The pressures off, at least for me.

Since purchasing the Lordville Estate back in '91, there have been a few years where I avoided a skunking, alas, this year isn't going to be one of them.

Spent Saturday watching an all day drizzle with the red stuff in the thermometer unable to even get out of the thirties. Drove into town and got a new battery for the lawn mower, a new nozzle for the faucet in the bathroom and some five minute epoxy for my rod repair project. Completed all of the projects and spent the late afternoon and evening reading a novel on my kindle.

When the sun came through the clouds about 11:00 this morning I went out and finished removing the rocks the RR had strewn into my yard when installing new rails last fall. Came in, had lunch, with the intention of going back out and spraying the fruit trees with a fungicide designed to hold the brown rot at bay. With the wind was blowing 15/20 out of the north, the spraying was a non-starter. Left with no other alternatives, I decided to take a ride. Saw trailered drift boats on the road, but none on the water, and but two fishermen from Hancock to Deposit. From the sewage treatment plant upstream, however, it was a different story. The area provides some shelter from the north wind and there were over a dozen fishermen taking advantage of the calmer conditions.

The fishing - Talked with a Troutfitter regular who was just leaving the stream, (it was about 3:45), he had caught five fish on dries. Said it was over about 3:00, but that there were rising fish earlier and that they weren't fussy. I didn't intend to fish, but, I sat there and saw three fish rise several times each. The only alternative was to go back to the fishing camp and try to finish the book on my Kindle with no charge cord and but 30% of the battery left. I suited up. There were a smattering of bugs on the water, (small stones and a few small unidentified mayflies). The first fish I threw at ate my fly and came unstuck about a minute later. The other two fish I threw at ignored my offerings. Reeled it in and headed back to Lordville knowing there was a smirking skunk in my waders. 

The outlook - The weather forecast has improved dramatically with only one stinker scheduled for the next ten days and quite a bit of sunshine, (perhaps I should have complained earlier). No, there won't be Hendricksons tomorrow, but it's not going to be fifteen degrees below normal and if the weather prediction turns out to be accurate, you should keep your eye on the last ten days of the month.