February Thaw

Well now . . . 10 days out of the icebox and into tarpon heaven makes another cold winter month whizz right by.  Boom!  February is history.  I need to do this in January too.  Now I just wish I was still there, or going back soon.

Campeche never gets old.  We fished mostly the same areas I've come to know, but every day is still different.  The wind blew every day from start to finish, but mostly from the east and southeast.  It prevented any offshore fishing, but the mangroves and certain coastline stretches were protected.  Extremely low morning tides early in the trip gave way to perfect falling water the last three mornings.

The week was highlighted by pure fantasy fishing from first light to sun-up on three consecutive mornings.  Tarpon rolling all around us, just begging for a white gurgler to chase and slurp down.  Pop-pop, slurp-slurp!  Just wow. Silly-good.  The shit dreams are made of.  It couldn't have been better, 70-80 minutes of mayhem. We were squeezed out of the islands after a couple of fish on the final morning, but those first two . . . wow.  I'll always want more.

The rest of the fishing followed how these trips go.  A dead first morning, a couple of good steady afternoons as the water came in, a couple of good days fishing the creeks and lagoons, random fish along the coast most days, and a couple of long-ass boat rides for nothing (that still make me scratch my head).

I got lazy with the camera and played with the Go Pro.  The captures from video just don't cut it, at either 60 fps or 120 fps.  The lens is much too wide.  Maybe next time.

Rumor has it the baetis are popping good on the home river.  It's gonna take some time for my mind to get back in tune for wrist casts, trout sets, and 6x.  I'll try.

Hot Fly!

Chewed Gurgler 

What a Guy Will Do . . .

 . . . Just to catch a few trout on a dry fly.  The longest, coldest month of the year, which seemed like 45 days instead of 30, is finally history.  No appointments or work today.  Sunny.  Temperatures in the mid-30's.  Warm before the storm.  Guess that's a "go," in spite of the odds.  Plus, I had something to test.

The sun still isn't very high, and there's only a few hours of direct sun in the lower canyon, and a very brief window just below the dam.  I want sun on me this time of year.  And then there's the stupid-ass "double peak flows" that the bureau of wreck-the-rivers does to generate power.  I know, the dam was put there for electricity, not the fish.  But still, its rediculous what they've been doing in recent years.  Today, the discharge was 1100 at 6 am, up to 3020 at 8:30 am, back to 1300 at 1:30 pm, and cranking back up to 3000 by 4pm. 

I went down river late morning, and the water was raging at just over 3,000 cfs.  Nothing doing, so up to the dam for the hour or two of sunlight there and lower flows.  It was just starting to drop rapidly when I arrived a little after 1:00, and as soon as it dropped about a foot and a half, the fish all came up.  Wasn't much for bugs, but they ate any and all they could.  They probably know the flood comes back in a couple hours.  The window was short, as it always is in the deep canyon there.   All little guys up by the dam, but it was ok.  I suspect not many people in the whole country caught a dozen trout on dries this afternoon in the wake of the polar vortex, I mean, a typical winter day in Wyoming.  More cold and snow is coming, in 48 hours.  80 degrees and Campeche Tarpon in 15 days!!!

+3,000 cfs in a normally great run.  Not a fish to be seen. 

Only the little guys up

Chewed Transitional Midge

Some this color too

The gravel bar now showing.  Notice the little dry spot on top.

CDC on a hook, visible in the dark after 2:00

Water all the way down, making a nice pool and riffle. 

They rose all up and down this bank.

Here's the two-foot drop between 1100 cfs and 3100cfs.  

THIS IS THE SHIT I'M DEALING WITH!

The test?  I had been reading rave reviews about Rock Treads, some "overpriced" studs a bit different from the rest.  Guys on the Roaring Fork in Colorado said they were awesome.  I haven't had anything but rubber soles in many years.  I do miss the felt, but those aren't good in the winter either, and they weren't ever any kind of magic.  Everybody said Rock Treads were different, far better than Korkers, or slip-ons, or any of the simple screws you screw into the soles.  What the hell, they were less than a tank of gas, and I ain't getting any more stable on my feet.  I bought a set, drilled out my new wading shoes, and bolted them in.

All I can say is I tried and tried to find a rock to slip and slide on, but they wouldn't do it.  The Green doesn't have many greased bowling balls quite like the Madison or Big Hole, but I waded out into some riffles with mossy rocks, and I couldn't get either foot to slip.  The places I've nearly face planted on many times are the mossy, slippery concrete boat ramps.  I walked and shuffled my feet on two of them, and never slipped an inch.  These "studs" were amazing.  The only place they were a little slippery was on some ice on the trail.  Anything slips on that though.  They were fine in the snow, and awesome in the river.  I can't wait to step foot in the upper Madison in May! 

Aluminum discs bolted right through the sole of the shoe.  Smooth on the inside, grippy on the outside.

No slip on the mossy concrete boat ramp.