MRI's Aren't Bad As Long As You Are Hard Of Hearing And They Play Old Time Rock And Roll In The Earphones.

 With an MRI scheduled for tomorrow morning, I put the trash bag and dirty clothes in the car and headed out to fish at 12:30, uncertain if I would stay for the evening fishing or head home when the afternoon sulfurs abated. Skipped the trip up to Stilesville as the Red Barn/Stilesville congregation has more than enough fishermen. Drove down to the Men's Club lot which has been redone in crushed stone with the potholes at least temporarily filled in. There were a good number of sulfurs hatching and a few fish rising. The lot had four cars and the fishermen were well spaced in the river. Clearly the place to be is the Red Barn.

Found one of the better places free of boats and fishermen and waded in with bugs on the water and fish up. Was joined shortly after my arrival by Mike the Cop. We have shared many pools over the years and it's always a pleasure to fish with him. We are both what might be described as hearing challenged so the conversation is limited to mostly sign language. Had a good afternoon with some of the feeding fish actually taking duns. Hooked seven and landed six all between 14 and 17 inches. I was fishing size twenty Dortheas. Decided to give Rich T's sulfurs a try. They are Invaria size and color and I'm sure will be dynamite when the spring sulfurs appear next year. Sad to say, they did not meet with the approval of the battle tested fish that have been feeding on the smaller Dortheas for the last five weeks. Threw at ten risers and never got a sniff. Rest assured the ignores had nothing to do with either the quality of the tie or design of the fly. 

Was well satisfied with the afternoon fishing and decided to head for Lafayette rather than be faced with either a drive home in the dark or an early morning departure.

For those considering a trip this weekend - The bugs are still hatching probably at least down to barking dog in numbers sufficient to get fish up. The only area that is currently packed with anglers is from the Red Barn up to Stilesville. You can find plenty of room in most places from the flag below the Red Barn all the way to barking dog. In the last hour of daylight the entire river is in play, (note, however, that I was in the car driving home at 3:30 today).   

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