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After the handful of quality fish Jeff and I found on hennie spinners last post I wanted to get my Dad in on the action. We headed out to the same stretch a few Friday's back in the evening and waited patiently for the bugs to show.
Unfortunately as dusk grew closer some nasty weather rolled in and although we never actually got poured on the wind and thunder/lightning got pretty worked up. Still a few bugs showed and we found a precious few rising fish, all of which were very sporadic. Dad and I each casted at a fish in the lower run with no luck and it looked like that was pretty much it. I walked back up to the top run and after squinting in the fading light saw one very small dimple in a back eddy. One cast and the fish sipped my spinner down with confidence. Great fight on a 4wt...this fish was measured just under 16 inches and im pretty sure it was the same fish I got a few nights before. I guess catch and release really does work.....
That fish ended the night as it started to rain a little heavier and the remaining bugs headed for the trees. Not much of a spinner fall but 1 good fish to net was good enough for me!
The next day Jeff and I floated some big streamer water and had a great time. The water was up a bit and holding a very light stain, which mixed with a day of clouds and rain made for a solid streamer bite. I got us started right off the bat fishing a murdich minnow.
Jeff was up next and started with this scrappy brown looking for a big meal to help him grow.
From the on Jeff went on quite a tear. He hooked and lost an 18-20 inch brown and then proceeded to catch several mid to upper teener browns.
Needless to say I was in awe! Jeff is an excellent fisherman but especially with streamers..combine that with the deadly tan fathead he was throwing and you get many fish in the 16-19 inch range to the net. When I finally did hook up again it was this spunky smallmouth jumping all over a tan and yellow ditch pig.
After that I landed a couple small fish but never could get a solid fish hooked up. 2 different fish about 10 minutes apart blew the water up as soon as my fly touched the surface yet somehow never got the hook....both of which looked to be mid to upper teener browns. All in all it was a killer day even though we rowed out in a driving rain. We landed 10 trout and a bass and moved 25-30 fish for the day. These are the days you hope for when you throw streamers and the ones you remember when things get tough.
With the streamer fishing being so good on the weekend Jeff and I decided to run a shorter float one night after work. Mid-week evenings on the river are so peaceful and quiet.
First order of business? Crack open a good beer....
The action was actually pretty good right out of the gate despite the bright sun and clear water. Jeff stuck this bass within the first few casts...
He quickly followed up with this respectable brown...
When it was my turn to throw I moved 3 quality fish very quickly and then the bite slowed waaayy down. From there on out it was only smallies to net...one of which that was a real bruiser!
Not exactly what we were expecting for the evening but no complaints. A few trout to hand and 4 bass in a couple hours after work is hard to beat.
This past Saturday my Dad and I got out on his pontoon boat for the first time this year. It's a pretty sweet 2 man toon he bought last summer and is actually really comfortable for 2 guys and the necessary gear. Here is Dad at the put in.
The day was a real scorcher with bright sun so needless to say the streamer bite was pretty tough. It was the first day of the year that I wet waded and some thirst quenching beer was essential.
All day we threw to the banks looking to pull a fish out of the structure with streamers but it was really tough going. Finally, late in the day some clouds started to roll in and we started to move some fish. I moved quite a few fish, including a few better fish, but only got 3 fish to actually commit. Only one is worth mentioning....this guy hammered a tan fathead from some fast pocket water and fought as hard as any brown I can remember. This is my best fish of the year so far...
Dad was able move one small fish and then hooked up on a heavy fish that spit the hook after a few seconds but couldnt get anything to the boat. The rain started as we neared the takeout and I couldnt help but think how different things could have been had we had rain and clouds all day!
Sunday was yet more streamer fishing as Jeff and I headed a little farther north to some smaller water we haven't been on all spring. We were told the lower water was up a bit with a nice stain.....but we found it to be very low and gin clear. That and full sun all day made things brutal and we spent most of the float drinking beer and watching Lucy enjoy her surroundings.
Finally some clouds rolled in during the late afternoon and the fish responded. After moving a few decent fish I hooked our only good fish of the day dredging a deep pool with a #2 black bugger. 17 or 18 inches and one of my better fish from this water.
I few bends down I hooked another brown that looked to be a little smaller that I lost and then landed a smaller brown. Jeff stepped up and moved probably 6-8 fish over the next half hour but couldn't get any to commit. The final hour or so the bite turned off and some badluck came our way. Jeff broke the tip off his 7wt and I somehow ripped the sink tip portion right off my 250 grain streamer line. The gray drakes were going absolutely nuts right at dusk in some of the thickest spinner clouds ive ever seen but a storm came in and sent them back to the trees before they could hit the water. Probably for the best, it was best to get out of there before something else broke or somebody got hurt!
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