I'll Be Tying Flies Tomorrow Morning

After a day over on the Neversink, I was ready to try to find bugs and catch fish closer to home. The majority of the drift boats have been on the BR for the past week. In part because of the low flows on the other rivers, and in part because the lower BR is where the bugs have been hatching. I've seen bugs at Lordville the last few days, not what you'd call a hatch, but there were mayflies. Last night on my return from the Neversink, there were both caddis and Hendricksons on the water by the Lordville bridge. Talked with three fishermen putting in at Shehawken today, and they said they had caddis and a few Hendricksons on their float to Buckingham the day before.  I stopped at several places on the BE and the BK coming and going to the Neversink and saw no bug life whatsoever. There was also a notable absence of fishermen on both rivers. 

As most of you know there is a progression of bugs whose hatch dates seldom vary by more that a week to ten days year to year. While the hatch dates might vary slightly, in what is now over seventy years of fishing, I have never seen the bugs hatch out of sequence, until today. Because I prefer solitude when fishing, I fished, not the BR, but a portion of the system that usually warms up almost as fast as the BR. Started fishing about 1:30 and there were caddis egg layers (lots of them). Within an hour there were caddis hatching, (lots and lots of them. What kind? All kinds. For sure Grannoms, but there were also apple caddis, (they never ever hatch until the Hendricksons are well underway). Hendricksons? Never saw a one. Nor did I see any Hendrickson nymph husks, (there were empty caddis nymph husks every six inches in the water). Where are the Hendricnksons? What the Hell's going on? Someone help me please.

The fishing? Better than I could have ever hoped for. The fish are hungry, and caddis may not taste as good as Hendricksons, but if Hendricksons aren't on the menu, the fish eat whatever's being served. Was into fish from the first five minutes until I reeled it in at 4:00  to see if I could find evidence of a Hendrickson hatch elsewhere, (I could not). Ended up the day in a slow water pool on the BR, (long after the boats had gone by), trying to entice fish gulping caddis spinners to eat my fly. In over an hour I never got a sniff until one big brown, who perhaps forgot his reading glasses, chomped down on my caddis. The picture I took shows his square tail on 21.5 inch mark of my landing net. 

Author's note: Stopped at the Troutfitter, after my pruning at Vicky's unisex hair salon, and Dave said he had something for me. Turned out to be a card with a nice note and a gift that Dave had obviously left sitting in the sun too long, as the wax on the top had melted. Thanks John G. and rest assured, I'll use it before it spoils.