Saturday, May 2, 2015

Crystal Clear

This afternoon I met Doug in the Poconos so we could fish a river that's been on his wish list for a while. Earlier in the day he had spent a few hours fishing another creek further south, and he did quite well catching a couple of dozen fish on nymphs.  The weather was great with alternating bright sun and clouds and pleasantly warm air temperatures.  A light breeze blew early on, and as the day turned toward dusk, it picked up some and gave us a little bit of a challenge since we were both fishing 3 weight rods.  The river was a little low and about as clear as I have ever seen it.  Water temperature was ideal at 56 degrees F, at least that what the science tells us.  Too bad most of the trout didn't think so, and that's the science that really matters.

We had hoped to find hatching hendricksons, blue quills and caddis, and trout rising to them freely. What we found was waves of caddis coming off, a few hendricksons and blue quills, and even fewer rising fish,  There were a few rises, and I did manage to take a fish on a caribou caddis, but the rest of the fish we caught were fooled by nymphs.

Here's Doug fighting a rainbow he hooked in a nice run next to the bank you see in the background.


And then there's your writer, standing knee deep in a nice run, where I took a small rainbow on a sparkle emerger.  Lots of caddis were hatching in this fast water, and surprisingly we didn't see a single rise. That water was clear from my vantage point - the blue must be a reflection of the sky.   


Although the catching didn't live up to our expectations - we always expect the fishing to be good on days like today - the fishing was great.  We did some catching up and talked about our upcoming trip to the Catskills next weekend.  Doug has only fished up there in the fall months, and although we caught fish on those trips, the fishing was so-so with very low water conditions. Right now conditions are good up there on most rivers, and the bugs are just starting to get going, so again we are optimistic and excited about the trip, and there will be some serious fly tying going on at night this week by all of us.

And finally, here's an upstream shot I took today of this beautiful stream as it winds its way toward the Delaware River some 5-6 miles downstream.              

 

And this just in........that's us admiring the one fish I took on a dry just after I removed it from Doug's net.  See how big it is?  It fills the frame totally, doesn't it?  


Sharpen your hooks, and just say, "Yeah, nice fish."

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