Well, it was the annual Fly and Field "shake-down" float with the crew and guests. One thing is for sure, the river still flows north. This was the only predictable aspect of the entire trip. For those of you that have participated in a fishing adventure in April know that the weather can be, let's just say, #$%*@!! Guess what? It was and then some.
Since the entire river has yet to open, we were forced into floating the better part of the only decent weather we encountered on the whole trip. It was tough not to string up a rod and get busy on the numerous trout with noses up in every back-eddy in the closed section. Cool heads prevailed and we did a bit of nymphing that evening as we rolled into camp. Action was found in the seams along breaks and any stone pattern with a size #12 mayfly (March Brownish) did the trick. Trout were fat and sassy and looking ready.
That evening's weather turned the camp inside-out and the river rose predictably since it rained nearly all night. Morning was wet and slow and difficult to find the fish, but the afternoon break in the weather produced one of the most epic March Brown hatches that I've witnessed in a long while. By 2:30 the fish were boiling to eat literal rafts of insects piled up along the edges. We used all the usual March Brown patterns with great success. I love it when they don't even care. Parachute Hare's Ears to Quigley Cripples in #12's were pulling Trout left and right.
Following a late night by the fire, there was slow and cautious movement in the a.m. Cooler temps, but no precipitation was a pleasant way to dust off and get after it. Water was still off a bit and we stuck with deep nymphing seams until we started to see some adult activity. As predicted, afternoon hatches of BWO's and March Browns made an appearance to surface a few trout. Although not as prolific as the prior day's events, it was none the less encouraging. Slow moving bank currents and back-eddies were homes to hungry risers. We stuck with the same March Brown patterns and mixed in a few Blue Wings as well.
Overall, given the early April weather conditions and the post evening angler conditions, the trout fishing was decent.
