Posted on July 31 2020
July is in the record books. It's sure to be one of the best for me in numbers of fish caught and one of the worst in percentage of fish over 17 inches. I'll pass along the relevant info when I've added things up.
With apologies to Ed Smith (and I'm sure many others), it's time to come clean. I'm a fish counter. I have kept journals for over 60 years and the information has proved invaluable on many occasions. The data I've compiled while fishing the DRS has hopefully been useful to the DEC in past years and continues to provide me with a better idea of when and where to fish as well as what I can reasonably expect the fish population to be like in a given year. The information is also useful in compiling the blog pages that are designed to put you in the right place at the right time AND to explain why things aren't quite as good as you may want them to be.
Not withstanding all the BS in the last paragraph, I made a complete mess of it today.
This morning I decided to go after big fish, (after painting a second coat on three windows and two doors and hitting the sedge nut with a second round of Sedge Hammer), and selected an empty run where three weeks ago I fished to a pod of big fish during a sulfur hatch (hooked four and landed two nice fish). Today there were risers and they ate my fly. None of the fish were over 12 inches. Where have the big browns gone? Probably nowhere, they just have switched to eating small trout. Have you noticed you are catching fewer yearlings?
Thought I was saving time and gasoline this evening. Last Friday night I couldn't find a place to fish in Deposit so I drove all the way over to the UE and ended up having a nice night. Tonight I went straight to the UE. The portion up to and including Harvard was once again over 70 degrees. The Shinhopple Pool and the run up to Thayer Hollow had at least 11 fishermen in it. I've never thought of stopping if anyone else is fishing the pool. Drove on up as far as the abutment pool above Corbett, saw a few more fishermen, no risers or bugs. Turned around and drove back to the Sulfur Zone. Arrived at 7:45, found an empty pool and caught 4 fish before dark. The last fish was a 17 inch rainbow that went well into the backing on his first run and was, by a good head and shoulders, the fish of the day.
With apologies to Ed Smith (and I'm sure many others), it's time to come clean. I'm a fish counter. I have kept journals for over 60 years and the information has proved invaluable on many occasions. The data I've compiled while fishing the DRS has hopefully been useful to the DEC in past years and continues to provide me with a better idea of when and where to fish as well as what I can reasonably expect the fish population to be like in a given year. The information is also useful in compiling the blog pages that are designed to put you in the right place at the right time AND to explain why things aren't quite as good as you may want them to be.
Not withstanding all the BS in the last paragraph, I made a complete mess of it today.
This morning I decided to go after big fish, (after painting a second coat on three windows and two doors and hitting the sedge nut with a second round of Sedge Hammer), and selected an empty run where three weeks ago I fished to a pod of big fish during a sulfur hatch (hooked four and landed two nice fish). Today there were risers and they ate my fly. None of the fish were over 12 inches. Where have the big browns gone? Probably nowhere, they just have switched to eating small trout. Have you noticed you are catching fewer yearlings?
Thought I was saving time and gasoline this evening. Last Friday night I couldn't find a place to fish in Deposit so I drove all the way over to the UE and ended up having a nice night. Tonight I went straight to the UE. The portion up to and including Harvard was once again over 70 degrees. The Shinhopple Pool and the run up to Thayer Hollow had at least 11 fishermen in it. I've never thought of stopping if anyone else is fishing the pool. Drove on up as far as the abutment pool above Corbett, saw a few more fishermen, no risers or bugs. Turned around and drove back to the Sulfur Zone. Arrived at 7:45, found an empty pool and caught 4 fish before dark. The last fish was a 17 inch rainbow that went well into the backing on his first run and was, by a good head and shoulders, the fish of the day.
I’ve keep journals since 1969-1970. Interesting reading on occasion now. Amazing how your attitudes and perspectives change as you get more experience and get older. I even made notes about our “giggle “ fishing trips out west and have actually attached flies to the pages with their recipes…., hopefully for posterity… keep up the great work, continue to be forthcoming and candid… you do a great job!
When I referred to “fish count” reports the other day I should have been clear I did not mean your reports-I love them – I was referring to some other blogs/reports I seen. We want to know what you caught along with what you did during your day . All My Best Ed Smith
No need to apologize—I’m a “fish counter” too. .I’ve kept a daily log since 1972 .I record in a narrative form the good and the bad days,fish caught,flies tried ,weather conditions ,who I fished with and even draw diagrams of certain sections of streams .I too refer back to them quite often if just to recall some of the special times and people I fished with over the years . I only meant I don’t enjoy reports that just lay out statistics I.e “fish counts”. Your blog is great and look forward to reading it every morning. Thanks again
Jim,
With the daily information laid out in this blog he’s all but cast the fly and hooked the fish for you and then handed the rod to you and let you fight and land it. Based on the comments you have left it would seem that a day with a guide would be prudent. Enjoy the boat ride and apply the knowledge to wade fishing during your next outing.
When you refer to “pools”, do you mean the actual slow moving deep pool or the runs leading into and out of it. The reason I ask is that daily you discuss fishing different “pools”, but you also stated emphatically to get out of the slow moving pools into faster water. In that respect, do you use simply a single dry fly whether in faster or slower water? Thanks