Posted on May 01 2024
Had a busy day yesterday. Mark was on the road back to Greensboro before 8:00am and I began the process of catching up on things that were neglected during his visit. Broke down the accumulation of boxes in the garage, gathered up the rest of the trash and made a dump run. Mowed the yard for the first time this year and presto it was time to go fishing.
Checked the stream temps and flows as well as the weather forecast, made sure the raincoat was in the car, (severe thunderstorms with high winds and hail were in the forecast for Hendrickson time), and set out fish. Fished the upper WB, which has been the only place where the Hendricksons had not yet made their appearance. Today, with cloud to ground lightning and booming thunder, in modest numbers and for less than an hour, they did.
I stayed close to the car and did my count of the time between the lightning and the thunder (five seconds means the lightning is about a mile away). I've always thought that the only important number is "one", if you count that high you're still alive. Anyway two storms went past, one to the north and one to the south, with no lightning strikes within three miles of me, just rain.
The fishing was surprisingly difficult, got numerous refusals but hooked and landed enough fish to make it a good day. When the hatch shut down, (before four), I moved downstream and got into the caddis that are now moving up the lower WB. Unfortunately, the rain came down hard enough to make fishing impossible. Walked back to the car in a downpour and headed down river towards the fishing camp with the intent of calling it a day. The rain let up around Stockport where nine cars were parked along the road (no, I didn't stop). Ended up at a place that is entering the doldrums, there were but a few caddis spinners in the air and nothing hatching. Walked along the bank for several hundred yards and found four nice fish still looking for something to eat after the glut of both Hendricksons and caddis. The fish were football shaped and looked nothing like their cousins upstream that are just now being served their appetizers.
Arriver home near dark, sat down to type the fishing report, heard a huge boom and the power went out. A big tree came down across the road and took out the power lines at my neighbors house. Drove up the hill to where I had reception, called 911 to report the outage, came back to the camp and went to bed.
Thanks for your reports. Lots of big fish (best 21") on Hendricksons mid WB at 3 PM and not too picky yet … boy will that change fast. As I walked up a section of bank through last year’s dry knotweed stalks it became evident that no one had walked through this year. I suspect I made enough noise to disrupt classes at several local schools. I wonder what would have happened during revolutionary war period if this invasive had been around then. It sure would have been tough to sneak up on an adversary.
Dennis Ouch! A cold , wet end to a very good day . Congrats Angler119 Tough conditions, but a good day. Question- how far up the WB are the Hendricksons hatching. And while difficult to predict do you think they will still be around early next week? Ed
Thanks again for the great reports! For those of us who won’t arrive for another 3 weeks it’s nice to hear about the fishing being good to start the year.
One is indeed the only important number when counting between thunder and lightning, it’s also the loneliest number that you’ll ever do (sad lyrical reference there, I know, but I’m at work now and time is short).
Angler A119, had a very similar day yesterday on the upper west as well on a float trip. Started out about noon and fished until 630 or so. Had a good day overall about 8 or 9 fish to the boat with a 20 inch brown the best of the day. Had 3 or 4 takes where I was too quick on the gun. Caddis early and Hendricksons later during the usual times. The rain put a big damper on the bugs and the fishing but all in all a good day.
I fished the upper WB yesterday and had an interesting day. The fishing was good I fished through the rain and did ok. Five fish in the net and a few refusals. I caught my first trout on an apple caddis yesterday. There was a good Hendrickson hatch along with apple caddis and BWO.
I went for a swim on my way back to shore!! My foot got caught under a bunch of logs. I be never taken an ice bath before. Made it to shore and stopped at the troutfitters for a dry shirt!!
Good day overall🎣🎣🎣