Fishing report 10-26-12

  As I drove into the shop today I was amazed at the color of the landscape and how the trees looked in full fall dress. Unfortunately if we get the storm they are saying we will get, my guess is it will all be gone by Wednesday. I will also be curious to see what the sudden burst of water will do to the fish that are already in all of our local rivers. I guess we will just have to wait and see exactly what Sandy brings us. 

  Terry, Rick and I did get out on Sunday and had a great afternoon. Terry and I opted to fish the upper section and Rick fished the lower reaches. 

  

Gearing up at the truck

Beautiful Fall colors

At the top Terry and I split up and he walked to the middle section and I stayed up top. Figuring it was Fall and thinking the Browns would be ready to strap on the feed bag I started fishing my favorite streamer the Zoo Cougar. I had worked my way downstream for about an hour and didn't have a take. After I saw the third fish spook off of the streamer I decided it was time to change. My only reasoning is the Gin clear water must have had something to do with the fishes rejection of my tried and true Zoo Cougar. After spending some time looking under rocks I found some SMALL clinger nymphs, probably a size 20. I rigged up a dry and dropper rig with a #16 tan Caddis on top and a #18 Pheasant Tail as the dropper. Shortly after switching I stuck my first fish, a decent Brown. 

 I continued working my way downstream where I met up with the boss. He was working a run quite efficiently so I just stood back, snapped a few pictures, and watched.  

After meeting and talking I thought it kind of cool that we both had on basically the same rig. We had not talked since we split up some 3 hours earlier, but using what we saw on and in the water we both came to the same conclusion. I guess great minds truly do think alike.  

 We continued fishing back up river together and Terry landed one more good one before we came up on a pod of rising fish. "Rising" is a loose term in this case, these fish were literally coming all the way out of the water after something. We fished over these fish for about 15 minutes with no joy. We both tried several flies and presentation and just ran out of time before we could figure it out. With darkness coming and a steady 30 minute hump to get back to the truck we decided to tip our hat, admit defeat and head out. I guess that is why they call it fishing, not catching. 

 After getting back to the truck and gearing down we met up with Rick at the bottom section. Rick reported similar results and had the same "rising action" we had up top.  

one of Ricks good ones

  All in all it was a great day to be on the water. The weather was perfect, the fish were cooperative, and we all had a great time. It is days like this that keep us coming back for more. 


   Rat squadder "One Boot" Ed was in the shop on Friday. He picked up a new 8.5 foot 4 weight Sage VXP. The VXP is a great rod that offers more than the price would suggest. Ed gave the new stick a workout on the West branch of the Octoraro on Saturday. Judging by the pictures I would say he must have a new "lucky" rod. 

   The San Juan worm was the fly that morning. Ed says the water was 58 degrees, a bit warmer than the week before when it was around 54. Great job Ed, Hope you enjoy the new rod. 

Nice fish, but that cork is way to clean

We received good reports from the White Clay, Valley, and The East Branch of the Brandywine this week also. Hopefully after the storm blows out we will have good fishing next week as well. 

                                                                                                                                             Tight Lines...Tim