J
Johnny Southpaw
Its been A WHILE since I've posted anything here. Been super busy with work and life...BUT i did manage to make it to the river just before Christmas and had a great day on the water. My buddy and I found ourselves at the waters edge just before light...cold and wet but no one else in sight
The water looks great-a bit high but fishable and great color. Started with bobber/jig and tossing some hardware for cleanup. My buddy lands two boot Coho on his bead setup within the first couple hours, nada for me About noon he hooks, lands and promptly releases a beautiful 10lb-ish native chrome hen on a spinner. We fish another hour, my buddy has a couple hookups that don't stick, and again nada for me. By this time I can barely feel my fingers they're so cold and numb. Could barely squeeze my clippers hard enough to cut my line to change gear:shock: The allure of getting back to the truck and heater proves too much, and we decide to call it a day. I am a bit sad, as I wanted so desperately to feel that amazing feeling when a nice fish decides to dance with you:dance::dance::dance: After a tough hike back to the truck, we pounded our sandwiches and warmed up a bit. Our energy and finger dexterity restored, we decide to hit one more spot and fish some water that's just off the road. My spirits are back up. We hit the water, my buddy goes downstream a bit, and I walk upstream to the tailout of the next hole. Second cast with my spinner and BAM! FISH ON!!! It feels pretty big. It soon goes airborne and I see that its a nice sized buck with some color to him, which has me thinking it's a summer fish. After a few more acrobatics and a couple nice drag-burning runs, I get the fish to the bank. Its a hatchery, and I notice it's left maxillary fin is clipped, meaning it's a winter fish, which surprises me, as the winter run is just underway for this river. While I'm tagging the fish and reveling in my glory, my buddy moves upstream about 20 yds. to the head of the pool and hooks into and lands and releases another beautiful, big, chrome hen! He decides he's done for the day and I say I'm going to make a few more casts then call it. I make my way back to near where I hooked the buck, and second cast into the same hole BAM! FISH ON! Quickly I see that it's chrome, and after a decent dance I get this nice hatchery hen (which I'm sure was the buck's lady) to the bank. It was a great day on the water. We went 6-8 collectively, and I got to bring home some tasty treats! The colored buck actually cut a little better than the chrome hen, which was another surprise for me:think: I sure hope I have a few more days like that this winter.ray:ray: It seems like there's lots of nice fish being caught this winter already.
The water looks great-a bit high but fishable and great color. Started with bobber/jig and tossing some hardware for cleanup. My buddy lands two boot Coho on his bead setup within the first couple hours, nada for me About noon he hooks, lands and promptly releases a beautiful 10lb-ish native chrome hen on a spinner. We fish another hour, my buddy has a couple hookups that don't stick, and again nada for me. By this time I can barely feel my fingers they're so cold and numb. Could barely squeeze my clippers hard enough to cut my line to change gear:shock: The allure of getting back to the truck and heater proves too much, and we decide to call it a day. I am a bit sad, as I wanted so desperately to feel that amazing feeling when a nice fish decides to dance with you:dance::dance::dance: After a tough hike back to the truck, we pounded our sandwiches and warmed up a bit. Our energy and finger dexterity restored, we decide to hit one more spot and fish some water that's just off the road. My spirits are back up. We hit the water, my buddy goes downstream a bit, and I walk upstream to the tailout of the next hole. Second cast with my spinner and BAM! FISH ON!!! It feels pretty big. It soon goes airborne and I see that its a nice sized buck with some color to him, which has me thinking it's a summer fish. After a few more acrobatics and a couple nice drag-burning runs, I get the fish to the bank. Its a hatchery, and I notice it's left maxillary fin is clipped, meaning it's a winter fish, which surprises me, as the winter run is just underway for this river. While I'm tagging the fish and reveling in my glory, my buddy moves upstream about 20 yds. to the head of the pool and hooks into and lands and releases another beautiful, big, chrome hen! He decides he's done for the day and I say I'm going to make a few more casts then call it. I make my way back to near where I hooked the buck, and second cast into the same hole BAM! FISH ON! Quickly I see that it's chrome, and after a decent dance I get this nice hatchery hen (which I'm sure was the buck's lady) to the bank. It was a great day on the water. We went 6-8 collectively, and I got to bring home some tasty treats! The colored buck actually cut a little better than the chrome hen, which was another surprise for me:think: I sure hope I have a few more days like that this winter.ray:ray: It seems like there's lots of nice fish being caught this winter already.
