Winter Notes

Kids been into ice fishing so we logged disproportionate number of hours on the ice.  Many many rainbows of this approx size been taken home.  Takes some adjustment going from the hunt of the stream to the persistence and vigilance of the sheet ice.  Never been skunked in some 4-6 winters of doing it.  Usually end up with 1-5 rainbows and some miscellaneous.  

They put brood stock in there too.  Calloused from a lifetime of rubbing on cement raceways. 

Mostly we fry them.  Sometimes fish tacos.  Here saving some with skin/scales on for smoking.

Many LMB, crappie and even one big bullhead have come through the ice too.

Flood control reservoirs around town are managed as recreational fisheries.  To change things up we head out there now and again; different deal: instead of a few bigger fish you generally find 30-50 small fish; pannies and perch.  Here we sorting out seven inchers to take home.

Stream Fishing

 

Why'd I tie all those nymphs.  

Just a few nymphing runs this winter; slightly below average results.  Best walk I've had was 2/24 from 10 AM to 1 PM. Started out nymphing and nose-tipped this beauty with big mouth.  Then just kind of stopped fish and started looking for fish rising to midges.  It's possible I may be done nymphing.

Nice water.

I walked to stretch of water that many years ago would put off midges in abundance.  I studied it a long time; kind of waiting.  No rises; swung SH through anyway; nothing.  Walked back downstream.  Eventually found risers.  Steady risers.  I put the Wilted on them one by one and proceeded to stick every fish that showed.  Quartering down and across.  The eats were violent.  And the fish were not dinks like you might expect in these settings.

You can toil with the upstream presentation but if you really want to pick apart risers, the soft hackle swing is ideal.

Did it for me; called it a day after a few hours.  Following weekend kid and I stayed overnight in a trout camp and I wasn't even driven to fish.  Just guided him although he needed very little help.  First hole he approached he extracted six fish with tandem nymph rig.  Then on to fishing the Wilted and he got two fish out of aquarium setting.  Nice way to close it out; we on the cusp now; winter's back broken; no more long cold stretches; soon we'll be into spring fishing; the good hatches; the green spreading over the floodplains.