On The Road Again.

Today started out better than yesterday. Jean's 8:00 o'clock call woke me up to bright sunshine and by noon the lawn was dry enough to finish cutting. Spent the early afternoon flies, put them in one of those little round plastic boxes that you get at the Troutfitter when you buy a dozen flies. Took the box out to the car and set it on the dashboard to dry the "Water Shed" I put on the body dubbing. At 3:00, I was ready to go.

The fishing - The hatch of Dorothea's was virtually non-existent. It might have been better if the trout that were rising weren't eating every sulfur nymph that came down the river. For sure I had fish to throw at. My very best cast would be ignored and the fish wouldn't rise again. It took an hour to work my way across the river putting down every fish in the process. Got a half dozen refusals and never touched a fish. Didn't see a single dun eaten or a single nose out of the water. Tipped my cap to the fish, reeled it in and drove down river into the No Kill where it was happening yesterday. Today it wasn't. Stood in the water, then sat on the bank, saw five fish rise in the hour I was there. Two of them were close enough to cast to and they ate.

 Highlight of the afternoon came when standing in the water, I caught one of those yellowish flies that I thought might be pink lady, it wasn't, but I took out the little round box with my newly tied flies and popped the lid to save the may fly as a sample. When I popped the lid, my newly tied flies took off into the water. Waded 50 feet downstream picking them up then went to shore and dried them out. In the melee the captured fly flew away. 

At just about five I headed down the back side of the river towards Hale Eddy, stopped at various points to look for risers, saw none. A quarter mile from Hale Eddy the road was closed for repair of the bridge over Sherman Creek. Had to drive all the way back to Deposit, got on 17 and kept going all the way to East Branch, then up 30 until I saw a pull-off with no cars. Parked and went fishing. Two days ago there were good isos and Dorotheas, today just a few of each. Talked a couple nice fish into eating various stages of an iso's life cycle, then things got quiet until the "magic hour" which as near as I can figure is now 8:30. Had lightning in the sky, (if you leave your hearing aids home the thunder doesn't make as much noise as it use to), and rising fish for something less than a half an hour. Caught three 14/15 inchers and then everything went dead. Made the long walk back up the far side of the river, crossed the river with the backup flashlight, climbed the hill to the car arriving just as the rain came. Drove back to the Lordville Estate in a hard rain, when I turned onto Warren Road the ground was dry under the trees. It isn't now.