Today, I Never Lost A Fish!

If anyone is wondering, I didn't miss not being on the river this past weekend one little bit. Rain, muddy water. cold temps and a sneaky little draft on Sunday. Drove down this morning in bright sunshine, light and variable winds and rapidly rising temps.

Left the fishing camp at one and drove over to the BK which was running clear at 800cfs. At that level you need to wade carefully and not worry about the fish rising along the far bank. There were egg laying Chimarra and grannoms with a few apple caddis hatching. In an hour and a half of fishing I saw 8/10 splashy rises, three fish ate my fly, the others ignored my offerings. There was an adult eagle sitting in a tree across the river and when the first fish I hooked jumped, the eagle flew over and circled above the fish. Someday soon eagles will probably begin to dive on hooked fish.

With no Hendricksons on the water I left the BK and made a stop on the BE. Saw several rises and waded in. There were a good number of apple caddis when I got there, and within a few minutes Hendricksons started floating by. Tied one on and in another hour and a half of fishing, hooked three more fish. The Hendrickson hatch did not last forty-five minutes and it was far from impressive, hopefully it's just starting.

Left the BE and drove over to the WB where there were reports of heavy caddis hatches over the weekend. Saw three rises, two by the same fish who also obligingly ate my first cast. Should have reeled it in and called it a day as I never saw another fish rise.

Stopped at numerous places on the way back to the Lordville Estate, saw a few caddis, two Hendricksons at Shehawken and another pair in a back eddy at Lordville. Never saw a trout rise.

As to Jim N's question about Hendrickson hatches and spinner falls - Ed S. did a great job and need not apologize for "jumping in". It's what makes the blog more informative and interesting. From what I've observed, (and this year has me flummoxed), both the Hendrickson hatch and spinner fall are temperature dependent. The hatch range is usually 2:00 to 5:00 EDT, (the warmest time of day). The spinners need warm air and in April the spinner falls often coincide with the hatch. As the weather warms in May the spinners often do their thing in virtual solitude around 9:00 or 10:00 am. We recently had a week or so of very warm weather with sunshine and low water levels. The water temp in most of the system stayed above 50 degrees for 12 to 24 hours on several days. When the water temp is suitable for bug hatching most of the day, the hatch doesn't have to be crowded into the hour or two when the water gets over 50 degrees. (Think of it as somewhat like the March Brown Hatch, where there are always a few on the water but never a massive hatch). Perhaps Hendricksons have been hatching sporadically, (as fishermen like to say), and have gone unnoticed, or maybe they're yet to come.