I was tired of the crowds. After a few weekends with the alarm sounding at 4:00am and making it down to the Swift at 5:00am only to be the third angler at the Y Pool and then sharing the joint with six others by 9:00am and God knows how many others by 10:00am I was due for a break. And the Pipe wasn't going to do it after being third on the water at 5:30 am last weekend. I like some solitude and I had to find it.
The EB had treated me will through May into late June but then the storms hit and the flows rose way beyond comfortable fishing as they did on the Millers. Then came the heat wave. That's why I was on the Swift for so long. But the flows came down and it was time to try the EB and to see if the trout had survived the crushing heat wave of the last three weeks.
I gave the East Branch a shot last Thursday evening with a friend of mine. The easy dry fly fishing of late June was replaced with a river with low flows and no surface action. Just before my friend broke his fly rod I saw a good healthy rise. I worked that stretch but to no avail. My friend was through for the night so we headed to the Brewmasters Tavern in Williamsburg. The special was prime rib for $14.95 all you can eat.
The next two days had me thinking of that one rising trout. This river has a reputation of being dead in mid Summer with the exception of 2009. Was this going to be another average Summer? I had to find out.
Sunday morning,(7am)under overcast skies,(perfect) had me on Slate Rock Pool, a very reliable spot. I rose nothing which was scary because this run always produces. But at the head of the run I saw a trout rise. I made the casts but came up empty but at least I knew that one trout was there.
Then there was the Bliss Pool. A half a dozen casts with a #14 hairwing Adams landed a very healthy 14 inch brown. Two more browns came to the net. All were healthy, fighting trout that quickly swam away when released. One brown was a bit over 16 inches. I nicked a rainbow that decided to get into the game and made a zillion casts over another rainbow that did a yo-yo act whenever he saw my fly. Very frustrating!!
At 10 am the sun began to strip the fog away and the trout began it hide. I felt that if I wanted to fish subsurface I would have continued to fish and be successful but I'm a dry fly guy if I can get away with it. Anyway, I got what I wanted: rising browns and fishing solitude.
I'll be back at the EB!!!
Ken
7 comments:
Hi Ken,
I have your book on the Millers... do you have something similar for the EB? You mention these pools but I am not sure where to find them. I have fished the EB many times and had great luck earlier this year. Your help is much appreciated. thanks
tbooth,
I don't have any guide to the EB outside of this blog.
The Bliss Pool is easy to find. It's across from the sign that says "Bliss State Park". Most of the others are downstream.
Ken
Ken good to see you last nite with your sport. Hope he was able to connect. The EHC seemed my star attractor. Tight lines.
Bob
I know the sign and will explore for the others. Thanks
Heading out to the Swift for Sunday evening - any tips on flies to use from the Swift regulars who post here? Any help much appreciated!
Sunday Evening - where are you going to fish on this river? If you are down above or below the PIPE I would start with flies that are posted on this site. When they start coming up I would switch to any light colored dry or emerger. These last flies would represent the last of the sulphurs or the steady of cream cahills that make their appearance from May to late September.
Things really begin to happen in the section from the gauge downstream at dusk!!!
Ken
So started out just below rt 9 bridge...saw plenty of fish and my buddy picked up a really nice Bow on a small dry fly - close to 20inch I'd say. Moved up stream to a pool after a fallen tree maybe half way to Y-Pool where I picked up a nice Bow on a brown bead head woolly bugger. that was it though - threw everything but the kitchen sink at them, size 22 and all on 7x and no luck - the Swift giveth and the Swift taketh away.
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