Thanks Paula & Daniel

[Gerry Romer]

I got to fish the Park today for the 4th time in 5 days! And I'm not even on vacation.:rolleyes:

I stopped by LRO to grab some of those yellow, foam-bodied stone flies that Daniel's been bragging about. When I couldn't find them, I asked Paula if she was hiding them in the back somewhere and doling them out one at a time for a secret handshake or something... She sadly informed me that they were sold out. So I asked her if there was a "next best" fly that came close and she handed me a couple really cool imitations. Then Daniel chimed in with a couple recommendations. That's when I asked him THE QUESTION.

I said, "Okay, it's 4:30... If you were getting off work right now, where would you go? East? West? Middle?" He got this wistful look in his eye and a huge grin on his face and said, almost reverently, "Tremont". I asked, "Gravel or below?" and he said, "Gravel." I asked, "Above the second bridge?" and he said, grinning the whole time, "Either a little above the Institute or way up top."

I like that stretch way up top, mostly because it's a right-handed section and it's really kind of isolated. But there's a whole lot of river between the Institute and the top that I've never fished and with the water so low you can easily wade across just about anywhere, so I opted for the lower section above the Institute.

I picked a spot at random, geared up and hiked back down a ways figuring to fish my way back up to my car. I applied every bit of stealth these old bones could muster and was rewarded on my third cast with a nice bow.

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l233/gwrom/2.jpg

From that point on it was definitely game on! I finally had one of those days where I could do no wrong. I wasn't fishing, I was catching. One of those days where I just stopped counting fish. I stopped taking pictures after these two, cause I was catching so many fish.

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l233/gwrom/3.jpg


http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l233/gwrom/6.jpg

(BTW, Kevin, as you can see there's some really nice fish up there. I didn't catch anything under 8" and most went 9'' and 10" - no dinks this time)

I fished all the way back to my car and then kept going cause they wouldn't stop. Hatches came and hatches went and it didn't make a whole lot of difference. They were hitting the stone imitation in size 12, the Sloan's in size 14 and my yellow stim in size 12 and 14. At one point I dropped a size 18 BHPT off a yellow stim and a 10" bow hit it in the first cast back into a pool I'd been casting to for about 5 minutes.

So, once again I have to say thanks to Paula and Daniel for their immense help and guidance. This is what it's all about folks: customer service that's beyond compare.

Gerry Romer

[ijsouth]

You're tempting me to hop in the car and drive up this weekend...unfortunately, too much going on right now; I'll be up there in a few weeks, though.

[DryFly1]

Great report Gerry! Nice looking fish. Your a lucky man to have so much time on the water...

Even with low water conditons the fish catching is off the charts this year!

Mark...

[donwinn]

Gerry,

I was up this past weekend and stopped in for flies. I bought three of the yellow stone imitation. I used that fly all weekend except for about an hour when I used a Light Cahill. The fly was deadly. Daniel sure knows what he is doing. And, as usual, the guys at the shop were exceptionally nice and helpful. Get some of those flies when they are restocked.

[Bran]

Are those flies you're talking about on the web site? I'm new to all of
this and trying to figure out what one looks like. I'm coming out tonight to
try some FF in the park.--Bran

[donwinn]

Bran,

I didn't see it on the online catalog. Anythig yellow in about a size 16 should work well. I would call the shop for advice. They are so eager to help and just nice folks. Yellow Stimulators are on the online page and they work well. If you have time, just go by the shop and they will fix you up.

Don

[PeteCz]

Headed up to Tremont (a mile or two above the Institute) after work this evening around 6pm. Saw the last of the tuber hatch as I headed toward the Y (mostly PEDs - Pale Evening Duns [most were very,very pale - but a few were lobster red]).:eek:

I had my best day (two hours) of the year so far. I parked and walked down the stream a ways and fished up to the car. Used a sparkle yellow stimulator with rubber legs sz 16, most of the time, but also a sz 16 yellow sally imitation when I lost my last stim to a tree around 7:45pm. I had strikes in nearly every riffle and pool I cast to and took fish from about half them. Probably hooked over 20 fish [which for me is a lot in the park, especially for only 2hrs on the water], lost about a half a dozen of them on rocks and limbs and what-not. The stream is very low but the fish were hitting the flies really hard. I really didn't have to do much to set the hook, as opposed to earlier in the year when I couldn't hook a fish to save my life. The water temp has the fish active, but the lower water has all the fish bunched up, so they need to be more aggressive (more competitive) when they think a meal is coming. That's my theory, anyway...

If you stay low and sneaky you should be able to catch some fish. I caught two while sitting on a rock in a pool below the pool I was casting to.

Probably will try again tomorrow (4th time out in 7 days...and I spent two days in Memphis in the middle).

[Stonefly]

Bran, you can google the name of most any fly and come up with plenty of examples.

sb