On the Fly : A Fall Day on the Ken Lockwood Gorge

After fishing the Claremont Stretch of the Raritan for the last couple of days, I decided to spend the entirety of the day at the Gorge. The water was low and clear, and being an overcast Tuesday, saw very little angling pressure. I began my morning on the river around 9:15 and was off to a good start. Nymphing with a small egg pattern trailed by various midge patterns in size 20, I landed a small, freshly stocked fall rainbow of about 7 inches followed soon after by a brown that was about 12 or 13. I continued nymphing throughout the remainder of the morning and into the afternoon and landed another small rainbow and another brown of about the same size. Before calling it a day I found it very difficult to leave and hoped to get one more as I often do. sitting in a slow run, a 12 or so inch brown was hanging suspended, sipping tiny insects off the top of the water which I believed to be midges. I watched him continue to rise for a little, and decided to cut off the nymphing rig and tie on a griffith's gnat in a size 22. I cast to the brown and got a couple good drifts over him. After a couple casts I finally got his attention as he came up to inspect the fly, but denied it. I continued to cast to him again, and this time he couldn't resist. Setting the hook the brown swam upstream, and fought hard before he was finally brought to the bank. (probably one of the last if not the last trout I will get on a dry this year.) With temps dropping daily and early sunsets, the warm summer nights and mayfly hatches will be missed until next summer. Taking the last fish on a dry was truly a great ending to a great day.