Is It Still March?

With the official start of spring still a couple of days away, I invited an old friend (BT) to spend the day fly fishing with me on one of the few local "catch and release" streams. As this unseasonable weather holds true to form, the sun melted the fog off early and the air temperature shot up above 70° well before noon. Mergansers and Canada geese paddled by in pairs and other wildlife bustled about as we fished. BT and I both marveled and grimaced at the May-like temperatures as we wondered out loud what it would mean for summer fishing. If we don't have a serious cold snap soon, the water will be too warm by June to support much life other than carp and bluegills. Still, we were happy to be out fishing on such a pleasant day.

The fish were being difficult, as is usually the case when you have the mindset that this is going to be "easy" fishing. Large black stoneflies began to hatch late in the morning, so we moved to the riffles where BT immediately began to catch fish on wet flies. We both enjoyed a the next 2 hours as fish continually pounded the flies as we worked them down and across the current. By the time we got back to the truck, it was almost 3:00. I was tired and happy. It was a good day.