Spring....Is That You?

It seems absurd to be talking about spring during a time of year thats normally the coldest and snowiest, but that's just how it felt all weekend. Instead of dreary gray and stinging cold we had temps in the mid 40's and bright blue skies. Dave and I decided to head up north a little ways to one of the better early spring rivers I know of. I had gotten a pretty good report the day before and figured it was worth a shot. With water temps several degrees warmer than they should be this time of year we decided to see if any fish wanted to chase a swung fly. Switch rods and streamers......


I stuck to my trusty skagit head/sink tip/big streamer combo while Dave took the gentleman's approach fishing a scandi head/poly leader/and some more classic flies. We fished down through several of the better runs in this stretch and didn't get a single pull.

Finally after fishing through the best spot in the whole river with no love we decided to head back to the truck to grab some nymphing rods for the final hour and a half of fishing. This turned out to be a smart choice. I hooked up not 5minutes into the first deep run we fished. After a couple minute battle trying to keep the fish out of a logjam Dave tailed this cool looking winter fish that ate a clown egg.


We pounded that run for another 45 minutes but couldn't find another player even though I know it held many more fish than just that 1...such is winter steelheading. At the last stop of the day Dave took the head of the run and I took the bottom. Again it didn't take more than just a few casts and I had another fish on. This fish had alot more energy than the first and quickly had me scrambling downstream. I managed to keep the fish out of a downed tree somehow but moments later while diving for yet another log jam the hooks pulled out. I didn't really care, I had already landed a fish and just to get a good battle this time of year is well worth it. We fished for a little while longer and then it was time to head home. I spent the evening down at Bell's Brewery drinking Expedition Stout and listening to one of my favorite bands...GREENSKY BLUEGRASS! These guys had the place rocking until almost 2am and put a cap on one hell of a winter's day.....