When Summer Highjacks Spring for a Day

Its true, summer swept in this past Wednesday and seized spring from our grasp.  When I left the house and headed to PA in the morning, it was already 67 degrees, and by the time I reached the spring creek we were fishing that day, it was into the 70's.  My friends had arrived earlier and had caught a few on nymphs.  By midday, the temperatures had risen into the 80's, and the only sign telling us it wasn't July, was the lack of a deep green canopy overhead that would have provided the shade one would have expected on such a hot day.  The morning mists had worked their magic though, as the understory pushed out fresh, bright leaves, as you can see in the photo below. The breeze and the cool river water flowing through our legs, along with cooperating trout, made for a great day on the water despite the heat, and gave us memories that will live long past the summer day that came much too early.

The river was in great shape and we were fortunate to be the only ones fishing it, until later in the day.  There were some blue-winged olives hatching sporadically, but the bright sun kept the hatch to a minimum.  There were a few fish taking them in the morning, and I fished dries, missing a bunch of takes before finally landing a couple.  My buddy, who was nymphing up river from me, continued to take fish, particularly after I gave him a few brown serendipities, which became the fly of the day for both of us.  Here's another sighting of he who writes this stuff, after he switched to fishing nymphs -  a brown serendipity that produced almost immediately.
        

We had a wonderful day of fishing, and talking about the things in life that matter to us without the interference of electronics or the static of our daily lives.

Next we'll go about finding those hendricksons we have been waiting so patiently for.