Shupac
09-27-2009, 10:11 AM
Got back last night from a season closer cast-n-blast. Targets for the blast were few and far between. Fishing wasn't a whole lot better, but it had its moments.
Friday afternoon I got out for a couple hours on a river that actually will close on Wednesday--anymore, my fishing tends to happen on rivers with extended seasons. This time I chose one of those unsung green lines on the map (unmentionable on this site), a stream I'd fished just once about a dozen years ago. A fair number of olives and a few larger mayflies (Isonychia bicolor?) were out. Caught the first brook when I cast an olive dun to a solitary riser in a pool. I got three more decent fish (here, decent=slightly over legal size) and a few dinks and short takes drifting PT nymphs along the banks. I thought streamers might produce too, given the overcast skies, but no go. The best moment of the outing actually had nothing to do with fish. At one point I realized I could hear absolutely nothing except a slight wind in the grass--no road noise, no atv noise, no chainsaw noise, no canoe noise. It was startling, and from time to time during the afternoon I would stop just to savor the silence. Only a couple of cars rumbling by on a gravel road broke it, briefly. Not many times and places in the Lower you will encounter that.
Saturday I headed down the the south branch. Found a decent number of risers some of which looked substantial, working in a run near an access just above the campground. Unfortunately, canoeists made working them all but impossible. Seriously--this was the first time canoeists have ever driven me from the river. Went below Smith to escape the regatta, and I did, but had no luck. Around 4:30 I headed back into the tract, though I saw little rising activity. The few fish I hooked on olive dries were dinks. Worked a streamer for a while too, but had no luck.
Not a bang up ending to the season. But given a choice between being at my computer and another day of exactly the same, I'd choose the latter.
Friday afternoon I got out for a couple hours on a river that actually will close on Wednesday--anymore, my fishing tends to happen on rivers with extended seasons. This time I chose one of those unsung green lines on the map (unmentionable on this site), a stream I'd fished just once about a dozen years ago. A fair number of olives and a few larger mayflies (Isonychia bicolor?) were out. Caught the first brook when I cast an olive dun to a solitary riser in a pool. I got three more decent fish (here, decent=slightly over legal size) and a few dinks and short takes drifting PT nymphs along the banks. I thought streamers might produce too, given the overcast skies, but no go. The best moment of the outing actually had nothing to do with fish. At one point I realized I could hear absolutely nothing except a slight wind in the grass--no road noise, no atv noise, no chainsaw noise, no canoe noise. It was startling, and from time to time during the afternoon I would stop just to savor the silence. Only a couple of cars rumbling by on a gravel road broke it, briefly. Not many times and places in the Lower you will encounter that.
Saturday I headed down the the south branch. Found a decent number of risers some of which looked substantial, working in a run near an access just above the campground. Unfortunately, canoeists made working them all but impossible. Seriously--this was the first time canoeists have ever driven me from the river. Went below Smith to escape the regatta, and I did, but had no luck. Around 4:30 I headed back into the tract, though I saw little rising activity. The few fish I hooked on olive dries were dinks. Worked a streamer for a while too, but had no luck.
Not a bang up ending to the season. But given a choice between being at my computer and another day of exactly the same, I'd choose the latter.