Posted on July 16 2020
Spent the morning doing prep work on some of the trim that was peeling and did a permanent fix on the suspected bat entrance hole. All dirty nasty work that took longer than expected. By the time I finished, cleaned up, had lunch and tied a dozen flies it was 2:15. The cloudy skies led one to believe that the afternoon sulfurs would be late and they were. By the time I arrived the wade fishermen had beaten a retreat. The guided trips are in it for the day, good or bad and with an upstream wind and no bugs by 4:30 it was probably mostly bad.
It was bad enough that I drove the loop from Hale Eddy to Deposit on both sides of the river twice. Saw very few wade anglers, the normal amount of boats, very few bugs, two risers and enough wind to keep me in the car. At 4:30 it was time to make a choice and I opted to fish out of the wind.
From the sewage treatment plant to Cold Springs Brook was out of the wind (comparatively speaking). Most of the boats were around the bend (at the sewage treatment plant) so I drove upstream looking for space to fish. The last two boats were in the pool above the town bridge. There was just one fisherman in the pasture pool (a/k/a the red barn) so I paid the big bucks to park and fished there from 4:30 until I reeled it in at 8:45.
During the time I was there the number of fishermen fluctuated between two and six, yet every one had room to fish and no one crowded any one else. The bugs never did get going. There were just enough to get rises from the hungriest fish. You had to mark the rises 'cause it was usually several minutes before the next time a fly came over the spot. That said, the fish were looking up (very carefully) and often gave my fly a look. Got lots of refusals, hooked and landed two hard fighting 17 inch rainbows and enough of the two year old browns to make it an enjoyable day.
If you fish there be sure to close the gate as the heifers are in the pasture.
It was bad enough that I drove the loop from Hale Eddy to Deposit on both sides of the river twice. Saw very few wade anglers, the normal amount of boats, very few bugs, two risers and enough wind to keep me in the car. At 4:30 it was time to make a choice and I opted to fish out of the wind.
From the sewage treatment plant to Cold Springs Brook was out of the wind (comparatively speaking). Most of the boats were around the bend (at the sewage treatment plant) so I drove upstream looking for space to fish. The last two boats were in the pool above the town bridge. There was just one fisherman in the pasture pool (a/k/a the red barn) so I paid the big bucks to park and fished there from 4:30 until I reeled it in at 8:45.
During the time I was there the number of fishermen fluctuated between two and six, yet every one had room to fish and no one crowded any one else. The bugs never did get going. There were just enough to get rises from the hungriest fish. You had to mark the rises 'cause it was usually several minutes before the next time a fly came over the spot. That said, the fish were looking up (very carefully) and often gave my fly a look. Got lots of refusals, hooked and landed two hard fighting 17 inch rainbows and enough of the two year old browns to make it an enjoyable day.
If you fish there be sure to close the gate as the heifers are in the pasture.
Dear 119
I’m late to this gem of a blog, but I enjoy it thoroughly, nice work, it is appreciated. Many thanks and tight lines
Chris
I fished all day, between the UE and the WB. Only saw one riser at 5pm. Was able to connect and got a nice 15 inch brown just below the 17 bridge. Amazing how just one fish can change the outcome of the day. This was also the first time I successfully targeted a specific fish. All my other ones since I started fly fishing in June were caught on a blind drift. I appreciate your little blogs, as I have learned quite a bit from them.