Chances to practice for the World Fly Fishing Masters Championship ended today. I work at home then Thursday I leave for Nebraska to teach fly fishing seminars before Sunday traveling from Omaha to Spain. Dreadful weather and high waters have limited me to three outings. Looks like I’ll be counting on a lifetime of trout fishing experience to perform well in the competition.
On Saturday morning Granny and I left on our first camping and fishing weekend of 2018. Temperatures were far from warm hovering in the low 40°s and the clouds were spitting snow. We drove three hours to a small stream. Most of the stream was frozen but a narrow channel allowed for me to wade upstream tossing a dry dropper rig with ice cold hands.
The stream is similar to the tournament water we’ll be fishing on next week in Asturias Spain. Though I wasn’t expecting to catch anything I could practice managing short casts in tight areas. This isn’t my usual size trout water and a few snags in the bushes during a three hour session costs significant time. I’m happy to say I only snagged a willow once and I managed three tiny rainbows.
I fished the small creek for exactly three hours just like each of the four sessions in the next weeks competition will be. That was all I could take. I reeled it in headed for a warm Explorer. By the time I got to the car my wading shoes were so frozen I could barely untie them to get off. Immediately after I started a big fire and Granny went to work on an early dinner.
There’s nothing like car camping in the boonies of Idaho. It doesn’t matter how cold it is. When you have a big fire, a few beers, some red wine, a heap of delicious food and bed in the back of your truck life is good. We dragged the late afternoon into early evening before the steaks, potatoes and asparagus were ready to serve.
Just before retiring to the back of the Explorer we saw something we haven’t seen in a month – sunshine. At 8:45 PM the clouds broke around the setting sun and it cast this incredible light on the mountains. It lasted a mere minute but as always I keep my point-and-shoot handy.
This morning we woke up to partial sun but more cold and fierce wind. I fished a different river for three hours. It was larger but mainly because of runoff. Therefore it was icy cold and off-color. Three hours and not a fish. Hopefully this was my one blank of the month.
There will be one more fishing blog before I head to Spain. That’s because Larry Dostal of the Nebraska Cornhusker Flyfishers Club is taking me fishing Friday before I deliver my fly fishing seminars. Stay tuned for what will likely be some sort of warmwater species action!