Posted on September 15 2022
Took another day off Tuesday, no I'm not showing my age, the rivers were up, "stained" as they like to say, and there were no bugs. Having done most of my weeks allotment of camp chores yesterday I was ready to go right after lunch today.
Headed east on 17 and got off at the Sunoco Station and meandered up 30 all the way to the Corbett Bridge. Stopped at all my usual lookout places, saw two fishermen and no rises. The second fisherman was at the abutment pool above Corbett and I stopped to see what was going on. Within two minutes another car pulled in with two more anglers. There were a few (very few) olives on the water and a few (very few) yearling fish sipping them. When the fisherman in the water called it quits and came over to where we were standing there was somewhere around 290 years of fishing experience within a circle with a diameter of less than 10 feet. Since we were not discussing politics we were all able to agree that it was the fishing that was odoriferous and not the manure that had been spread on the field behind us. When the other three drove off, I foolishly put on my gear and gave the risers twenty minutes. Got a bunch of ignores and one refusal for my trouble.
Not being very smart but certainly not a quitter I got back in the car (waders still on) and drove over to Roscoe, stopping only at the pull off above Thayer Hollow where, in the middle of the pool, I watched the same 8 incher rise twice. With the price of gas plunging I drove through Roscoe and up to the Willow where only one angler was fishing below Hazel Bridge. Saw no risers there and started my journey west on 17. It ended up in Deposit after numerous stops along the way looking in vain for rising fish.
Deposit was no better. One fisherman below the town bridge and one at Norboard. Found a third angler at the Men's Club looking for a lost rod. Saw but two rises while in Deposit in what was now prime time. Headed back down 17 to Hancock, stopped at Junction Pool where a drift boat, pontoon boat and one wade angler were flailing the water (the drift boat and pontoon boat were NOT flailing the water, the anglers within them were). Saw not a single rise there.
With a seat on the bench a near certainty I made my last stand farther down the BR river at 7:15. There were a few (at least a dozen) Ephrons flying around but no risers. After 15 minutes of half hearted blind casting I reeled it in and headed for shore. On my way to shore two big red spinners got together to do their thing right in front of my nose. Looked up and saw not a cloud of spinners but enough to give me hope. Went down to the tailout of the pool. It's now dark (a miracle just happened, the page disappeared and I hit Ctrl z and it reappeared - thanks to who ever told me that) , but I am looking upstream into the western sky and I can see several fish gleefully eating spinners (just two hundred feet away). Tied on a big red spinner and when one rose at the maximum limit of my casting range I let fly. The cast landed a foot upstream from the fish, he ate and tore out into the river and broke me off. Tied on another fly and when a second fish rose, this time in easy casting range, I hooked up with the savior, a 13 inch rainbow that kept me off the bench for yet another day.
In case you are wondering, right now the best advice I can give you about the fishing is - Stay Home.
Thank you for your accurate and entertaining update!
I was going to make the drive but will wait for better conditions.
I fished Tuesday above the red barn and below the red barn and I am on the bench. My golf game is improving and the honey do list almost done.
Just waiting for A119 to give a positive report
Angler119. I was up yesterday and had a similar day. Tried the Willow,Bk and WB in Deposit . No bugs,and saw only two one time risers. Managed one 13” brown just before dark on a rusty spinner.Avoided the bench-however it was on the Willow so I don’t know if I should take a seat or not. Thanks for your Beatles/Ringo reference- it definitely “Don’t come easy”
So how many miles did you drive in total today?
What a journey!!