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Thursday, March 24, 2011

Winter is Finally Over!

This was a long tough winter for me.  In a normal winter I will usually get a dozen or more trips under my belt before the season closes before opening day in early April.  This year it was looking like opening day would be my first time on the water.  As luck would have it last Friday my scheduled cleared at the last minute and I was on the water by noon.  The weather was unseasonable warm but the water was high, just coming down from flood stage earlier in the week.  Not perfect conditions, but with the season closing in two days there really wasn't another choice.


The day started a little slow but as the water warmed the fish turned on.  It was a Czech nymphing game as the high water had the fish pushed to the banks and in the softer water around the breaks, but the fish were there and they were eating.  The high roiled water allowed you to fish close most times not even getting your feet wet.


The fish were in great shape and looked like they passed through the winter in grand style.


Most of the fish were rainbows, but as the water warmed the browns started to wake up.


This is a new pattern this year and it produced very good.  I'll put up the pattern recipe in a few days.


The fish of the day was a big hen brown who ate the fly right on the bank in front of a log. 


With any luck there would be one more trip out before the season closed Sunday night...

3 comments:

  1. I'm curious about the dates of your open season and closed season. Sounds like it closes but then opens again in a couple of weeks. (Here in Mass, it is very simple... season is open year-round *grin*).

    Peter

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  2. Peter,
    You hit the nail right on the head. Our season is open year round as well with the exception of any river that receives supplemental stockings from the state. The season will close for a few weeks to facilitate the stockings on all rivers that receive fish in one form or another. These same rivers if stocked on a weekly basis will be closed one day a week (on stocking days) until the end of May.

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  3. Way to go. What an outing. Some great looking fish and fly of course.

    thanks for sharing.
    Passinthru Outdoors Blog - Sharing the Passion

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