A Winter Weber Adventure

This fishing trip started out partly cloudy with moments of sunshine and ended in an all-out blizzard. We arrived just before sunrise, and while Rob was putting his fly rod together, I went down to the river to make a few casts. My first hookup came on the second cast, and a few head-shakes later, I landed a nice Brown. He was a little on the skinny side, but this catch gave notice that we were in for a great day on the river.

Once Rob was set up, we walked to the first hole and both of us were into fish quickly. Rob was using a beaded hairs ear with a rainbow warrior dropper, and I was flinging some jigs. This first hole produced a couple fish each with several misses mixed in. I caught the tail-end of Rob's first hookup on video (I love my new iPhone), and you can see it for yourself below.

 

First fish of the day.

 

 

The next few holes and stretches of river didn't produce much, but we did land a few here and there. The fishing seemed to pick up as the weather deteriorated. The harder the snow fell, the more the bite picked up, at least that's what it seemed. Breaking ice out of our eyelets became a constant battle, but with the catching being good, it didn't seem like that big of a deal.

 

One of several Cutthroat trout.



Beats Skiing if you ask me...

We continued fishing as the snow continued to fall harder and harder. It wasn't bad at all until the wind started blowing. It went from lightly falling down to blowing sideways which made it feel like needles hitting your face. That's when we called it quits and started back to the vehicle. The walk back seemed like it took forever. The wind was blowing directly at us, which made visibility almost zero. This was the only part of the trip that wasn't fun.
I enjoyed watching Rob catch fish on the fly as much as catching them myself today. I'm going to make a greater effort this year to get better using a fly rod. I do alright on lakes, but don't have the feel for it as much when hitting rivers. I'll admit that it's hard doing the switch when you have confidence in what you're used to doing. I guess you will see how I do with this goal later this year.

Like a Boss...

 

 

Bad weather never felt so good!