Trout Source

Warm weather out West has improved trout fishing, while steelheaders are enjoying a respite from recent heavy rains.  Out East, fishing remains sluggish, while in Michigan, mild weather has bumped fishing up a notch.  Skwalas are starting to appear in Washington state and northern California, whetting the appetite of those yearning for the spring hatches.

Winter Fishing Paradise (Owens River, CA)

We finally got a shot of winter at the end of January and it was much welcomed as the Sierra snowpack is at alarmingly low levels… 



…where the fishing ain’t bad either:
The bigs are still holding and these legendary migratory rainbows that move up during the winter from Crowley are spectacular! ...They can take off like a freak’n missile downstream and around a bend before you can even get moving.

Trinity Steelhead Synopsis
…finally a rotation of what appears to be the lead edge of our native winter runs are filtering up out of the canyons.  …this year traditional winter runs are late, very late with many questioning what’s up. As I have always preached fish don’t go by the calendar. It’s all about current conditions. Keep in mind this has been one of the driest winters on record.

…Trinity footage from January 2011

Skwala orgies on the Yuba (CA)
If your lucky you’ll find an orgy – This is their greet, meet, and get busy single’s bar.

…and on the Yakima (WA)
The big fish yesterday were keyed in on the stonefly nymph - which is not a surpise as we are only a few weeks away from Skwala season.
Video footage from March 2009

…where there’s a promotion named after it

Winter Cheer (Yakima, WA)
First part of February and no ice bergs for the last couple of days.

Oregon Steelhead Glory
… I had a friend visit for a couple of days who is a fishing freakazoid. I was not going to let the swollen flows keep us on the couch thinking about chrome anymore. …We searched for "steelhead water" and that was the hard thing to find with the bloated flows… …most of the water was a torrent of jet wash with heavy whitewater or boiling hydraulic pools that looked intimidating.


So, waiting, I have won from you the end: God's presence in each element (Goethe):

Wintry Saturday in Michigan (Au Sable)

…It was late at that point, and I considered turning in.  Snow had piled onto my shoulders and I had on my old bootfoot waders, the ones that are "highly water resistant".  I was soaked.  And not in a good place to be soaked.  My hands were cold.  I was alone.  I loved it.

Video Fishing Report (Green River, UT)

Where is winter?

…in New York’s Catskills
Either the calender is wrong or the weather is completely out of whack.  The weather has been unseasonably warm-yesterday and today the highs were in the 50′s.  The rivers have completely lost their ice and waters are flowing easily.  There is no ice even at the shore line.

…or in Montana
Our unusually warm winter has had an upside – little or no shelf ice on the Yellowstone. Which means you can wade fish the river pretty much wherever you please.

…where inspiration is found on YouTube
OK, it’s 45 degrees in Livingston, Montana and feels more like spring than January.  So as we are sitting here working on a few bookings for next season we keep looking out the window and thinking about, what else, fishing of course. …There’s nothing that will get you stoked for the upcoming fishing season like some good fish porn! [see below]

More Yellowstone Wildlife
On our way to Canyon Village, the fox [below], loomed around a small bison herd for about twenty minutes and hunted rodents.  

Updates on Gray Wolf OR7 (northern California)

• Feb. 2, 2012: OR7 has moved northwest and is still in Lassen County.
• Feb. 1, 2012: Wolf OR7 remains in Lassen County.
• more updates

Wolf vs. Coyote
Before OR7, the last confirmed wolf in California was here in 1924 and since then, investigated “sightings” have turned out to be coyotes, dogs, wolf-dog hybrids, etc.

Beer = fish? (Truckee, CA)
One beer can change the outlook on everything. After refusing a beer with brother’s Bryan and Jesse this morning, I finally gave into the peer pressure, then of course, Truckee local, Bryan, landed his biggest rainbow to date on the Truckee River. Good times with good dudes.

Fly Fishing Blogosphere Highlights

Thanks for reading.