What do you do 'til 7:00pm?

 If I'm honest, it's been a frustrating week. Why?  No, not because of the butt kicking I got today (more on that later),but because all the fishing is, for now, concentrated into the 7:00pm until dark period.  It's July and the spring sulfurs are exiting the stage up at Stilesville in front of an applauding line of anglers stretching from Butler Brook to the Stilesville weir. The summer sulfurs, quite frankly, need a kick in the keister.  Usually by now, they are doing their early afternoon hatch thing every day in the Sulfur Zone. This week they were hatching in numbers (in the evening) up to barking dog.

A-119 doesn't sit still well and I've tried both early mornings and afternoons (no, not up at the red barn) in a bunch of different rivers in hopes of finding fish and its been a flop. Yesterday from 1:30 until 6:30, I fished two very good runs up in Deposit with not another angler within 200 yards of me. Places where you can usually find a  half dozen or more anglers sharing the space. I hooked six and landed four, one of which was a eleven inch hatchery fish. There were almost no bugs and very, very few rises. I was pleased with how I fished but dismayed by the lack of bugs and rising fish.

The evening fishing, however, (Sorry Ed Smith but you need to get a room at the Troutfitter Lodge and drive home in the morning), has been out of sight. It usually starts when the sun goes behind the hill and builds from there, bugs begin to hatch, fish begin to feed, adrenalin begins to surge, fish start eating everything put before them, hooks get embedded in protruding parts of your anatomy, vertebrae get realigned stepping into eel holes, buttons on your shirt sleeve somehow get tangled in a landing net  occupied by a thrashing fish and in the end, you have had a days worth of excitement condensed into a couple of hours. Sorta like watching an eight minute long highlight film of a two hour game.  

Last night was magic. Got into a spot just as the sulfurs were starting up. Had a row of bank sippers at my mercy. The fish were happy to eat any sulfur that came to them drag free. They were not, however, willing to come quietly to the net and I battled all night long to stay above 50%.  Tonight was the Delaware River dealing with an overthinking angler. The hatch is moving up stream, so I went a half mile up from last nights hooking bonanza. By 7:30, casting for over an hour at fish eating both subsurface and on top in a sparse sulfur hatch, I had four refusals and had hooked and landed but one fish.  Reeled it in and drove downstream below Hale Eddy where I encountered the mother of all sulfur hatch/spinner fall combos. Yes there were fish rising (a few) and yes I got another four refusals and landed a second fish which in itself was something of a miracle considering the number of bugs the fish had to choose from. No matter how well you know the river, if you hit 'em you should always be grateful for the good fortune that was bestowed upon you. Tonight was a tail kicking.

 Jean is coming down to take in the Lordville 4th of July parade, enjoy a dinner at one of the fine area restaurants and hopefully, take in a fireworks show somewhere (perhaps off our back porch). If you are on the road drive safely and enjoy the rest of the weekend.