Fished for a few hours this afternoon on the South Branch..There were both Quill Gordons and Hendricksons on the water..I started nymphing but one rise was all I needed to convince me to tie on a dry fly, light brown comparadun. The stretch I was fishing is choked on both sides with briars, so I was wading the middle of the river and casting upstream..The rises were very sporatic but I managed to pick up a 4 wild brookies and a 10 inch wild brown before I saw a nice riser at the head of a deep bend pool..I stalked in position but as usual there was no room for a back cast and there was an overhanging branch over my fish..Using sidearm casts, I managed to lay a perfect cast under the branch and my fly drifted perfectly into the trouts lane and was immediately inhaled...I knew it was a large fish instantly, he shot upsteam and down stream and after a 5 minute fight, I brought him to hand..Unfortunately I didnt have my net so landing him was tricky..And taking pictures was even more difficult, with no bank or net...He was a beautiful 18 in Brown..Snapped a few pics and released him back to his lie....A Wonderful Day on the Water..and My first on the dry fly for the season..
The South Branch of The Raritan River...
A Ephemerella subvaria or Hendrickson (Missing a tail)
A South Branch Brown