Yesterday morning was my first taste of winter. The air temperature was about 30 and the wind chill quite a bit colder. I was dressed for it and I did not feel that bad. The one positive about cold weather fishing is that I don't change flies often, my fingers do not function well so I usually stay with the first fly I tie on. As the morning progressed the the sun took over and warmed things a bit and so the ice jammed guides were done with.
The fishing was slow at first and even in the softer water strikes were few. I was content with the fact that I was out and soon my luck would change.
Along the bank in the quiet water this silver bullet struck a soft-hackle just at the surface. A bullet indeed for it shot all over the place trying to shake the piece of iron in it's mouth.
Another fisherman...obviously he had his eye on a spawning couple. My being close changed his plans.
As rough as this water is it had several pockets that were OK to fish. And a couple of those pockets held fish.
I was happy to manage to pick one out of a soft pocket.
Winter ferns? Such bright green mixed in with the brown of the forest.
A pretty good pocket water fly.
Hi Alan, Time to give it a rest. Trout fishing. At least for me. Caught my last trout, of the season, a couple of days ago. A newly stocked "rainbow". Resting will make it all the more special come next Spring. "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven".
ReplyDeleteJohn Dornik
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John there are so many exciting days ahead. I love those day after holiday outings, New Years Day and such. As long as I can reach the stream I'll fish.
In Maine they have a saying, "there are two seasons in Maine, fishing and swimming"...
Alan, have you forgotten "mud season"?
DeleteJohn I think that's the nastiest season. Some of those back roads have some pretty big ruts in them coming out of that season.
DeleteI wish Maine had given me the option to end my season as I'd like. I would love to still be fishing, though the weather here already resembles mid January: snow, ice, cold, and bitter winds make any fishing attempt an exercise in futility. Keep fishing; your winter posts are like a balm until spring.
ReplyDeletemike
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Mike that list of winter nasties make one think twice about venturing out. It's very tough but some one has to do it.
Those are two lovely wild browns Alan! Well done
ReplyDeleteMark Wittman
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Mark you are familiar with the stream. It can produce some brutes.
In SE MN we are lucky because three State Parks are open year round. Then in early January C&R opens in both the SE Mn and SW Driftless area.
ReplyDeleteDavid-Mary Noll
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We have the same regulations here. Most are C&R until April. That Driftless area is a place I would like to visit someday.
If you ever come this way let me know. Sounds like your season is the same as ours.
DeleteThat ice on the eyes does present a problem now and then. Upcountry streams close today, but we still have the downcountry lakes.
ReplyDeleteMark Kautz
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Mark so fishing is available to you. I'm sure you'll take advantage of it when a nice day presents itself.
Switch to Tenkara for the winter, no iced up guides!
ReplyDeletebill piatek
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There you go. Bill there's a product out there called Stanley's Ice Paste...it helps.
Tenkara works for me too.
DeleteI'm going up to a lower elevation spot tomorrow. The Tenkara rod will come along. They got about 8" of snow a few days ago.
DeleteI'll be waiting for a report.
DeleteAll stocker rainbows Alan. Caught a number of them. But beautiful weather, mild, calm and sunny. It was a fun day to be out. I'm grateful.
DeleteBill, two thumbs up...thanks for the report.
Delete30 to us is Centigrade and mighty warm. When we do get dowm low (to us thats 0C) Glycerine helps on the iced guides.
ReplyDeleteBureboyblog
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30 degrees here is below freezing. Glycerine thanks.
Alan
ReplyDeleteIce in the guides is cold-----I will probably never experience that here on the Sipsey. I'll get a chance to experience the cold next week, fishing the Sipsey. The hatchery will dropped 3500 rainbow in the tailrace tomorrow, can't wait to fish it next week.
Wish I had some of the those ferns to plant in our yard when our house is completed. Beautiful areas you're fishing even in the winter. Thanks for sharing
Bill Trussell
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Bill the ice can be a pain but not to where it hampers the fishing. 3500 that's a lot of trout. You should do well. Those ferns don't seem to mind the cold.
Alan, as I was driving through rural Connecticut yesterday observing numerous streams, I had a feeling you were out fishing. I'm glad you connected with those handsome browns.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how long the herons hang around? Maybe until we are iced over for the most part. I bet they take their toll on the spawners this time of year.
Regards, Sam
Parachute Adams
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Sam I had a good three hours to enjoy the outdoors. We have herons around the pond here until it freezes over. A CT biologist told me once that if you want to find spawning trout look for Mr. Heron.
Love the pictures. I ran into a GBH this past weekend on a WTS, not my favorite bird to see.
ReplyDeleteMichael Capurso
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Mike they are part of the natural world, just not favorites. We have a pond here at the condo and I saw a heron feast on a small musk-rat. It was brutal.
Hear you guys got hammered in CT. Could you even get to a stream?
ReplyDeleteWilliam Shuck
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Bill I got about 6", heavy wet stuff. There were probably higher amounts else where in the state. No fishing today...tomorrow well maybe.
Really nice brownies Alan, they could almost have been out of my local stream here in Yorkshire 😉
ReplyDeleteAlistair
Alistair Corbishley
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Alistair it was a nice change, seeking browns and actually catching a few. The icing on the cake was that they were coaxed to take a North Country Fly.
Perfect Alan.........
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