Rainy Days and Mondays Always Make Me Glad.

The day dawned in a drizzle with the red stuff in the porch thermometer hunkered down at the 40 degree mark. The precipitation continued all day, with the air temp climbing as high as 48. The water temps throughout the system struggled to reach 50. 

We sat in the house, fed the stove, tied flies and did crosswords until about 3:00. Today we didn't have to drive far, saw rises off the Lordville Bridge, continued up the PA side, said goodbye to river friend Chris who sold the family home, met the new owners who seemed very nice, confirmed that there were both bugs on the water and rising fish at the Buckingham launch, did a u-turn, went back to the Lordville Estate, got out gear, and went fishing, (forgive me Mrs. Haskins for I know not what I do).  

The bugs - Didn't seem to care how cold and miserable it was, they hatched, March Browns, Gray Foxes, a Green Drake, an Iso, and the best Invaria hatch so far this year. If the hatch started before three, we didn't see it. By 4:00 we were in the water, surrounded by bugs and rising fish, by 5:00, the hatch, (where we were ), was over. Contemplated heading back to the car when the spinners came and the fish turned on again.

The fishing - My N.C. friend and I have bonefished together for over 20 years, you can't do that without being able to cast in a wind. Today, the wind was as close to "light and variable" as I've seen in two weeks, many of our casts went where we wanted them to, and the fish ate. We got ignored and refused by many fish, but enough ate to make it the best big fish day my friend has ever had on the river and my best day of the year.