It was a mid-day work day so I had a small window to fish. In total I fished for an 1-1/2 hours. I had fish for the first 20 minutes and then not a tap. I found a beached fish and tried to figure it
out what it was. Not a shad, not a hickory, but one of the herring strains. Too bulky in the middle to be a blueback and, to me, too big to be an alewife at seven inches. A quick text to Leif confirmed it, an alewife. After two quick fish in the same spot I figured there was no more room at the inn. On the retrieve in, and just five feet away, a 35 +/- inch bass inhaled the fly and took off for the races. It went deep and to the middle of the ripping current. If I played it right, and turned it back into the seam and to the soft water below me, I would have a shot. I worked my plan for about 5 seconds before she broke off. It wasn't the knot at the fly line, nor the one at the fly, but 10 inches down from fly line to leader. I'm using 25-pound fluorocarbon.
There was one more to hand before it shut off. I couldn't figure out why. The water didn't drop out that quick and I guess the school just moved on. I planned on coming back later.
It was pouring while I fished and the rain just kept coming all day long. And not just rain, but big rain, like real big rain. In the past 24 hours it has rained 2.5 inches.
During the morning trip the water was just a tad off color and running some 32,000 cfs. For me that's about 7,000 more then my preference. Before work I tied up an evening off-color
-water fly that I hoped would be put to good use on my way home from work. My fingers were crossed. It was off to work where I had to proctor the students last exam.
As I stood there for 2-1/2 hours I could hear the rain pelting off the windows. I was hoping that this was all Newark rain and somehow my neighborhood was spared from more rain. If things went right I could be fishing the same tide as I had this morning, maybe just a little off color.
As approached the river I got excited. 730 pm. A little light left. But then, crash, bang, boom. I could see the Yoo-Hoo colored water as I drove. And then there was the added volume.
The river jumped 20,000 cfs in the course of 10 hours. I dressed, took the walk, and made a few casts for really no reason. There were no edges anymore and the hydraulics along the "banks" surely were not holding fish. And if they were there I can't imagine them wanting to eat, it would be like sitting down at an outside bar during a tsunami. Needless to say the river will yet again hit 60,000 cfs and will be some time before it's fishable again. Going to work tomorrow won't be so and after all.