Spring has fully sprung in my neck of the woods. Green grass sprouting everywhere, spring winds howling, and time to put the midges away until fall. This sunny day off pulls me to the river for one more session of little bugs.
It's been a long and productive midge season, one that started for me back in October at Silver Creek. The mildest winter anyone has seen made for 6 months of fair-weather midge fishing. This river in particular, 45 minutes from home, provided steady fishing all season pretty much whenever I wanted it. No snow. No ice. Rising trout daily.
Today the fish rise for several hours on a shallow flat tail-out that everyone else passes by. The flat is a spring feeding area, with faster current than the slow pools of January and February. At times there's rings of rises clear across it. They're not Missouri River sized fish, but cookie cutter 15-16 inchers, give or take. Browns mostly, with some non-spawning rainbows thrown in. The fair weather crowds have emerged, so this is my last stint here until late fall. Well, probably.
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| Steady flows, low and not spiking once or twice a day for power. This has sparked a revitalized dry fly bite. The fish just seem more comfortable when their world is more stable. At this flow I can even cross the river at the tail outs. |
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| Knee high and full of fish. |
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| Hanging / Captive / Hatched. |
