It's September in August.

With the todays high predicted to be 73, I opened up the camp on arrival and let the wind do some good for a change. Saturday morning I picked two of the three "almost ripe" tomatoes and took them home to Jean who is a true tomato lover. Left the third to ripen on the vine. When I went down with the watering can this morning, I found that the tomato is still not quite ripe and it also isn't quite whole. Some little critter ate a chunk out of it. Launched my annual attack on the crabgrass and sedge nut in the yard at 11:00 and returned to the house for a sandwich at 12:15 before heading to Deposit.

Drove up rte.8 on arrival and to my surprise there wasn't a single fisherman above the red barn (all nine of them were in the pasture pool). Found sulfurs hatching in the big pool below the town bridge with a more than adequate number of anglers having at 'em. To my surprise, there was a pool a little farther downstream that was unattended. An opportunity like that shouldn't be wasted, I waded in (so did another angler about fifteen minutes later). He never said a word, waded to a spot about three quarters of a cast away from me and was still standing there when I left an hour and a half later.

There was a good sulfur hatch (the mid-day hatches seem to be much better now), there are fish up on the bugs but they are hard to fool. I landed a holdover hatchery fish of 15 inches, an assortment of half a dozen fish from 10 to 13 inches, and lost a hot rainbow of about 15 inches. I received looks (refusals) from over 50 fish!! Enough is enough, with a September like bite in the air, I decided to spend the evening fishing the neglected freestone waters. Had to plow through chest high knotweed on the trails leading to both pools I fished. Water temp was at 63 and the water level kept me from fishing some of the water at each spot, but from 7:00 until 9:00 I rose nine fish, hooked and landed six. Two 18 inchers tied for fish of the day (one a brown the other a rainbow). What was hatching? Almost nothing. Saw a handful of isos in the air, one big olive on the water at the first stop and a few big spinners and large yellow flies at the second. 

Fish the "Sulfur Zone" mid-day if you want, you will see bugs, rising fish and fishermen, but you are unlikely to catch very many quality fish. This week, in the evening, you can go anywhere. There will be fish and if you fish out of the "Sulfur Zone" you will find fish that are much more willing to eat your flies.A