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It's rare that I get a chance to fish a river when it's falling perfectly into shape. Today was the exception. I checked the gauge on the way out the door: high of 12' yesterday and 11.5' today and dropping nicely. My first glimpse of the river showed nice steelie green conditions with some limited visibility, my favorite. I thought about jig patterns while I drove in: with visibility somewhat down a dark or contrast pattern should work well.
As I was putting on my waders, Andy-AP Emerger (your secret is safe with me :wink: ) showed up with his 18 month old son. The little guy had his very own fly rod and everything. I grabbed my rods and headed for the water. A few minutes later, Andy came through with his son strapped to his back, started working the water below me and soon disappeared downriver. A couple of drift boats passed. Soon, I was the only person in sight.
I had tied on a sparkly pink number and lost it on the first cast. Maybe the fish gods were trying to tell me something. Visibility was about 2' to 2.5' at that point so I tied on a black and pink jig with a little sparkle to it and worked in close to shore. I worked over the sections pretty thoroughly then moved down. One thing you gotta love about jig fishing is that you can cover the water pretty well in a couple dozen casts.
About an hour into it I had a bobber down. My first assumption was that I'd hung up since I was fishing a little deeper than I thought I should be fishing. As I reeled in tight, I could feel the head shakes. The bobber went down a good twenty yards below me so I did my best to keep pressure on the fish while I stumbled downriver to get closer to it. Once I was parallel to the fish it was all over but the release. A scrappy little native about 6lbs was tailed while I removed the jig from the tip of its beak. I took extra care to revive the fish and made sure that it swam off with vigor. First trip of the year, first fish. I think it's going to be a good year.
I moved back up to where I was before hoping to find the buck in the mating pair but I guess she hadn't paired off yet. I continued working my way down until I ran out of fishable water, then hiked back up to the truck.
I fished a couple of other spots and had a bobber down or two but had too much slack on the water to know whether it was a fish or a rock. Visibility increased during the day to 3-3.5' and the sun was out at times. With the water as cold as it is, I figured my chances were pretty slim so I headed home early.
Moral of the story: not all jigs that catch fish are white and pink. Sometimes conditions call for darker colors and black is a great option for limited visibility water.
PS: it's good to see that all the mud and silt in the Sandy has settled down, at least for now.
As I was putting on my waders, Andy-AP Emerger (your secret is safe with me :wink: ) showed up with his 18 month old son. The little guy had his very own fly rod and everything. I grabbed my rods and headed for the water. A few minutes later, Andy came through with his son strapped to his back, started working the water below me and soon disappeared downriver. A couple of drift boats passed. Soon, I was the only person in sight.
I had tied on a sparkly pink number and lost it on the first cast. Maybe the fish gods were trying to tell me something. Visibility was about 2' to 2.5' at that point so I tied on a black and pink jig with a little sparkle to it and worked in close to shore. I worked over the sections pretty thoroughly then moved down. One thing you gotta love about jig fishing is that you can cover the water pretty well in a couple dozen casts.
About an hour into it I had a bobber down. My first assumption was that I'd hung up since I was fishing a little deeper than I thought I should be fishing. As I reeled in tight, I could feel the head shakes. The bobber went down a good twenty yards below me so I did my best to keep pressure on the fish while I stumbled downriver to get closer to it. Once I was parallel to the fish it was all over but the release. A scrappy little native about 6lbs was tailed while I removed the jig from the tip of its beak. I took extra care to revive the fish and made sure that it swam off with vigor. First trip of the year, first fish. I think it's going to be a good year.
I moved back up to where I was before hoping to find the buck in the mating pair but I guess she hadn't paired off yet. I continued working my way down until I ran out of fishable water, then hiked back up to the truck.
I fished a couple of other spots and had a bobber down or two but had too much slack on the water to know whether it was a fish or a rock. Visibility increased during the day to 3-3.5' and the sun was out at times. With the water as cold as it is, I figured my chances were pretty slim so I headed home early.
Moral of the story: not all jigs that catch fish are white and pink. Sometimes conditions call for darker colors and black is a great option for limited visibility water.
PS: it's good to see that all the mud and silt in the Sandy has settled down, at least for now.
. Can't keep your hand in it very long cold (didn't have a thermometer).
