Was out twice this week, here’s what to expect. Tuesday and Thursday were cold, overcast and windy. 38 felt like 17 and the push of cold air from the North at 15-20 was not as pleasant as I might have hoped. Streams are extremely clear and the best approach is from down stream, making long upstream casts. Even the deeper water appeared shallow and one could see the bottom in most places even without the sun.  No fast water fish yet even though I checked the likely spots. Fish that I caught tended to lie in slower dark bottom areas against stream banks where sighting them was almost impossible. These darker areas will warm a bit more. Deep still water pools are holding fish but drifting a nymph to them is like bobber fishing and very boring even along the seams where you could get some drift to the indicator. This is a bit perplexing but it is what it is.

The lower Kinni gave me the 3rd skunk in a row. I have now fished the middle in two spots and Tuesday I fished the dam section from Glen park down. I was greeted with a disgusting  racial slur spray painted and scrolled across the hydro wall of the lower dam. The picture above shows last years youth art project simply naming the dam FRED. The city obviously painted the walls of the structure gray to cover over FRED. This week something much darker was in its place. I took a picture simply for documentation. I will not post it for that would be playing into the hands of the perpetrator and spreading his/her message. As I pondered the ugliness of it all, no fish, the thoughtless message, the decaying concrete and the break in the natural flow of nature, it once again reinforced the obvious. I would rather have Falls than Walls. Mr. Toland, Mr.Simpson tear down those walls!

Thursday I fished elsewhere. Cold, ugly, but I caught 4 nice trout and missed another. I worked hard, stayed stealthy, paid attention to everything around me and made adjustments. I came home happy and content.

I was re-reading my copy of Spring Creeks by Mike Lawson. His life long book and an excellent  read. I met Mike in 2004 or 5 when he was the guest speaker at Tom Helgeson’s Greatwaters  Fly Fishing Expo. In early for the show I was able to take him and his wife Sheralee to see the Kinni, the Rush and the Trimbelle. He had never been to this part of the country. The waters were high and dirty. We talked instead of fished. He was impressed with our waters and provided me with thoughtful insight. The beginning of chapter 11 of his book titled “Responsibilities” begins with these words.

“For whatever reason men fish, they are rewarded simply by the things they see. All the mechanisms of life are visible to those who look for them, from the nature of the very smallest creature to the natures of men. A mans behavior on the stream is likely to tell much about the kind of man he is.” Steve Raymond. Although these are not Mike’s words he has brought them to light in Spring Creeks. The rest of the chapter is filled with the same insightful commentary pertaining to situations we are, or will be facing,  here on our home waters. They are wise words.

Catch me some fish this weekend please, and report back if you can.