Arrival Time: 1pm- Arrival Air Temp: 27°F
- Arrival Water Temp: 41°F
- Small #’s of Midge Present
- Very limited Rising
- Departure Time: 3:30pm
- Departure Air Temp: 30°F
- Departure Water Temp: 44°F
- Thick Ice Shelves Present
Saw the sun come out and decided a trout needed to be found. The snow was deep and heavy, I had snowshoes but wanted to be able to cross the creek and opted to leave them in the car. Trudging through knee deep snow to get creekside gave me a bit of a cardio workout not that I minded one bit. I was concerned the wind would pound me 
but I got lucky and it was a non-issue almost the entire time I was out. Interestingly enough the thing that was an issue was also the reason I caught so many fish in the short time I was on the water today that being…ice shelves. Thickest I’ve ever seen spanning the entire creek in several places and this near the headwaters of a system I know to have multiple springs. I can tell you that in most areas this is going to be an issue for a couple weeks to come.
The first fish I managed was a very thick and healthy looking brown pushing 16inches. I nailed this fish after sinking my streamer right on the edge of a thick ice shelf that stuck out into the creek. It couldn’t have been more than a couple feet deep below that shelf and several places I hiked I kicked trout out from shelves hanging over the edge of the creek. The fish are using them as perfect cover and I opted to target them for the rest of the day and almost everyone turned out to hold a few fish. I fished my lightly weighted mini-streamers I tied up the other day which turned out to be perfect for the lower gin clear water I found today. Fishing under the sun was a welcome change despite the lack of rising trout. I saw a spattering of midge crawling the banks and only a few fluttering near the water. Good water temps noted. Get outside and go fishing, good luck finding water that isn’t totally shelved over and remember to temp the creek. I am curious how long this snow and ice will hang around. Note: Below is the path my fly took to catch the fish of the day.
