Posted on July 01 2023
Encouraged by my nice day of fishing yesterday, I mapped out a plan for today. The BK was a sure bet to get into the 70's so that was not in the plan. The WB was in the plan but only for a drive by to search for the mystical Invaria. The BR was a little warmer than the EB so I decided to get up early and fish the BR, saving the cooler EB for the evening.
My wife's 8:00 AM phone call got me out of bed a full hour after the plan was scheduled to be put into effect. Undeterred, I was in the water at 9:00 and fished until noon. Saw but one of the big yellow flies hatch (lets call them Cahill's) and not more than a dozen splashy caddis chasing rises. How'd I do? Really very well. Almost all of the rising fish gave me a look and several ate, as did some fish on blind casts. Ended up landing eight of the ten fish hooked. Seven were rainbows along with one 16 inch brown.
Returned to the camp for lunch and then set out on my drive by of the WB. Stopped at the Troutfitter for a couple spools of tippet and chatted with Dave and Anthony. The drive is coming close to the definition of insanity (doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result). Saw one rise at the Men's Club, where there were a few (very few) bugs on the water and absolutely nothing else. Dave says there have been a few Invaria hatching in the evening.
At a little after 5:00 I started the third part of my plan by getting on Rte. 17 in Deposit and taking the short ride over to the EB. Was in the water by 5:30 and was into fish within ten minutes. What was hatching? Nothing. The water temp was 66 degrees, too warm for most bugs, but, the fish were hungry. The first fish caught me sleeping as he ate the fly not ten feet upstream from me and I had too much slack to set the hook. Did much better after that and ended up with a mirror image of the morning fishing. Going eight for ten with six rainbows and two two year old browns.
The fish are still in the freestones. They are not being pressured and they are hungry. You have to watch the water temps. Know that it could all be over tomorrow if the smoke gets blown away and the days turns hot and sunny. I'll be back and forth next week as our family is having a gathering with numerous events on the agenda, (I'm appraised of the schedule on a need to know basis). Have some interesting wildlife sightings and a few thoughts on the sulfur situation that I'll send along as time permits.
I remember 20 years ago, at this time of year, the sulphurs started hatching at around 2 PM in Deposit, and as soon as the hatch came to an end, you would jump in your car and drive down to the WB Angler (where I usually stayed) and fish the hatch there. Which I never understood, given that the water in Deposit was colder.
A119 two great days in a row. Awesome!! I didn’t have the night you did but I landed 3 nice fish. 19.5 was the largest.
I’ll be out there tonight to see if I can improve on last night. There wasn’t a ton of bugs but there were more than the last our of nights. I fished the upper WB by cold brook
Thanks for “the mystical invaria.” A well-turned phrase for sure!