You Never Know......

It is so very true that as we get older the days pass by at greater and greater speed.  It seems like it was only yesterday that I spent a few hours on the South Branch fishing, yet it was a week ago!  Do any of you know how to slow things down, especially now that I am older and understand better how to use my time.....such is life.  Anyway, we did manage to get out and fish in between the holiday parties, and much needed yard work after the recent storm. 

 

I guess it was mid-afternoon when I arrived on the river.  The air was cool, and calm, the sky bright through hazy clouds.  The river was still somewhat low, clear, and very cold - 46 degrees F.  Shortly after I started fishing, I was into a nice rainbow of about 15 inches, which I landed after it made several leaps clear of the water.  It took a gray scud, and I thought this was going to be a good catching afternoon, but as is often the case when we get one early, I only managed to hook two more and lost both before I could get them to hand.  Regardless,  I did enjoy the afternoon on the water.  

 

Shortly after I arrived, Jim from Shannon's Fly Shop, showed up and began fishing the water just below me and we compared notes.  I fished a couple of patterns I do well with in the fall - switching from the scud, to a Pumpkinhead Midge, to a small Pheasant tail soft hackle.  The two I hooked after the first fish were on the Pumpkinhead Midge. Jim fished a scud and a RS2 for a bit, and then switched to other patterns, one of them being a small peach-colored poly egg that took this beauty. 

 

    

Rainbows everywhere seem to have a natural affinity for an egg pattern. And it didn't disappoint this day.  It gave Jim's Scott 8ft, 4-weight quite the test, as the rod was bent into a tight horseshoe several times as he inched the fish towards his net.

So that's the latest from this end of the pond.  I hope to get out at least one of the two days this weekend for a few hours, but time will tell.  There's still a lot of debris and a couple of large trees down on the homestead from the storm that need clearing and cutting before winter seriously rears it chilly head and throws snow on the works.

 

I also intend to fill you in this weekend on "the rest of the story", with respect to why and how I dub my thread wrong, courtesy of Bill N.

 

Stayed tuned and  sharpen your hooks.