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3. The Boys Were Back in Town, Chapter 5: "Town and Country"

So, Joe & Todd have now come and gone from our Fifth Annual Fishing Trip! Not many fish were caught, but a new challenge has presented itself:

MIDGES!!!!

OMG, a pond that doesn't look the part is FULL OF TROUT!!! Right in freakin' downtown Harrisville! Right off US23, and yes, I did pull a 17" brown outta there in May (put it back too). But this I did not expect, fish anywhere from 6 to 14-15 inches LEAPING out of the water at a midge hatch that was skimming the surface. Read about it, heard about it, but have never seen this for myself, until now. At first we thought, well they just look like shiners...but then larger, orange/pink/red ones were clearing the surface..."Those are all trout!" "What are they eating?" "Dunno, I can't see anything!" Binoculars later revealed something on the order of size 20 or smaller...and in numbers. Fish were making really sloppy rises, some clearing the surface as described above, and on a couple of occasions I glimpsed a lemon-yellow belly ("Dangit, that was a NICE brown!!"). Sadly, this was not an easy one - they were far enough off shore it was hard to reach them (especially me working my dinky 6 1/2-foot 2-weight!) and even when we did (see wading photos!) our flies were too big and they showed no interest.

So what to do? Deploy the canoe and kayak! We'll get on top of 'em and hammer 'em with midge imitations (Todd had some). We were waiting most of the day for the sun to go down and the wind to die off, yet when we got out there and just into position to hit the risers, back came the f-ing wind and not only blew our boats all over the place, it blew away the midge hatch! The fish stopped rising cold, and we bagged it...only to see things calm back down and fish rising again as we were all packed up and ready to leave...well, I know they're in there, I will do my midge research, and I find it hard to believe there isn't something bigger that hatches outta there that they'll feed on! Especially with all of that weed and algae growth, it should be hatch city, but all we saw, leaving after 9 p.m., were #20 (or smaller) midgies...

But, that's not all! We also fished Mill Creek where it crosses Indian Trail and caught some little guys there, and it's a really pretty spot. And on Saturday morning my guts were bothering me (chronic condition), so I sent the boys on their way with directions to the Coppler Creek Canyon, and they had their own little lovely adventure there that they photo journaled in the pics in Part 2 (which see). And of course...they brought the strangest beers they could find, and typically shared them so they could compare the flavors, like last year but this time with plastic cups instead of my tea mugs...AND we ate up the fish (porgy fillets) I brought back from my Florida trip! Todd says that technically checks our "Foraging" box as I caught them myself...

Two old buddies that have been suffering on lockdown & needed to come up for some open space, fresh air, and some fishing! Once again, a major success! We fished in town, and we fished in the country!

Tight lines to all and enjoy the pics.

Jonathon

P.S. I did fall in that pond and filled my waders up with bog water before finally exiting...strictly for the boys' entertainment, of course. No pics, sorry!

Looks like fun!