RG,
I was with Tuna when you ran into him on Saturday. I agree wholeheartedly with your honest analysis of conditions. The posts on this board and other reports recently have painted a picture of a river full of fish, and, while this may have been the case 2 or 3 weeks ago, the run has certainly diminished greatly. All the fish I saw caught were at least partially dark, and some had obviously been in for a long time.
I got in Friday PM, and went up on the N side of LFZ to meet Tuna, and had the experience of hooking and landing a small ~20" fish on my third swing, something that I used to feel would put the jinx on me for the rest of the trip. Maybe it did this time too, as I landed no more fish in the 3 days, but I certainly had pulls, and I know I was working the water . Although I had not been on the SR in 5 years, this stuff is kind of like riding a bicycle, and once you learned it, it does not go away.
After a morning on the UFZ where we saw maybe 6 fish hooked in total and a death march out to the cars, I split from HT and crew to seek painkillers for the arthritic back and mothballed legs, and spent a little time checking the lack of action in the pockets above short bridge, behind the End Zone. Same story, no players. Talked to folks who had been in the Trestle area all day when I went to All Seasons for Kevlar and got the same report, a few fish here and there, all dark.
Sunday I met a friend from Pulaski at Haldane at dawn and we hit the river from below 81 down into the ball diamonds, leapfrogging pockets. This is the kind of gorgeous fast pocket water that can come alive when pods of fish are moving through. Larry got one about 24" early, we both had other pulls, and we saw 7 or 8 fish hooked, mainly from the big hole by the storm culvert. Slow action, but more than made up for by the uncrowded conditions. When Larry had to quit to go warm up a deer stand, I went back up to the LFZ, where there was pretty steady action at the tail of the flat upstream from the big bend going into the bridge. But after having some room in the AM, I was too spoiled for this elbow game, so when the Tuna crew headed out, so did I. The early arrival pleased my wife, and I may even get another weekend before the snow blows heavy.
I doubt whether accurate reports on fish numbers would have changed my plans, as this was the only time my schedules at work and home allowed me to put a rod in my hand this fall, but it is bothersome to see the same old bait and switch bringing large numbers of fly flingers to vie for a few stale fish, with visions of bright active chromers beffudling their brains!
Great time, however, sharing water and room with Tuna, Jim, Matt, Lance, and the others who I met along the river. And refreshing after nearly 30 years on the river to see everyone angling, and mostly flyfishing, considering that when WB and I first started going up, fly rods were mainly spooled with 17 lb, and we and Fran and a few others were the only ones actually trying to get the fish legally on bits of fur and feathers.
L13
post edited by Lucky13 - 2011/11/14 07:41:03