Another blessing in the night..

I awoke in the night once again hear the patter of rain drops on tin. Not nearly as intense as monady night but proved to be much longer lasting. One of those gentle showers that go on and on. Morning found us with nice cool air temp and overcast cloudy skies. The water had raised a bit.. good sign.

We fished the upper camp run with renewed confidence. To no avail.. It was raining on and off. I decided to go back down and cross, then wade back up to a possible lie. It was an effort, the water was obviously up and running compared to making the same 1/2+ mile wade earlier in the week. Once finally arrived I took time to rest and tie in a small Bomber. Going very carefully I began to probe the run. Midway down I had a Grilse boil under the fly.. instant rush! He would not come back at all though. I rested him a bit and tried a White Wulff. No go. Fished down the run and came back, it's raining harder so tied in a slightly bigger Brown Bomber with Orange hackle. No rise/rs to it either, frustrating. Resting the water once more I tied in same fly he originally came up for. Working the area with a few casts brought zero, really considered calling it quits. In desperation I decided to try something accidentally stumbled onto on the Salmon Branch of the Cascapedia. ..fished over the entire pool upstream with a dead drift Bomber bringing no rises. At the head of the pool I'd had enough and as the fly was drifting downstream went directly to the reel cranking. As the fly surged along a nice little Searun shot up from the depths and blasted it! I know he'd seen that fly repeatedly without what it took to trigger him.. all very interesting. Touched my fly down light and began a quick paced short strip retrieve.. the Grilse shot up and crushed my fly.. Woww.. This fish is one of those that blatantly strikes you as spiritual.



When we arrive at the upstream pool for evening fishing it's showing benefit of the recent water influx as well. I keep thinking how fortunate we have been to recieve some rain rather than be stuck in the same cooked out vacuum we started our week with.

Alex stays to fish on the North bank and the rest make the crossing. I fish the upper south bank with a small white Bomber, green and yellow hackles. A random thought mentioned to Dickey the day before and born into reality when he dropped two in my hand today. Dickey loves to tie. I'm in my own world up here, one of the reasons this section is a favorite, a zone unto itself. With the all the pockets, big rocks and current ideosyncrasies it's impossible water to swing on. Fish hold well though.. perfect dry fly water.

Hearing a commotion below I look down. Charles is hooked up with something. I jog down there, it's a Grilse. I no more then get back up to where I'd left off and began fishing when theres a repeat. A nice pair of Grilse for Charles!




Black skies were pushing in from the North West, scattered light showers were the setting. Things started to shift more from direct North and BIG winds arrive, with them driving rains! I ran behind a green belt of brush about 20' tall between the river and farm field. Hunching up tight to it on the south side was great shelter, the storm was really raging! The worst of it lasted no more than 20 minutes.

Later speaking with John who had caught a ride across just prior, he told me that fish seemed to have become active on the front of the system that blew in. Alex had taken a Grilse. John hooked and landed a Salmon Frankey estimated @ 18lbs! Once again on a Bomber.