80 degree temps have littered the last week, bring us into the spring fishing mode…
The week saw some early precipitation…and brought the rivers into prime shape for Thursday. This time, the high rivers showed their true fertility…bringing us fresher fish. The rivers were loaded, and the people moved in…en masse…
Eggs were the ticket for numbers…but throwing meaty streamers were bringing in the fresher fish…
With Good Friday off (along with the rest of the God-fearing world)…the question of where to fish with my time off started early in the week. Being the one who didn’t feel like dealing with the douchebag snaggers for fear of what I might say or do, I decided to introduce my little cousin to some PA trout for the day. Being a new fly flinger at age 9, this is, at least in my humble opinion, a big rite of passage…
So Friday AM we were up…made the trek in 2.5 hours…him zonked out…me and the iPod jamming out, not sure what to expect from him and a full day of fishing. Within 10 minutes, we were re-rigging him, which wasn’t a huge surprise. The back casts tend to flow awfully close to the ground, which means anything that is more then 6” off the ground tends to be an obstruction…but he was managing with about 25’ of line…
After the first few casts, it was becoming apparent that the egg/nymph set-up was getting a decent drag towards the end of each cast, so on the re-rig, we gave him a nice schlapin bugger as the dropper..
Sure as shit…within 15 minutes he was asking me if he should strip in the fish, or get him onto the reel…
Now this creates a little issue. We go to X stream, and within 30 minutes, the 9 year old lands a fish. There’s now an expectation that this is how it should work. After another 15 minutes, it was suggested that perhaps all of the fish weren’t biting in this hole…so we should move. So we do…but with the rivers becoming more and more crowded, finding decent real estate that a child can wade to safely that wasn’t already being fished was tough.
Long story short, we fished all day with only one fish to show for our efforts. A little disappointing, but watching the first trout landed in his short fly fishing life was priceless. Long list of reasons why, but I’m sure as anyone who’s been fishing with children knows, it happens. We did better then some, worse then others…but a fish is a fish…
The great news was that the caddis have finally come out to play for the summer! Which means that we may be making another impromptu trip back in the coming weeks…perhaps before the opener…
On Saturday Amy and I decided to go for a canoe ride. Despite many canoe trips together, since we got the boat, she’s never been in it, and I kinda wanted to go explore some of the local bass waters for the year…
Of course we’re all into it…so we ignore the high wind warning and go anyways…and bring Finn to ensure that it was a higher risk venture. We paddled, explored, and did a little fishing, but with the front/wind blowing it, it was a short casting session. I did manage to get my first gill of the year on a dry, so I was happy with that. Finn fared well also, with his only faux pas being the licking of lake water over the gunwales…
Overall a great weekend to get us back into the summer time. We’re anxious to get the move on with regular hatches, and surface hungry bass…
I know these are supposed to be steelhead reports, and I kind of have to admit that I do miss swinging for them…but I just feel that I’d rather spend my fishing time taking long casts to feeding fish quietly and without anyone around. The rivers have been swamped with people…even to the point where guides are having a hard time finding water to put clients on…so we’ll just continue to quest for fish quietly and reporting back on wherever that may take us…
More Pics from the weekend...
Drifting...
Crayfish...
Finn's Spot...
"I see ducks..."
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