at least two anglers. On advice of a guide, who might just possibly have been leading me astray, I fished a downstream pool, well out of the Sulfur Zone, had solitude and little else. There were a few sulfurs, saw three good sized olives, two eagles, two Osprey, (one with a catch in his talons), a beaver, and nary a riser, except for the one big brown who stuck his head out of the water and engulfed my olive. Walking back to the car, I decided it was, for me, the better place to be. No fishermen, and one 18 inch brown, (probably with cataracts), that ate my fly.

At 3:15 I was driving back to the Lordville Estate where I totaled up the July catch data. Will be going home for another long weekend with an MRI on Friday and the placing of a new crown on old number 29, (he out lived the old crown), on Monday. Hopefully I will remember, and have time, to put the July numbers in perspective for you, say what you will, they are an eye opener.

Went downstream this evening with but a modicum of enthusiasm, was beaten to my first choice while I was doing a U-turn so that I could get to my parking place, took the time and trouble to interrupt the peaceful evening of a guide and his hot girl friend, then ended up at a place that salvaged the day without even producing a bug that I could see. Hooked two nice browns on blind casts and then hooked and landed three more fish during a feeding blitz that lasted no more than twenty minutes, featured  by my fly, and nothing else visible to an 83 year old's eyes. Everything stopped half an hour before dark which enabled me to get back to the car without another award winning fall on the rocks.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

                                                    BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO Arrived back in Florida from the annual bone fishing trip on the 10th. Packed up and headed back north on the 12th. It’s the 16th and I’m in the process of opening up the “Lordville Estate”. It appears that the refrigerator and hot water heater (both entering their 31st year), may well out  last me as they both started up as soon as I plugged them in. Last fall when I wrote the “ Adios” page I said that my pen was running out of ink. At the time it was my feeling that the blog was becoming stale. Perhaps it was due to the fact that the high water from early July right through the end of the season left me with very few fishing options which in turn led to a dearth of new information to provide fodder for blog pages. The second possibility is that after seven years of writi...
Read more

Fishing A Cold Blow From Out Of The North.

  Jean came down and we spent the weekend watching wildlife in the backyard, driving around the area and enjoying two "nights out", one with David and Maryann, (the apprentice Troutfitter Inn cleaning lady). A shout out of thanks to her for spending four hours on the road to have dinner with us. Not sure the company or the meal was worth the drive. We drove up to Stilesville to witness the hordes of anglers, and then along the reservoir all the way up to Walton, where we usually stop and go in some of the shops. It was threatening to rain so we elected to keep going. It was raining on top of the mountains but we took route 206?? to Downsville anyway. We hit the rain part way up the mountain and then drove down the other side to Downsville in a torrential down pour. Came out of the rain at Downsville and drove down route 30 with the intention of checking  out the trout in some of the BK's thermal refuges, saw the muddy water at "Jaws" and drove back to the Lordvi...
Read more

Don't let that that rain come down.

 My South Holston river friend, (one of only two people who will fish with me), (the other is currently on injured reserve), is up for a visit (he brought his boat) and today we floated. There might have been some question about where we chose to float (no one else launched where we did), but we enjoyed the fact that we never saw another fisherman, let alone another boat, on the river all day. The weatherman might well have gilded the lily a bit when he predicted a chance of showers and a high temp of sixty degrees. It rained all day, and the temperature peaked at fifty three degrees. When I read the forecast for the rest of Mark's stay (rain for the next four days) I was thankful that we got in the day that we did today.  How was our day? We sucked it up, paid an extra $5.00 to launch (didn't have the proper change), parked in the wrong place (got a note from the owner where we put in), never made it to the predetermined takeout place, and had a delightful day counting bugs (...
Read more