Monday Fishing Report: One Foot in the River

I continue to keep one foot in the river, waiting for conditions to change. So far it's still low, and I've seen no sign of salmon or steelhead in my section.

This evening I waded upstream seeking deeper water.

I stopped to fish this run. I like it, for some reason. There's a nice deep seam right along the bank and that blowdown. I've not caught anything out of it, but someday, when the conditions are right....

I found a deep stretch. I already knew where it was; I had waded across it earlier in the season, but I hadn't really fished it. This time I explored its length and breadth. It's a good long run with deep holes. Promising.

I waded in spots over my waist. Wish I'd known the front pocket of my waders, where my billfold was, isn't waterproof.
I found fish, too, but they were smallies.

This is the tail of the run. As it got darker there was a heavy caddis hatch here and fish were rising to them. I switched to a beadhead nymph and hooked a nice fish. It wasn't a steelhead, and it came off before I got a good look at it, but it was a heavy fish for a trout or a smallmouth. I ended up staying on this stretch until almost dark, then waded my way back to the bridge, fishing as I went.

I hooked another good fish. The first time I got it up to me it looked like the best trout I'd caught yet on the river, but it splashed away. The second time I got it close I was able to get it in hand and take a better look. It was too dark to see clearly, but it was clearly not a trout. My guess is whitefish. That would be a first for me on this river.

Maybe that's what I lost earlier.
I managed to climb the steep bank in the dark, and only hung up my line once and fell twice. I misjudged that first step, and then there's a big hole at the top that I never noticed in the daylight.

Tomorrow I hope to get back to the lake, where my other foot is. But I'll be back to the river soon.