I declare the winter fly fishing season to be over, period. Not because we will be fishing in shirt sleeves with the temps. in the sixties anytime soon. It's just that I'm tired of freezing to death out there in the early morning. From now on it's SPRING and I'll pretend I'm warm!!
The last two weekends have seen me at the "pipe" section of the Swift and each was a copy of each trip going back to November. Lots of small rainbows. Today was different. The river was higher due, as one angler told me, because water was flowing over the spillway at the dam. I don't like that condition. I'm seen the lower Swift go from placid to torrent very quickly and that condition can last for weeks. Anyway, I tied on a #16 hotspot and spent the next two hours with only four small rainbows. Time for a change of tactics. Off came the hotspot and on goes a #14 weighted scud pattern fashioned after the Czech series. It was a hot fly two years ago during high water conditions and it carried the day today. The next six fish (caught and almost caught) were much larger. The largest was 16 inches. Another about the same size tore off downstream. I lost it due to the fact that my reel was frozen, the tippet parting from the fly after a brief attempt to chase the rainbow downstream.
It was a good day, just too cold. I'm ready for REAL SPRING. I'm ready for the Millers.
Ken
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