January was a tough month for me for a myriad of reasons and it took the whole month for me to get out in 2023. My family could tell as the shack nasties were hitting hard. My wife and kid all but opened the door and pushed me out Saturday morning. But alas, I got down to the canyon for the day and got on the board for 2023. The forecast looked positively mild for this time of the year (high of 49!?) with no wind--which was the recipe for a really good BWO hatch below the riffles and rapids.
Started the day nymphing with a double egg and boy was it slow. I pulled up two whitefish to get on the board for the year.
As I was driving further into the canyon my air pressure light came on. I got out to see if I could see anything and could literally hear the hiss of my tire deflating.
So I said &*#* it, I'm down here already, I might as well fish and figure it out later
. I was able to get to my favorite winter dry fly spot and rigged up my 4wt. Like clockwork the bugs started coming off at 1 and honestly, it was too good of a hatch. There was so many bugs on the water that the fish couldn't decide what they wanted to eat. In the end I went 2 for 5 on dries (clearly I was out of practice), nothing to big, both were about 14". But one of them had a very distinct red slash (I was really looking based on that other thread).
By the time the bugs stopped, I figured it was time to throw on the donut so I could get back to The Dalles before Les Schwab closed.
Hoping to get out this weekend to go hunt some bulls.
Started the day nymphing with a double egg and boy was it slow. I pulled up two whitefish to get on the board for the year.
As I was driving further into the canyon my air pressure light came on. I got out to see if I could see anything and could literally hear the hiss of my tire deflating.
So I said &*#* it, I'm down here already, I might as well fish and figure it out later
. I was able to get to my favorite winter dry fly spot and rigged up my 4wt. Like clockwork the bugs started coming off at 1 and honestly, it was too good of a hatch. There was so many bugs on the water that the fish couldn't decide what they wanted to eat. In the end I went 2 for 5 on dries (clearly I was out of practice), nothing to big, both were about 14". But one of them had a very distinct red slash (I was really looking based on that other thread).By the time the bugs stopped, I figured it was time to throw on the donut so I could get back to The Dalles before Les Schwab closed.
Hoping to get out this weekend to go hunt some bulls.
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