No Freestone Today

The plan today was to fish some freestone water but when me and scott arrived it was high and muddy which tends to make the fishing a bit of a bitch, especially nymphing. since plan 'A' was shot we changed course to plan 'B'. this was also up a bit but the water clarity looked good. the weather was warm and there was virtually no wind so streamers were again an easy choice for starters. we stayed the course for a bit but when we kept seeing fish and couldn't turn any of them we both switched over to nymphing. even that sucked for most of the day until we found a hole that had some willing participants. scott unfortunately was treated to one lost fish on the entire day while i was able to muster a few respectable fish. i clearly should've packed my 6 weight rod cause throwing the heavy stuff on my 4 weight kicked my ass up and down the river. wind knots, with no wind, tangles, trees, bushes, tons of frustration. it just didn't have the backbone that i desire for the heavier stuff. when we drove in the lower river was nice and clear but when we left it was pretty stained. this is a tough time of year when the lakes are still froze over and the rivers are getting blown out by snow melt. it'll continue to be hit and miss for awhile.

Run Off

With this waether i should've expected it but since the water was perfect 2 days ago i assumed today would be the same. yesterday was the warmest day of the year and now all the little feeder streams are dumping high volume chocolate into my section of river that i was going to take the kiddos to. it was depressing to see cause i new today if the river had been in the same condition as it just was that i would be roping a good amount of fish. well mother nature beat me to the river so we had to continue driving way upstream and fish a section that was up a little but clarity wise it was great. i took one fish right off the bat then i didn't even move any other fish on that entire section. the kids were starting to get bored so i told them i wanted to try one other short section before heading home. this section had no bank for the kids to take it easy on and with the water levels up it was just to much for them to keep wading and crossing. i fished up maybe 100 yards before calling it quits. i did move 4 fish in that short stretch but couldn't get any of them to commit. the weather was stellar and it was nice to get the kids away from the computer and the xbox.

Streamers....it's What's for Lunch

With these warmer temp's the fish are certainly becoming more active and starting to go out of their way to wack some meat cruising by. i caught a couple of fish shortly after i got to the water, one of which was real nice. i got to a point where i noticed a truck parked on the side of the road which had me nervous that maybe someone had dropped in above me. as i fished my way up i hit some killer looking water that i knew should produce some fish but i didn't get a single hit or a chase. i was starting to get the feeling that i was right behind someone since all this good water was void of fish. sure as shit, after awhile i caught up to someone so i headed back down to my starting point and decided i would just fish my way down stream instead. i love it when the water levels are up a bit cause the fish spread out and seem to be everywhere. i was constantly moving fish all the way down to a point where i decided that my back had had enough. i back tracked and fished a few selects spots on the way back up. i hit a number of fish and ended up catching one more. one of the frustrations with streamer fishing is when you are stripping and a fish hits you so hard that it pulls the line from your fingers and you don't get a hook set on it. i lost a few fish this way today. my back was hurting all day but it was well worth the pain.

Eastern Stream

So me and a buddy of mine decided to head east of the border and try our luck at a stream i had researched. i was surprised at all the snow they had over there, seeings how i didn't check the weather before hand i was not expecting it. the day was a little chilly, but certainly tolerable, especially when dredging thru all that snow, made me sweat. actually in one section we found a path thru the snow that the cattle had made which was a welcome break. not till around 2pm did the wind start to pick up. there was still some shelf ice and in one section pat was edging his way to the ice edge when he fell thru. luckily only to about navel deep, i wish i would've snapped some pics beofre helping him out but didn't think about it. one of these pics shows the hole in the ice after he went thru. the fishing was not spectacular. pat started with the small stuff and i went streamer. i missed fish after fish, which i assumed was cause they were short striking it, so i switched to a tan sex parakeet which has 2 hooks. i quickly landed 2 nice rainbows with that pattern and that would prove to be it for me. pat switched to one of his streamers and landed a nice brown with it. once the wind kicked up and the temp's seemed to drop the fishing went stagnate. all in all a pleasant day but i think i will give the snow a chance to melt a bit before heading that way again.

A Little Video....

My buddy pat at 4wt extreme angling made from last week on the chura river

Untitled from Pat Murphy on Vimeo.

Spawning Coastal Cutts

Behind the bubble curtain: The Underwater World of Coastal Cutthroat Trout from David Saiget on Vimeo.

Hit and Run.....

Seem to be the theme for the day. with the temp's in the 50's of course i am going to throw streamers. i think the fish were just trying to piss me off as they continually would tag my streamer but not hook themselves. 2 smaller fish were stupid enough to hit the streamer hard enough to get caught. they would hit me and then run off back to were they came from. the weather was great and i sure did move a lot of fish today. it was nice to get some bug shots as well. even though i am not very good with the macro lense i enjoy trying.