2011 Playing Hooky Thread
Well it's a new year and time for a new thread.
It's already been busy around here as well as cold. The river I fish is virtually frozen over but it's been a tad warmer the past couple days so I thought I would poke around up there.
On the way up I spotted this guy first sitting on an iceshelf in the middle of the river, but by the time I got the camera out he was perched on this rock outcropping.
Then he took off and I snapped a couple more pics as he made a big circle around me.
Finally I made it up to my favorite winter time hole only to see I wasn't going to be fishing where I usually fish here.
Just before christmas I puled a couple fish out of here in short order. I caught fish between the big boulder you see in the middle of the river and the smaller rock just downstream (flow is towards you in this pic) that is barely poking out above the ice in this picture. Then I caught a couple more just to the right of that little rock. Obviously that wasn't going to happen again today.
Here's another pic of the cold cold river.
I continued to drive up river until I arrived at another favorite spot I have often found fish sipping midges. I was pretty sure it would be frozen over as it is a long slow stretch that is a long way from any riffles. Somehow though this little stretch was relatively ice free (at least in the middle) so I got out and looked around. Things looked dead but I started walking along the bank dodging the thick willows that choked the bank. As I turned away from the river to duck through a narrow opening along the bank I heard a slurp that sounded a lot like a fish plucking a midge off the calm surface. I quickly turned around and spotted the dissipating ripples of the rise. A couple seconds later another fish rose then several more and I got that instant jolt of motivation and practically ran through those willows back to the truck to slap on the waders and grab the rod. A few moments later I was hooked up with my first fish of 2011, and to make matters sweeter it was on a dry fly marking the 12th month in a row I have managed to catch a trout on a dry.
I fished for another half hour over sporadically rising fish with no luck but my cold feet were beginning to scream that it was time to go. Just as I was about to call it a day another carbon copy brown took my fly and fish number 2 came to hand. This fish looked so much at first glance like the first one I wondered for a while if it was the same one, but further examination seems to prove otherwise.
So my first outing in 2011 was a success.
Honestly I enjoy the reward of challenging winter fly fishing about as much as anything I have ever done. What a blast.
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Great start ...
