Slow to middling fishing....

Well, I did manage to get out last Friday afternoon / early evening for some fishing. The temperature had dropped some but more importantly the humidity also dropped. It finally felt pretty decent to be outside.

I spent a nice quiet evening on a pretty stretch of the river and waited to see what was going on. It was, to say the least, very quiet.

Slow to middling.

It was so slow I could have counted the number of flies on one hand.

However,unlike the last time I was able to get out, this time the fish did start to pop up now and then which is always good. They were just starting to get cranked up when the switch turned and they shut off.

Slow to middling.

Cripes, what a weird summer this is turning out to be.

But since I was out I kept plugging along. I tied on one of the purple and starling wet flies and was blessed when a fairly good sized brookie snacked on that. I had to wait a bit before I got another one on and that time it was a rainbow.

I hung out by myself until dark and then headed home, feeling somewhat refreshed by the cooler temps and lower humidity.

That was it for Friday.

Saturday the weather was starting to change again and not for the best. It would seem that the heat and humidity were making another run for us. So late in the afternoon a group of us headed to a different spot on the river where the water was nice and cold.

Again, the insect activity was slow to middling. We didn't see more than two or three fish break the surface and we stayed there pretty late. For the first time I saw a water moccasin and for a small snake he sure had an attitude.

I hate snakes.

I was just getting ready to walk into the river when there he was, right at my feet. That guy may have been about 2 feet long but in my reality world that sucker was 10' long and nasty.

It doesn't matter how long (or short) he was since he made me stop dead in my tracks. He stared at me with his tongue flicking in and out and you could tell what his thought bubble was, "Go ahead! Make my day!!"

I hate snakes (did I mention that already?!) and this is the third snake so far this year. Shoot, there was one snake the other weekend that I got so close to I must have scared it because the darn thing shot up and out into the water in an instant. I don't know, nor do I care to know, what kind it was. It hit the water and headed downstream. But this one from Sat. was holding his ground and I graciously gave him all the room he needed.

So once I decided that the coast was clear of snakes I headed out into one part of the pool and tied on another wet fly. It took a while but eventually I had a really nice rainbow on.

Sunday we headed out but the temperature was starting to crawl back up into the 90's again. This time we did manage to see some, not a lot, but some bug activity. The cedar waxwings were diving on the water as soon as they could for a bite to eat. I was mesmerized by how close to the water they could get and barely dab at it and head back up to the trees. Those birds are really fun to watch.

The fishing wasn't too bad early in the morning but as the temperature closed in on the 90's (again) and the humidity picked up the fishing bottomed out.

I had planned on staying until after sun set but by 4pm I was toast. Literally.

It was my turn to be slow to middling.