Posted on June 12 2024
Was in no hurry to do yard work this morning. It was both cool and wet. Fixed my malfunctioning garage door, finished the novel I was reading, and had lunch before climbing the step ladder to continue my assault on the over abundant peaches. The peaches are only about the size of ping pong balls but the magnitude of their numbers have bent the branches almost to their breaking point. At about 3:30, I said enough, climbed down and went fishing.
Because of the cold cloudy day I thought there was a good chance that there would be olives again on the WB. At the Hale Eddy bridge there were both rising fish and an gaggle of fishermen. Drove further upstream to a place where I had elbow room. There were several fishermen both upstream and downstream from me, but I had plenty of room to fish. Right from the start there was an in progress sulfur/pseudo hatch. There were lots of pseudos and while the sulfur hatch was nothing like in years past, it was a good hatch for 2024. The only thing missing were rising fish. Yes, there were risers, quite a few yearling fish were up, and I did fish to three big cruising browns, (never got a look from any of them), but the good fish that did rise were not sipping off the surface They would make one splashy rise and then not be seen again. In two hours of fishing I landed two browns,one an 18 incher.
At 6:00 I was back in the car driving over to the BK where I encountered a nice pink lady/sulfur hatch with a few other flies tossed in. The fish ate mostly subsurface, but were happy to let me know that my flies needed work. Caught three browns between 11 and 13 and one nice rainbow of 15. It would have been a much more impressive evening if I hadn't lost four rainbows, one of which was 17 inches or better.
There is no question things have gotten harder. Talked with two guides who both said the last ten days have been tough. The yearling fish now 7/8 inches long have started to appear in numbers. A good sign for the future, but most of the bigger fish are conspicuous by their absence, at least where I've been fishing. It's not at the stage where I say don't come, but if you do come, expect to work hard for every fish you catch.
I’ve enjoyed reading your posts and the comments. And now a question: Where exactly is Barking Dog?
Dennis – I fished that same sulfur hatch just above upper gamelands yesterday afternoon. Before it really got going I got an 18” brown tight to a grassy bank on a small tan caddis. Once it cranked up the fish were really taking the duns. I got another 18” brown on a sulfur dun. The hatch started to wane and I had a three hour drive home. Was ecstatic that I caught two nice fish in that stretch but many others ignored my offerings.
Sorry for the typos.
Yes I tried multiple flies in that sulfur hatch.
Yesterday, I was both clever and a fool. Started at barking dog at noon there few risers and few bugs by 2:30 |was cold andh ad had enough of that. Stopped at Wendy’s for calories. At 3 there were a few rises, but I decided on warmer water and went to the upper gamelands. When I arrived, 3:30 there some sulfurs and a few risers. Then it switched, there were so many sulfurs thar no bug was more that 2 feet from its nearest neighbor and every fish was up and eating, first emergers then duns. This went on for 2 hours. You would think I killed them, i I did not. I got skunked! So did the one other guy in the riffle, don’t know how those down in the big pool fared. The sulfurs stopped and were replaced by pseudos covering the water. No more than 6 inches apart. The stuffed fish were having none of it.
What to do when you can’t tell your fly from the naturals, but the fish can?
Find stupider fish?
At 8 I stopped at Stockport. The were fish rising to spinners. While the guy next to me hooked and lst 6 fish, I had one miss for my efforts. We were both using rusty spinners, he a #16 and I a #14.
When things go badly, ..
Yesterday, I was both clever and a fool. Started at barking dog at noon there few risers and few bugs by 2:30 |was cold andh ad had enough of that. Stopped at Wendy’s for calories. At 3 there were a few rises, but I decided on warmer water and went to the upper gamelands. When I arrived, 3:30 there some sulfurs and a few risers. Then it switched, there were so many sulfurs thar no bug was more that 2 feet from its nearest neighbor and every fish was up and eating, first emergers then duns. This went on for 2 hours. You would think I killed them, i I did not. I got skunked! So did the one other guy in the riffle, don’t know how those down in the big pool fared. The sulfurs stopped and were replaced by pseudos covering the water. No more than 6 inches apart. The stuffed fish were having none of it.
What to do when you can’t tell your fly from the naturals, but the fish can?
Find stupider fish?
At 8 I stopped at Stockport. The were fish rising to spinners. While the guy next to me hooked and lst 6 fish, I had one miss for my efforts. We were both using rusty spinners, he a #16 and I a #14.
When things go badly, ..