Fishing has been pretty episodic and slow for me this autumn. It is self-inflicted, as I again have two jobs this fall while I teach at a local business school and have limited time. I’ve also been targeting areas with fewer fish and doing “dries or die” with tiny flies and light tippet.

For the holiday weekend, however, I decided to go for a long drive and hit some favorite spots to try my luck. It was slow-going, and other anglers also reported scant action. I think the browns have other things on their minds other than eating.

I had only one take after many hours of fishing. Fortunately, it was a buck brown that taped at 18″ and fell for a small jig-style streamer.

One redeeming feature was that few anglers are out. I think some are out hunting. My hope is that the economy is kicking back in as well, unlike during the height of the pandemic when people had time and our rivers were getting absolutely pounded.

On the way home, I hit some flat water with my 000-weight and managed to dupe a few fish with midge patterns. I split water with Joel Watson, the fly-fishing pro at the Cabela’s in Hudson, MA. What a great angler and a generous soul. When a few rookies peppered him with questions, he politely helped them out.

I hope everyone is having a great long weekend.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by BlogFlyFish.com (@blogflyfish)