4-10-2010

Got up early, a beautiful sunrise was the reward, and took the hour long walk into the great pool. Dead calm, water 45 degrees and crystal clear. Started swing the Black Magic again. Here you cast 40 degrees down, tight to the far bank. The fly would slowly swing out from under the trees and make it's way across. The speed of the current here is so nice, the fly just creeps across and is hard to resist. All of a sudden, as the fly comes out from under the trees, a nose. Nothing else, nothing violent, no slashing grab, just a nose. My heart is pounding and I am feeling really cool. It is hard to wait but I know there Winter fish sometimes take a bit more time than their Summer brethren so I let the fly dangle for 5 minutes. HAH, maybe 1.5 minutes. On the next cast in the same spot a perfect head and tail rise, a sip, and fish on! This one took me way down the pool, good sport on the 7 weight single hander. In hand this was again 8-9#, wild, and a buck. A lovely fish. Also this one did not stick around long but was back to the river in a flash. To my knowledge these are the first two Winter runs on this flow taken on dries. I will keep fishing them here for sure.

4-9-2010

Got to the river about 1:30 in the afternoon. Slight overcast, air temp high 50s. The water is a little high with a touch of remaining color but it is dropping and getting better every second. With the higher water the best taking spot at the top of the run is out of play. The money water at this height is the 5 big rocks just above where the tailout forms and the water speed picks up. I put on a Black Magic, dry of course, ans start working my way down from the top. Things are fishing nicely and my confidence is high. As I get close to the rocks I start working a bit slower. I am throwing careful casts that turn over and fish right away. Just about to rock three and I see a flash and there is a big smash on the surface. A moment later I am tight to a fish and the fight is on. Hot fish, all over the pool, almost into the backing several times. Moments later, in my hand, 8-9# hen, pure wild steel, not a scratch on it. I removed the Black Magic, steadied

her in the flow and moments later she leapt from my grasp and back into the gene pool. Lovely.

I took a break and an hour later or so went back through the run with a slightly sunk Duncan's and viola, another identical hen. A really nice afternoon

2-15-2010

Last day of this season. Sunny, water at 44 degrees and pretty clear. Fished three runs which fished like a dream. Fished dry, wet, and in between. No love but happy to be out there.
Thank you for a great season
Goodnight Sauk

2-9-2010

Another day in paradise! Water is way low. Temp at 40 degrees. Fished carefully through a couple pools with a dry. The little Caddis looked great but moved nothing, not even a cutt or a dolly. Moved to another pool. A real rock garden along the far bank. A long cast with later beam loops to get under the branches to the rip rap on the far side. Went through with the dry and moved a couple of cutts and a small salmon smolt. Sat down for a break and a think. Decided on a tiny 1/2" Ally's Shrimp on a 1/8" tungsten tube. Fly is swimming nicely through the submerged stones. Then just as it started to come under tension a ferocious whack. A moment later a nice grab and fish on. A few jumps and runs and the little buck was in my hands. A perfect little wild Steelhead. There have been a LOT of wild fish in this river this Winter. The DFW says there are no wild fish left in this system, oh well. These fish was MINT bright with a pale red stripe and rosy cheeks. A wonderful way to end the day.

1-29-2010

Went to work this AM and late in the morning got a call from some friends asking if I would take them out on the local flow for a few hours. I would rather do that the work any day. We popped over to the river and it was gin clear. Water temp was 43 so it seemed logical to fish a dry. My friends readied their sink tips on and led the way. We fished carefully through a couple of nice pools that have AWESOME structure. By the time we finished I just could not believe we didn't pull a Steelhead out. One more pool. Walked 30 minutes into a place which is a mile long bar but really 4 breaks. I have always done well here in the transitional areas between the breaks. Here you need a cast of about 70' downstream at 45-50 degrees and right up against the bank. The little fiery brown caddis was waking it's heart out saying EAT ME. In the second transition right where I would expect there was a nose and a blink and fish on. After a few minutes I was hiding 24" of pure silver. She was a beautiful chrome fish with almost no hint of pink on her sides. The odd thing is I could not place her. I know these fish and I know the different runs in this flow and this fish just did not fit. Could be a stray, could be a different spawning trin from which I have not seen a fish before. Oh well, she was AWESOME

1-28-2010

Another terrific day. No rain, overcast, cool. Today the water is crystal clear all the way to the mouth. Decided with the low water to walk down a ways to a huge bar below a boat launch. With an 80' cast here you can reach a nice slot of holding water against the far bank. We fished it long and hard. Pool fished like a dream. The problem was when the fly swung back over the bar there were so many Dolly's you could hook 2 or 3 on every cast. I have not ever seen so many in one place. These were not colossal ones we sometimes see here but man were there a lot of them. Went to 3 other pools and fished carefully both wet and on top but not even a pull. There is always tomorrow.

1-26-2010

Another lovely day, water in the low 40s and almost clear. Good flow and no fisherman. We fished a variety a great pools. Having no one else on the water makes it awfully easy to high grade the water. The pools fished great. The dry stone chugged and chugged. Fished sinkers in a couple of pools. Even tried a smaller caddis dry. Nothing. I will be back.