Tuesday Fishing Report: Breaking Trail

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We've broken the 60 degree barrier the past couple of days, and my flu/cold is mostly gone. I should have been on the water yesterday, but finally made it this afternoon.

I decided to walk it today. The river is close enough that lastnight I could faintly hear the run under the bridge.

It's the first time I've made the walk, if you don't count the time the truck wouldn't start and I had to hoof it home. That was along the highway in the dark, and this was across the fields, a more direct route. As hikes go it's a hop, skip and a jump, nothing at all like the hike to Bonefish Flats from Last Chance on the Henry's Fork, for example.

When I got there I found that the water was even lower. That may be why I could hear it lastnight, as the riffles get more riffley. It's a sign of things to come, I'm afraid. I just heard that the snowpack across the state was 20 per cent below normal this winter, which means a dry summer, more drawdowns, and low lakes and rivers as the water is managed for irrigation.

Yes, I hate these gimmick shots, too--except when I take them.

This was the flavor of the day today, some kind of egg-eating leech. I tied it up on a nice 3X hook that used to be a rabbit strip streamer until the dogs got hold of it and killed it. I was hoping a Steelhead or two might want to chew on it this time.

I spent time at my usual haunts, starting with the run under the bridge.

A man came by on a walk with his dog. He lives somewhere around there, and I've seen him before and talked to him. Usually he's all bundled up this time of the year. Today he was in a T shirt.

I moved down to the long glide. On the way I got a call on my cell phone. I usually don't have my cell phone when I'm on the water. It's an attempt to get away from it all, and there's no service at the lake anyway, which may be a new measure of the desirability of a fishery. But today I had it, since I was practically at home, and I suppose it was a good thing. Isaiah needed a ride to basketball practice and Kim would be working late. It would be nice to learn these things before I'm on the water, but there you go. It still gave me about an hour to work the glide.

The midges were hatching by the billions all day, and this stretch was covered with them. A few fish were taking them off the top and I was tempted to tie on a tiny dry and have some fun, but I stayed on task and swung deep for Steelhead.

I came to the end of the glide without a bump, and there was nowhere left to go but home.

So I made my way downstream, waded out...

And hiked up the hill back to the old homestead.

I'll leave the truck at home again soon. I'd like to get the boys to go with me sometime. Statistics tell us that fewer young people are spending time outdoors today than in any previous generation. I'd like to turn the boys on to hiking down to the river with some friends on a hot summer afternoon with some spinning rods and a few Roostertails--or worms. I bet once they get a taste of that they'll spend much more time outdoors.

There are deer trails crisscrossing that field now. Maybe this summer there will be a trail from our house right down to the river.