Well, had another great FUDR's One Bug weekend. Started it out Thursday with a float with Bunky and Rich. We floated the mid-Main and they started out throwing streamers and Deceivers and they picked up a couple of fish. After lunch we got into some better fish and the boys had a blast as the Olives covered the water and the trout took fishy looking dries on a good drift. We landed a bunch and missed a bunch also. The video and Rich's reaction tell the story of a few that got away. We saw some March Browns and tiny Hendricksons along with the Olives. Great day!
We started the weekend at the old Capital Theatre and we all ate and drank well where we met up with our clients for Saturday's floats and watched the auctions and raffles go off. On day one I had Dennis and Pete in the boat and my beat for the two days was the upper Main. The boys fished hard and we worked over raising fish, but the "One Bug" was a killer. The fish were on caddis and hendricksons which neither guy had on. Dennis had on a Parachute Iso and caught three and measured one, a fat 17 inch brown. He dropped a monster in a large pool that literally almost ripped his rod out of his hand. We got off the water just in time for more drinks and dinner at the Bluestone. We were all hoping that Sunday would be just like Saturday, especially the guys on the East and lower Main who did real well on day one.....forget it.
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| Guide Ryan Furtak with Lee Hartman in the bow |
On Sunday, day 2, I had John and Glenn in the boat. It started off nice, and went a little sideways from there. We floated down to some riffs and John worked a Hendrickson emerger as we waited for something to pop. As the time went on, the winds picked up. On one of John's backcasts I saw his line and leader brush the brush tops. I gave a quick yell but it was too late, his "One Bug" was gone. After the first day he and his brother were sitting in second place, and the 100 points for turning in your fly became very important. I was sick when I saw his tippet empty. I quickly got down on all fours and went through every piece of brush and grass there was. John helped too and we talked about what happened. I told off him right off the bat, "If you lose your fly, blame it on the tie.", and I had tied on his fly. We looked for an hour and came up blank. By them the winds were 20 plus, with gusts to 35 starting. We stopped for lunch and gave a few rising fish slashing at the caddis a shot without a bump. I decided to sail downriver near the takeout and look for a big fish on the banks. When we got down the boats whose beats crossed the lower end of my beat where camped out looking for the same kind of fish. We floated below them and found two nice browns set up on the munch taking March Brown duns. Glenn got into position, had a few good shots....and then Mother Nature turned on the turbines. Within and hour we were taking the boat out of the water heading back for the final dinner and awards.
Top Guide - Jeff Church ( West Branch Anglers)
Top Angler - Ryan Bunn ( Ramsey Outdoor- Paramus)
Squirrel Award- Yep, I got it again for my relentless and unproductive all-fours search for John's fly.
Luckily, John and his brother held onto second place and took that trophy home. Team Patagonia ( Bunn and partner) had crushed them on Saturday and where so far ahead in the points no one would catch them.
Please join the Friends of the Upper Delaware River, they are doing a lot of work to protect out great resource and fishery. Check out their website, HERE