Hit By The Storm

I tried to get some time in on a plains lake outside of town and was promptly hammered by high winds and an approaching storm. As I arrived it was apparent the edge of the storm front was right over the lake. I managed to cast for a while but there was nothing going on fish wise. The three weight was definitely overmatched in the wind. I saw a couple seagulls have success at least and salvaged the evening by watching some shorebirds and nesting canada geese.

Lake as the storm cloud moves overhead

Day Of Streamers

The river has been rising with the recent snow and rain. Combine that with the start of runoff and its off color and starting to make you choose your wading paths carefully as the power of the water steadily rises. Eric was in town for a visit this weekend and we headed out early, driving through the rain and snow to get to the canyon trail head. Buggers and streamers were the order of the day. The fish were taking the big stuff so we were happy to oblige and ended up having a great time working the slower water for browns taking respite from the building runoff.

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Twilight With Floyd

Floyd and I met up at a little reservoir outside of town to try the waning light dry fly action. We had plenty of takers but they were so small it was nearly impossible to hook the little buggers. It's so nice to have local water close enough to spend an hour on enjoying the evening air and watching the midges dance on the surface of the lake.

Rings from rising fish in the reflecting sunset


Floyd working the water as the day fades

First Dry Action Of The Year

I had some time at the end of the evening to spend casting about on a local lake. I blew about 20 minutes messing around with nymphs and picked up one little stocker on a midge, until I noticed the fish were starting to really rise as the sun was dropping in the sky. Switching over to a parachute ant pattern turned it into a strike every cast. The fish I landed were all stocker rainbows about 8 inches long. Quite a hoot to pick up some fish on a dry though for the first time this year. They would chase the stripped fly on the surface repeatedly striking away until you either hooked them or ended up recasting. Not a tremendous challenge, but a great way to spend an hour on the water while tickling your funny bone from the amusing antics of these little fish.

Lake was full and looking good


One of the "little gems"


We are starting to get those pretty spring and summer sunsets too

Inaugural North Park Trip

Mark and I met up for a pleasant Sunday in North Park. They never received the pounding snow storm the rest of the region did and the trip down and back was easy except for a small amount of ice on the road in the morning.

We worked looking for some cutthroats early in the day. Mark managed one small cutt that had probably been planted this past fall and I couldn't swing any cutties. The rainbows were around however and the fall planted trout were consistently dancing our indicators. We managed a couple better fish throughout the day with Mark landing a 20 incher to top the day. The best days are coming for the north park reservoirs as the high temps this week should really get things going.

Early morning calm


Mark battling away with an ice out trout


Mark with a nicer rainbow


The release


A rare photo of me with a trout thanks to Mark


Mark's nice one of the day