fishing right now...

is outrageous. phenomenal.

because of the early thaw, the low valley runoff is done. but it's been cool enough the last week to keep the high mountain runoff from starting. the result is a fantastic little window where the water clarity is just good enough and the fish are hungry after a long winter.

an email to my dad from this morning:

dude,

the big bend behind and down from snowbowl is fishing as good as any hole on the white right now. i took this morning off to fish it again; i figured the fishing would still be hot since the weather has stayed cool (40s & 50s). let me recap my morning for you. in 2.5 hours of fishing, with a san juan worm and a #18 olive bh flashback pheasant tail, i caught (in order):

* 12 inch rainbow (sj worm)

* 16/17 inch rainbow that fought like hell and took me down to the next pool again (sj worm)

* 20/21 inch fat rainbow that went 3 or 4 pounds (pheasant tail)

* lost a 15/16 inch rainbow that jumped twice

* 13/14 inch rainbow (sj worm)

* 16/17 inch brown (pheasant tail)

* lost a nice fish at the head of the pool; it rolled and looked to be at least 17 inches

and, finally, on one of my "last casts", i hooked into something that at first i thought was a log. seriously. and then it started to move. i've never had that happen before, where i've mistaken a fish for a snag. this thing was big, and it had to have been a brown, since i never saw it. it lumbered around the pool for a few minutes, upstream and down, taking my line out at a leisurely pace. and then i lost it. i'm telling you, this was a big mammajamma.

dw