Trout Camp 2014 day 1

My son was going to overnight camp for a week , my wife was working so I pondered what to do.  Enter the time machine and poof I became a trout bum for  four and a half days.  I hadn't fished like this for trout in over 20 years.  As the date drew near excitement inched upwards.  I was going to hit the Delaware River with a new plan.  I have fished it during the summer for a day or so but this time I was going to fish it hard.  With the cool temps it opened up a whole new world of possibilities.  My plan was to break each day into 3 time periods.  Fish the am with the switch rod swinging soft hackles, then midday hit the sulpher hatch and then find a new locale for the evening and hopefully a spinner fall. 

On departure day the weather was looking sunny and pleasant.  After a few hours behind the wheel I arrived at the river, donned my gear and was greeted by an empty river surrounded by beautiful scenery.
 

Since I didn't really know what I was doing I decided to do what I normally do and that is to start at the top and work my way down.  Given the size of the run this was going to take a while.  I put on a medium soft hackle and started working my way down, cast step, cast step. 

 

                                                     A little action shot of the swing.





 Not too far down my reel started singing and a nice healthy rainbow came to hand.  A good fish and a good omen for the trip. 

 A little while later another good fish came to hand.

 

This was working out better than expected. During my efforts I also had two taps from fish that didn't actually take but that meant I was getting their attention.   Near the end of the run another fish hit and it was a big fish as I could barely move it.  After about a minute of fighting it the hook pulled free.  A part of me wanted just to see it but if that had happened then I'd be saying I just wanted to touch it, if that had happened I would have wanted a picture.  You get the idea.  It's often the ones that get away that keep us asking what if questions forever.

Lunch time approached so I headed up river and it was full on sulphers.  They were everywhere so much so that the ducks got in on the buffet line.  

 The action on this day was short in duration.  I couldn't get them to hit what normally works so I tried so alternative flies and found success.  I got three hits within a half hour and only landed one ~18" brown.  The other two that broke off were likely in the same range or slightly bigger.  All in all this was a great day.
 

As things settled down I checked into my room and headed off to a different part of the river.  Unfortunately not much happened at dark so on of my time slots didn't pay off but 2 of 3 was good by me. 

It was weird in that there were bugs but no noses except for the one hit wonders.  Nothing to really cast to. I even swung some soft hackles thinking I'll at least present something to them.  But nothing happened.  That is one of the mysteries of the Delaware.


 
Waiting for the action. 

With day one in the books it was off to bed and to get ready for day 2.  More to come on that later.