new travels to hillbilly country

So Memorial Day weekend has come and gone and I got a chance to fish with some new friends. This is always an interesting adventure. People come in different sizes and shapes and different attitudes. You get to the river and some turn into monsters, others are great fisherman. Some are good  fisherman with big heads and large egos. All personalities aside what is fishing for? To me it is a good time, sometimes quiet and relaxing other times it has been down right crazy and something you never forget! Some of my most wild adventures have been in a fish camp with drunken idiots and insane fist fights and chainsaws. That is no joke!
You really have to learn to roll with the punches out there as some guys will egg you on and bust your balls till you break. Others just know how to fish and to fish hard. I finally got to fish out of a drift boat this past weekend and got the normal tar and feathering from my buddy about my casting (he is the god of casterbating). It is like going to kindergarten for the first day and the bully you don't know is there comes to kick your ass. This is a mental ass kicking which is enough to make you laugh and possibly cry if you're sensitive.
I had to sharpen my skills quick or kill Captain Ahab on the back of the boat. Which was an option at one point but I didn't want to go to jail. Don't you dare ping a fish or miss the hookset or old Ahab was going to rip you a new one. Which by the way Ahab can miss all he wants he has been here before ( he gets kind of like he saw the white whale when he misses). All razing aside when does it become too much? You tell me folks!
This is what they call BUG WEEK in the hilly billy towns of upstate NY in Roscoe. Bugs just start coming off the water about two hours before dark which makes for tough fishing conditions. The march brown spinners were in full affect when I was there and they would just make it to the water at dark and the fish would feed on them till they couldnt see them any more. Problem is you cant see the fly either. So hooksets become harder. You have to cast and mend quickly and get your fly in the right spot because once your fly drags you will put the fish down and you have to move to the next fish. Do not ping the fish or Ahab beats you over the head with his wooden leg  just to make the burn even worse. Talk about pressure! You only really have a half hour of casting time and you need to be sharp. I wasn't so sharp my first night and Ahab beat me up pretty bad (you bastard). Problem is Ahab is a big boy with a melon the size of a car on his neck and you know if you talk back he might head butt you and kill you. By the time I got off the boat I felt like a newbie going to jail that got  raped.
The next day Captain Ahab wanted to wade fish so I was game for a morning of watching him dirty nymph the famous dry fly water. Low and behold Ahab locked into the white whale that took out line and gave Ahab an ass whopping and let him know the white whale rules the river! I didn't feel so bad after that and thank god for the white whale taking him down to ground level.
Day two was filled with relaxing at John Kavanaugh'S  trailer, who was a great host and I want to thank him for feeding me and Ahab. He went far beyond his duty as a host. So thank you to you and your wife John and thanks for rowing the boat and showing me your favorite river bed.
I ended up only landing one fish which was fine with me as it was just nice to get away for the weekend. I have been working six days a week trying to save money to finish my boat and buy a trailer for it. I'm excited to finish it and finally row my 16' cataraft. As a wayward drifter one must have dreams and I dream of a boat and steelhead and spey casting all day long. This summer I have taken on a job as a landscaper which has been taking up a lot of my time. This Bug week was an interesting break as I got to fish in the fabled waters of the upper Delaware River. The fishing was nice and the bugs were everywhere and thanks to my friend John Collins who tied me up the nicest assortment of flys for the trip up there. Luckly I had just gotten a nice Irideus fly box from Timothy Horner over at Irideus. So I was able to fill it up with a nice selection of flies, for Upstate New York  and New Jersey. I normally tie my own flies but due to some flood damage at my humble abode my fly tying table had to be moved and is a complete mess and a large job has ensued.
In addition to working ten hour days and cutting a huge lawn for a commercial business once a week,  I'm also digging a trench in the back of the house to add pipes to it. This is to divert the water away from the house. My summer has started off with a bang to say the least.
In the midst of all this some how I've managed to get on the water a few times. The other night I got into a sulfur hatch and the browns were hammering the with reckless abandon. I haven't seen this kind of dry fly action in some time and I managed to get four fish in about an hour just before dark. Not bad after a long day at work.
There is that word again, work. I have been working way too much but Im not complaining. I'll take it after being laid off for a year and a half. It is feast or famine it seems in these times. I dream of being out west day after day fishing for Steelhead or fishing for Stripers on the Delaware here at home in New Jersey. Hopefully soon things will slow down. Till then I guess I will keep Drifting along .NOW watch some video and Captain Ahab I'll be back ! CHECK OUT THIS LINK PEOPLEhttp://www.riseformstudio.tv/fly_fishing_video_bug_week_2011.html