The 2015 Opener - Bushwhacked

January over, February gone.  Many look to the robin or the groundhog for news of spring, I look to the trout.

JP and I spoke a few times over the past couple of days and decided to hit the small trout stream nearest our homes for the opener of the trout season.  It might have been fine to just hot spot from known holes and take what was given, but instead we opted for a full length tour.  We drove two vehicles and dropped one at a bridge access before taking the second to the headwaters, a section neither of us had ever seen.

For the first time in months I was overdressed and ended up stuffing gloves in my pack and leaving an extra layer or two behind in the car. 

It ended up being 2 miles of hiking.  The first mile crunching through the snow next to a mostly iced over trickle surrounded with gnarly undergrowth.  I know that no small part of that mile was spent on my knees trying to steer a 9' fly rod down a rabbit path. 

In retrospect, I think that finding the source of things is a good idea.  On the lower reaches of this spring creek, the water flows crystal clear through prairie land.  The channels, undercuts and watercress offer safe haven for more trout than you would expect.  The culmination of these upper end trickles and rivulets, seepages and springs form a sweet little creek.  But, to come away with the "knowledge of the source" we paid dearly in what a friend of mine recently called "Brush Rage".
The first thing my wife said to be when I got home was, "Are those scratches on your neck?", followed by, "Is that blood on your ear?"

So we came and we saw and we soaked up the sun and cursed and bled, we let our hands hold cork instead of shovels and we almost got skunked.

We were 100 yards from my truck at the end of our long slog, when my line came tight and I landed a 12-13" brown. 

There was no small amount of irony in all of that. 

But then again, perhaps that fish needed to be earned and maybe it was attracted to the blood and elbow grease on my fly.

ways and means

aaaaaaahhhhhh!

Spring movement

Lunch yesterday (for somebody), Muddler today.

Headwaters

Don't forget to look around

This one held still for the shot...

Bushwhacking

upper reaches

The end.