dcabarle
Administrator
I put in yesterday at Shehawken and saw only 1 car with a trailer on it at 11am. That was kinda strange. Did everyone know something I didn't know? The WB looked great. The main was a little high and slightly stained but definetely fishable and not muddy at all.
Anyhow, I set sail with a close friend of mine, Winston. He's a great dog, possibly one of the best I've owned. He sits in the boat, doesn't say two words, doesn't complain, doesn't ask "Are we there yet", etc... He sits and he chills.
I put in on the West Branch because I like to fish streamers along the left bank. I put the anchor in just so it drags along the bottom. This keeps me moving at a steady pace.
Once I hit the Mainstem, the wind picked up and blew at 20mph pretty much all day. As you can imagine, this would make fishing a bit difficult. Lucky for me, I'm pretty good so it wasn't really an issue.
The weather went from this:
to torrential downpoors within minutes. This happend a few times throughout the day but the downpoors only lasted 5-10 minutes so all was good. I'm thinking the WB had some serious rain as there was quite a bit of debris in the water.
One thing I love about fishing the D is the wildlife. Check this guy out perched high up in the trees... There were 3 of these flying around together.
It's pretty damned cool watching these eagles flying around with that amazing wing span. This guy was nice enough to turn around and take a dump! Glad I was pretty far away from him (Nikon 400mm). Because of the lighting and distance, this shot didn't come out the way I would have liked... It's a little blurry but it's good enough.
Of course eagles arent the only wildlife on the river. I saw a few primates come down in kayaks and lucky for me, clothes shedding season is upon us and they really shed their winter clothing for the more desirably summer stuff! This sure is a special river!
So that was my day pretty much. Ohhhh yeah... silly me, there is one more thing. TONS of these around after 6pm:
along with lots of sulphurs and March Browns / Grey Fox, and Caddis! This made for some spectacular fishing! Lots of jumping rainbows and I think I saw more backing in 1 day than in the past 5 years (just to give you an indication of the quality of fish).
I had fish all over the place gorging on everything right in front of me. I like to cast though so when you're as good as me you're able to hook fish at over 100 feet away. When they jump out of the water from that distance, it's a great feeling!
I got off the river at 10pm cuz after that, I couldn't see a thing. As I was pulling my boat out of the water, 1 other boat came to the takeout. They sat around for a few and waited for me then as I pulled out, they started floating further downstream. If I didn't know any better, I'd have to say they had no clue as to where they were and probably no idea as to where they were going. It was pretty damned dark out there.
Anyhow, it was a great day to be on the river. Get out there and enjoy the fresh air!
(Click on any photo to enlarge or visit my fly fishing gallery (where you can view much larger version of these and others @
http://dcabarle.smugmug.com/Sports/FlyFishing/11120763_Xrd3N#1003966685_qiabn)
Anyhow, I set sail with a close friend of mine, Winston. He's a great dog, possibly one of the best I've owned. He sits in the boat, doesn't say two words, doesn't complain, doesn't ask "Are we there yet", etc... He sits and he chills.
I put in on the West Branch because I like to fish streamers along the left bank. I put the anchor in just so it drags along the bottom. This keeps me moving at a steady pace.
Once I hit the Mainstem, the wind picked up and blew at 20mph pretty much all day. As you can imagine, this would make fishing a bit difficult. Lucky for me, I'm pretty good so it wasn't really an issue.
The weather went from this:
to torrential downpoors within minutes. This happend a few times throughout the day but the downpoors only lasted 5-10 minutes so all was good. I'm thinking the WB had some serious rain as there was quite a bit of debris in the water.
One thing I love about fishing the D is the wildlife. Check this guy out perched high up in the trees... There were 3 of these flying around together.
It's pretty damned cool watching these eagles flying around with that amazing wing span. This guy was nice enough to turn around and take a dump! Glad I was pretty far away from him (Nikon 400mm). Because of the lighting and distance, this shot didn't come out the way I would have liked... It's a little blurry but it's good enough.
Of course eagles arent the only wildlife on the river. I saw a few primates come down in kayaks and lucky for me, clothes shedding season is upon us and they really shed their winter clothing for the more desirably summer stuff! This sure is a special river!
So that was my day pretty much. Ohhhh yeah... silly me, there is one more thing. TONS of these around after 6pm:
along with lots of sulphurs and March Browns / Grey Fox, and Caddis! This made for some spectacular fishing! Lots of jumping rainbows and I think I saw more backing in 1 day than in the past 5 years (just to give you an indication of the quality of fish).
I had fish all over the place gorging on everything right in front of me. I like to cast though so when you're as good as me you're able to hook fish at over 100 feet away. When they jump out of the water from that distance, it's a great feeling!
I got off the river at 10pm cuz after that, I couldn't see a thing. As I was pulling my boat out of the water, 1 other boat came to the takeout. They sat around for a few and waited for me then as I pulled out, they started floating further downstream. If I didn't know any better, I'd have to say they had no clue as to where they were and probably no idea as to where they were going. It was pretty damned dark out there.
Anyhow, it was a great day to be on the river. Get out there and enjoy the fresh air!
(Click on any photo to enlarge or visit my fly fishing gallery (where you can view much larger version of these and others @
http://dcabarle.smugmug.com/Sports/FlyFishing/11120763_Xrd3N#1003966685_qiabn)
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