Thursday, November 15, 2018

It's Here, Or Very Close

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.












33 comments:

  1. 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".

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    Replies
    1. John Dornik
      Thanks
      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"...

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    2. Alan, have you forgotten "mud season"?

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    3. John I think that's the nastiest season. Some of those back roads have some pretty big ruts in them coming out of that season.

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  2. I 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.

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    Replies
    1. mike
      Thanks
      Mike that list of winter nasties make one think twice about venturing out. It's very tough but some one has to do it.

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  3. Those are two lovely wild browns Alan! Well done

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    Replies
    1. Mark Wittman
      Thanks
      Mark you are familiar with the stream. It can produce some brutes.

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  4. 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.

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    1. David-Mary Noll
      Thanks
      We have the same regulations here. Most are C&R until April. That Driftless area is a place I would like to visit someday.

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    2. If you ever come this way let me know. Sounds like your season is the same as ours.

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  5. That ice on the eyes does present a problem now and then. Upcountry streams close today, but we still have the downcountry lakes.

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    Replies
    1. Mark Kautz
      Thanks
      Mark so fishing is available to you. I'm sure you'll take advantage of it when a nice day presents itself.

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  6. Switch to Tenkara for the winter, no iced up guides!

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    Replies
    1. bill piatek
      Thanks
      There you go. Bill there's a product out there called Stanley's Ice Paste...it helps.

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    2. I'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.

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    3. I'll be waiting for a report.

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    4. All 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.

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    5. Bill, two thumbs up...thanks for the report.

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  7. 30 to us is Centigrade and mighty warm. When we do get dowm low (to us thats 0C) Glycerine helps on the iced guides.

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    Replies
    1. Bureboyblog
      Thanks
      30 degrees here is below freezing. Glycerine thanks.

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  8. Alan
    Ice 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

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    Replies
    1. Bill Trussell
      Thanks
      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.

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  9. 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.

    I 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

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    Replies
    1. Parachute Adams
      Thanks
      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.

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  10. Love the pictures. I ran into a GBH this past weekend on a WTS, not my favorite bird to see.

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    1. Michael Capurso
      Thanks
      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.

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  11. Hear you guys got hammered in CT. Could you even get to a stream?

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    1. William Shuck
      Thanks
      Bill I got about 6", heavy wet stuff. There were probably higher amounts else where in the state. No fishing today...tomorrow well maybe.

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  12. Really nice brownies Alan, they could almost have been out of my local stream here in Yorkshire 😉
    Alistair

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    Replies
    1. Alistair Corbishley
      Thanks
      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.

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