Posted on August 10 2017
With water temps in the low 60's I tried a riff/run in the big river this morning. Shared the pool with a doe, fawn and probably last years doe fawn. An eagle watched me fish for a while and then flew off knowing he was better at it than I was. Started by hooking and landing a nice 18 inch rainbow in the first ten minutes. Then fished three more hours to land a 14 incher. Just don't seem to be many fish in the lower river as yet. It was a long walk back to the car in the midday sun.
Set out this evening undecided about where to go. The last three trips had been big water, big flies and big fish. With the fishermen the lower WB and upper BR attracted yesterday and the warmer water temps today, I opted for the finesse fishing and solitude of the UEB. Never saw an angler from the Sunoco station in East Branch all the way to Harvard. From Harvard to Shinhopple there were two anglers, one in each of the two pools I planned on fishing. Drove a little further and stopped at a pool where there were some rising fish. When I got on the water I could see olives, some of which looked large until I put on a size 18 and made a cast, it was the biggest fly on the water.There were a mix of fish rising, some yearlings now 9 inches long and some bigger fish. For two hours I cast only to risers in a smooth water slow moving pool. Most of my casts were ignored. In every case the fish stopped rising after my cast. I got several refusals (they also stopped rising). In the two hours six or eight fish ate my fly. The best was a 15 inch hatchery fish. A flock of geese shared the pool, a pack of coyotes howled on the hill across the river and a doe and fawn waded across the river upstream from me. If it wasn't for the noise of traffic on route 30 I'd have thought I was in heaven.
Set out this evening undecided about where to go. The last three trips had been big water, big flies and big fish. With the fishermen the lower WB and upper BR attracted yesterday and the warmer water temps today, I opted for the finesse fishing and solitude of the UEB. Never saw an angler from the Sunoco station in East Branch all the way to Harvard. From Harvard to Shinhopple there were two anglers, one in each of the two pools I planned on fishing. Drove a little further and stopped at a pool where there were some rising fish. When I got on the water I could see olives, some of which looked large until I put on a size 18 and made a cast, it was the biggest fly on the water.There were a mix of fish rising, some yearlings now 9 inches long and some bigger fish. For two hours I cast only to risers in a smooth water slow moving pool. Most of my casts were ignored. In every case the fish stopped rising after my cast. I got several refusals (they also stopped rising). In the two hours six or eight fish ate my fly. The best was a 15 inch hatchery fish. A flock of geese shared the pool, a pack of coyotes howled on the hill across the river and a doe and fawn waded across the river upstream from me. If it wasn't for the noise of traffic on route 30 I'd have thought I was in heaven.
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