Today everything looked good. A little extra water, a little bit of color and a few fish to hand. Snuck out today from 3:30 to 5:30. Caught a few fish on #20 P.tail. The water was 41 degrees and I did not expect to catch anything since I was past the peak warming period for the day, but the trout were there. Fat, they had been eating something, gorging on something but I didn’t know what. Stomach pump would have been the only method but I stopped torturing trout with this method long ago. Seamed a particularly active fish that I had caught back then didn’t like having a tube stuck down his throat. Probably one reason was that this trout doctor wasn’t particularly skilled at this procedure in the first place. I remember this fish because the image is lasered into my brain.  As every muscle in its body flexed and twisted the trout headed skyward. My hands followed as though I could still recover the flying fish from the air. I remember looking skyward and still seeing the red rubber turkey baster bulb  flying with the fish. Unfortunately, the tube was still stuck in his throat. As the trout hit the water the stomach pump did not dis-lodge . instead it swam begrudgingly for a short distance until the fish finally coughed it up. I did not give chase. The event was too traumatic.

The waters look like they will hold for a while until the warming trend becomes more intense. There is no good prediction as to the conditions in the near future. The temps are creeping up and eventually the rivers will run cloudy. I will keep on top of it the best I can.

Do attend Tom Helgeson’s Greatwaters Fly Fishing Expo this weekend. It is your show. The Goat will be there tying flys all three days