Back to the River

I finally got back to the river after several days of winter weather that saw Sisters get a couple of feet of snow.

Yes, that’s me being a good neighbor clearing a driveway. I did that for three of my neighbors and kept our driveway clear as well. Some days the high temp’s were in the teens with lows below zero. Call me soft, but I decided to stay home and keep warm!

If you’ve been reading my blog, you know I’ve spent some time trying to tie a Green Butt Skunk Spey fly. With the weather so cold, I was able to tie several spey flies. I saw improvement with each finished fly. This is the final one to be mounted on the Spey Plate for the NW Fly Tying & Fly Fishing Expo in March 2017.

We did get back to the river a few times since the snow has fallen. I still can’t get over how beautiful nature is in every season. She certainly is dressed for winter!

Here is a picture of what winter dry fly fishing looks like. We spend lots of time observing the water.

That was a week ago. More snow has fallen since then.

And when the fish don’t show themselves, I just observe my surroundings and find a little inspiration in nature. Here is an ice crystal.

Or a freshly hatched mayfly. Yes, the background in snow!

The last time we were at the river was a couple of days ago. I made a few casts with a PMD already tied on from the last trip. I didn’t see any flies on the water and decided to change flies. In the time it took to remove one fly and tie on a BWO Improved Sparkle Dun, the fly line had frozen to the fly rod!

I decided to make a few blind casts since I was here, but not really expecting much.

It didn’t last long before my fly rod iced up.

I could feel the extra weight from the ice during my casting stroke. I noticed the ice and dipped the rod tip into the water because it was at least 20 degrees warmer than the air temperature. You’re right…it didn’t take too long for the eyes to ice up again!

I gave up and we headed home. Maybe on the next trip we’ll see a few more noses on the surface.

But even during weather, this is how I feel when we decide to head to the river.

OK, perhaps we’ve watched one too many movies during days of single digit temperatures.

By now you might have picked up on the fact very few fish have been caught recently…actually, none.

So today’s post is picture heavy to show the beauty of the season.

Hope you enjoyed it.

Enjoy…go fish!

Oh…Happy Holidays!