Final Warmup

Less than one week to go before I launch on my big adventure!  So far this year I've fished in the Keys, northwest Wyoming, the eastern Sierras in California, and several places in my home state of Pennsylvania.  For my final warm-up I accompanied my neighbor Tom Brubaker and his friend David Bull to the fabled Upper Delaware River to float on David's drift boat and fly fish for brown and rainbow trout.  The water up there has been very high this spring, but we were fortunate that the past week was dry and the water level dropped dramatically.  The mayfly and caddis hatches were prolific and the trout were plentiful and often visible.

The name of the game on the Upper Delaware (at least the way David and Tom play it) is casting to specific rising fish with dry flies.  Because the fish don't usually rise a lot until late in the afternoon and evening, we didn't launch the boat until about 2 pm, but we fished until it was too dark to see.  From about 5 pm until well into dusk, we saw lots of aggressive risers and had numerous shots at big, healthy trout.  Each of us caught several of them, primarily on emerger patterns.  It was hoot, and a great way for me to loosen up for the big trip and practice my videography.  Click on the following link for a 2.5 minute video that pretty well summarizes our venture:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr49bYLFrT0


I plan to do one more blog post before I leave next week.  It will cover my itinerary and my toys.  I hope you can tune in throughout the summer as I travel all around our great land in pursuit of sportfish on the fly.