Some Autumn Days

Next Monday, Nov. 18, will end my autumn outings along the stream and in the woods. If I do not chicken out, I will be having my right knee replaced. Over the years I have done all I can to avoid this, but now it is necessary. Many people who have had replacements have encouraged me that my surgery will get me back to doing most of my favorite activities.

When I decided to have the surgery performed, I opted to hold off until after the beautiful days for autumn trout fishing and until after the fall turkey season. These are two of my favorite sporting seasons, and I did not want to miss them. If something goes wrong with the surgery, I will at least have experienced this fishing and hunting during the autumn of 2024.

My fly-fishing adventures were productive. Typically, I like to fish from about 1:30 until 3:30 or 4:00 during warm autumn afternoons. These hours see a gradual rise in most streams’ water temperatures toward the trout’s optimum level for activity. This, along with the trout’s need to feed prior to the spawn and the winter to come, makes them active and susceptible to an angler’s offerings. The down side of autumn angling is that the water is generally low and clear, making the trout difficult for a fly-fisherman to approach. This fall was tough, since my knee(s) made it challenging for me to get close to the trout on an unobtrusive basis. Also, I know that I could catch more trout while using nymphs than I do while tossing dry flies, but I like the visual experience of watching trout rise to my floating fly. Most autumns I experience a “trout goofy day” when the fish are willing to eat any fly I toss their way. Not this year. I enjoyed steady fishing, catching and releasing trout up to 18” during most outings; but I didn’t have a day when the trout mindlessly attacked my size 14 Adams dry fly.

As of this writing, I am living up to my reputation as the “worst turkey hunter in the Cove.” When my dad, Bob Tate, and my father-in-law, Bob Mingle, taught me to hunt fall turkeys, they taught me to “run them down.” I have not been able to cover the ground I once could; and though I found turkey signs a couple of times when scouting (and giving up some fishing time) prior to the season, I have not spotted even one wild turkey while actually hunting.