January Thaw

Shadows on snow.

This weekend was beautiful. It seems like every year we have at least one weekend in January that feels like spring. This was it. I explored a small crick on Saturday for the few hours I had to fish. A class A brown trout stream, I was surprised that my first catch was a stocked rainbow. He had to swim pretty far to get to the hole I pulled him out of. I did finally catch a nice little wild brown before heading back home to make some burritos. 

I had more time to explore on Sunday, so I decided to check out a new section of a larger limestone creek that I had fished a few times previously. This stream is often overlooked; though there is one particular spot that seems to get the most attention. I didn't see anyone else on the water. 

Since this was new water to me and the levels were a bit up, I slowly worked my way out to a long mellow run tight line nymphing. On the set as I was lifting the rod to cast, I felt what I thought was a rock when it rolled over and shot downstream. I kept working him back over closer to the bank, trying to get upstream of him as we coasted down under a bridge. After about 50 yards, I finally, kind of, netted this beautiful rainbow. Though stocked, this dude had definitely been in the water for a few years. Beautiful colors. I've never hit the 20" mark this early in the year. I love the back and forth of a good right. There is a metaphor here that I'm going to keep working on. 

After the rainbow and the adrenaline, I realized that my left boot was leaking. I kept fishing, but after another hour or  so, my foot was completely numb so I got in the truck and drove upstream to warm up a bit. I fished one last section as rain starting gathering through the valley and landed a handful of wild browns. They all took big tungsten nymphs on the bottom. I'm ok if January freezes up again. I'll be waiting for the next thaw.