Smith-Continued

[Dee-Vo]

Pretty work.

[Woolly Bugger]

Sweet!


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[Dougfish]

Sweet.

[Dougfish]

Jumped in the upper river for a couple of hours before a meeting. Pumping about 180-200 cfs. Just fast enough to slow down your wading and check your footing. There is more sediment on the flat rocks and the slippage is real. A little BWO action. A few caddis aloft. Alone on the river. And slow.
Netted four, missed about the same on splashy takes. First trout of 2017 a Smiff brown. A husky bow came out to play, too.
Lots of bugs under the rocks. Spring hatches could be real.

[Woolly Bugger]

Tied up some puff daddies


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[driver]

What was the water clarity like? Curious if the snow melt will stain it up.

[VaTrout]

What was the water clarity like? Curious if the snow melt will stain it up.

Clear.

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[Dougfish]

Yep, pretty clear. 

[troutfanatic]

Damn Doug, those roachbows look like they have been there for awhile, and gone native.  y;

[Dougfish]

I don't know about gone rogue and all, but the past few have been fat, fiesty and been there a while. Fins ,tails and color were excellent.

[IFStultz]

Best winter fishing I can remember on the Smith. Wish it ran at 150cfs anytime they are not generating, but........


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[Woolly Bugger]

Walked in across the field, barren now, every kernel of corn picked from the cobs, in silence waiting for the spring plow.



The old truck sits idle, resting on bald tires.





Stepped down to the river and realized that I just high holed some dude. Standing on the bank I rigged my rod with a small slumpbuster while keeping an eye on the angler. Ok, it looks like he's moving down stream. I waded up a bit and began working the water. A fish flashed on the streamer on the third cast, a good sign I hoped.

Pune on the buster of slumps



Noticed that the guy was now working back upstream, maybe I stepped in on his water. Took another step and slipped, sat down to avoid a fall, but with wader pants on, I felt the cold water running in around my waist. Stood up quickly and removed my phone from the damp pants pocket. Whew, that was close and probably some sort of Karma revenge for my transgression.

He got out of the river and hiked on down a ways, I worked my favorite run and missed another fish, when I noticed a riser up close to the bank. There were a few BWOs in the air along with an assortment of miniscule midges, which reminded me why I dislike this stretch of the river in the winter. The fish rose a second time, hmmm, time to switch to a dry fly.



Fluffed up the #18 parachute BWO and worked this fish, on about the 20th cast (18 IMHO perfect drifts) the fish struck.



Now what? I hadn't seen another fish rise, so I just hit the usual runs, until the wind and my wet shirt and jacket made me think it was time for some dry clothes. Hiked on out after inspecting this recent beaver activity.



There was a new path down along the fallen tree where they gnawed all the bark that could be reached.

img width=800 height=451]http://www.brfff.com/btwc/ff2017/1-17/011517-102.jpg[/img]

Moved on down river at dusk with an hour of sunlight left in the day, streamertime! Worked the close run and thought about wading across and up the far side but opted for the easier near side trail. Worked a run that has not produced for me since last winter. I worked it near and far, up and down thoroughly. Stopped and took a few photos in the fading light and was ready to move on down to the next run when I though I should cast one more time.



Worked the rest of this short section without seeing another fish, walked out in the quite of the evening, with only the fading sound of the river and the crunch of the fallen leaves.



Drove on back into town for some dinner, BEEF BURGER!

[Dee-Vo]

Hell yea, Woolly.

[Al]

 Good report / photos Woolly. Reminds me I need to start switching gears from deer hunting to fishing. Still have 2 months left of urban archery.  I promised Damsel Fly I would shoot one for her but she would have to help drag it out and clean it. If the weather warms up I may give up on that idea and just give her some straight from the freezer.

[gamatt53]

I got up there monday for a couple hours in the afternoon. It had been awhile and I was rusty...had really lost the subtleness required to softly land a cast after bombing warmwater all summer but it started to come back. Wasted a good bit of time throwing a dry then eventually caved to nymphing and dialed them in on a little black stonefly trailed by a cream midge.  Way more silt and didymo than I can remember below basset but the 150 flows were nice.