February 6th, 2020
Fishing has been steady over the past week, with some glorious weather on Saturday and Sunday. Water temps were at 40deg Monday, which is quite warm considering we are still in the gut of winter. The next fews days will be cold again, with some possible snow mixed it. But thankfully, it's not going to be extremely cold, and will still allow us to get out!
Drifting small nymphs has still been the best method right now. Pale nuke eggs and glow bugs have hooked steelhead, as well as stoneflies and alevin. Caddis and small stoneflies have been good for both trout and steelhead. On bigger tailwaters, the midge bite has been really good, especially over the weekend with that bright sunlight. There were even some fish feeding just subsurface, taking pupa emergers. Pretty cool stuff.
The steelhead are certainly around, and we are just starting to see the first Spring fish arrive. Mostly dark winter fish right now, but once in a while you'll hook a big bright silver one thats been inland for only a few days. The run will start to pick up momentum very soon, and with any big rain, things should be full on in a month or so. Get your boxes stocked up, should be an epic season!
The rivers are about perfect right now, as far as levels go. Nothing is really blown out, and most rivers are easily fished on foot. Seems like the first time in a while since that's been the case, with the prolonged high water since what seems like October. Bundle up and get after it!
Couple items we've been really impressed with lately:
Couple of housekeeping items to address:
We've still got some great tyers on the docket for our classes. Kevin Feenstra, Dennis Potter, Steve Pels, Matt Peisert, and many more. Click HERE to view the calendar lineup for our fly tying classes.
The Fly Squad Fundraiser is scheduled for Tuesday Feb 18th 6-11pm. We've got the entire top floor of Rockford Brewing reserved, so should be plenty of seating. The last couple of years were great, with lots of solid prizes raffled off, and some amazing fly tying talent on display from our good buddy Matt Grajewski (@adaptivefly). Mark it on your calendar and make an appearance! All proceeds go towards funding the Northview Fly Squad's annual fishing trip out west. Very fun event.
Lastly, here's a quick video of the King Fry. These are fun to fish in the Spring, especially with a little swing out after your drift. Easy to tie. More info in video. Thanks for the support lately! See you out there!