Real low, yo. |
I got out for a full five-hour skunking on only my second
trip of December. Maybe I still had the
smell on me from my last surf outing. The
surf continues to be a long drive for lackluster returns, so we bagged a trip on
Sunday, and I have just been busy with the end of semester stuff. I have a month off starting on December 19,
so fishing will be done, cold or not, next week and into the New Year. The creeks are really low, but if it rains
this Saturday, I will give it a shot on Sunday.
Today, besides meeting the need to get out on a beautiful day, was
nearly a waste of time. Midges and even
some olives were hatching for about an hour, but nary a nose to be seen. This creek fishes poorly for me in the
winter, but I was hoping for one last hurrah until late February or early
March. I had one moment of excitement
all day. With the water painfully low and clear, I saw a big brown give himself
away with a flash of mouth, eating something or chasing another fish, like an
intruder rainbow. Or he got the spawning
memo late and was still juiced up. I
stalked him with a bugger and got him to move twice, nip the back twice, and
when he finally ate, my overzealous hookset turned him. With a shake of the head and a panicked bolt
upstream to spook the rest of the hole, he was gone. I think that my ability to see the whole
thing so clearly, right down to the eat, caused me to set just a hair too
early. I should have waited for him to
turn, maybe, or for that whole bugger to disappear. It was a nice 16+ inch wild
brown too and would have made the trip a lot less lackluster and maybe gotten that skunk
off me. I don't believe those things are like slumps, however, so no silly rituals until the next outing on maybe Thursday morning.
Too much crunch time at work? Winter break might restore focus!
ReplyDeleteDef a day to have all cylinder firing, RR. And people who don't fish think it's relaxing!
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