Icy Guides And Brown Trout

I managed an afternoon-to-sunset brown trout stalk tonight.  The fish were fairly skittish in the low, clear water and I spooked out a couple on bungled approachs.  Finally, the sun faded away behind the mountains and things turned on as the relative safety of darkening skies got the browns interested in chasing the leech.  Another fun evening slinging the three weight.  The only drawback was 20-25 degree temperatures had me chipping ice out of the guides often enough to remind me it was still January.

Sun fading on the water

A brown trout with a beautiful spotting pattern

First Trip Of 2012

Even as woefully behind on the blog as I am (expect some coming historical post to catch up on the fall season), the draw of a new trip in the new year was too much to resist.  I was out the door and scouting water on a day that felt down right balmy for January.

I managed to nab the sometimes elusive first fish on the fly for the 2012 season.  A nice brown trout.... hopefully a good omen for the new year.

First fish of 2012

The first two fish hookups on the day I managed to LDR.  They were nicer browns and hot dancers on the three weight.  It was just an all around beautiful day to be out and about - sunny, windless and 50 degrees.  I missed a few other strikes and of course spooked out a few fish here and there.  It felt like April and all I could think about was the coming of spring.  There will be more winter to come, but a few days like this sprinkled in amongst the storms will help me bide my time until the inevitable blossoms of spring.

Another pretty brown trout on the hot head leech

Fall In The High Country

Here is a short video meant to capture a glimpse of a solo high country day trip on a Sunday afternoon.  The fish were cooperative and I had a spectacular fall day in the mountains.  I posted this in HD so hit the full screen button to get the best viewing.  All trout actually fell for the hopper today.  Top water action in the mountains has been outstanding this season.

Sunset In The Valley

I managed a brief trip into the high plains that found a solo rainbow trout willing to take my grasshopper pattern as the daylight faded.  However, the dancing leaps of the trout were not the pinnacle of my evening.  I was lucky enough to witness a spectacular valley sunset.

The solitude of calm waters, trout concealed beneath the reflections of a fleeting sky, never to be seen again.

Kokanee Salmon Staging For Spawn

Eric and I went out to scout kokanee and see if we could find any willing to hit flies.  I managed to have 3 follows but none of the salmon were aggressive enough yet to actually take the bugger.

The video below gives you an idea of how active they are currently and that they are ready to get their spawn started.  This all seemed to be pre-spawn activity as they did not seem to be on any beds yet.  We could see massive balls of red salmon moving about under the water with many breaching, sometimes in unison.



We then headed to some trout waters to scout them as well and see if we couldn't pick up some fish.  Nothing was happening on either of the other two lakes we checked out.  It made for some slow fishing but seeing the kokanee saved the day and will hopefully provide some good action when they get more aggressive throughout the fall season.

Eric waiting patiently for a strike