Sunday March 23

The forecast said 28 degrees was going to be the high.  I'm pretty much done with freezing guides for one spring but I'm also down with a bad case of, what John Gierach calls, the "Shack Nasties" (aka cabin fever).

I grabbed a 3 weight, a pocket full of flies, a spool of 4x and ziplock full of braunschweiger...plus the dog, Thor.  I figured I might as well start training him not to trash pools and spook fish.  We hiked over the first ravine and upstream into the skinny water.   I've never spent much time with a dog afield and it was impressive to watch is body move in response to the messages coming through his nose.  I don't know what they are smelling but it's certainly beyond my olfactory equipment to understand what the hell he's doing.  I wondered if I might be able to get him to point brown trout...

Away from the waters edge I asked him to sit and stay.  I moved toward the water and I could hear him raise up from the dry grass.  I returned, made my second request and when he sat back down I gave him some of the braunschweiger.  Incentivized sitting.

He stayed put and I immediately blew it on 4 trout in the first pool...and I was worried about the dog affecting my fishing.  The sun was up, the wind was down and despite the low temps this was shaking out OK.  

A couple of Sandhill Cranes emerged through the grass much too close for their normal spooky sensibilities.  I stepped on Thor's leash and snapped a few pics before walking toward them so I could watch them lift off on their giant wings.  Just before they departed they started their croaking call and I could see Thor's head lift to see what the hell was going on.  Cool bird.

We continued Thor's training and my fishing until I finally landed a bright brown and I made the obligatory introductions between fish and dog.  I had to hold the leash close after the release or I would have seen Thor take his first swim.    We kept fishing downstream and I tested the distance I could go while the pup sat and waited.  I was pretty impressed.  More braunschweiger was administered.  It occurred to me that I was the one having all of the fun so we cancelled class for the rest of the day and found a stick just perfect for tossing and retrieving.

I brought the whooped pup home, fed him and left him in his kennel for a nap, tied a couple of flies, donned my waders and headed back out.  It seemed the obvious choice, given the fish I'd moved earlier, to head back out to the same stream.  I went downstream instead of back up and was impressed at the number of trout visible through the clear spring creek water.  I stood on the bank and shot some photos of a few browns feeding.  I wished that I would have brought my polarizing filter but the sun was high behind me and the viewing was great.

A kingfisher called as it flew from a branch and I reached for my camera hoping it would offer me a shot.  It flew downstream mocking me and my inability to capture it on film.   Just then a trio of obliging chickadees landed close and made me feel better about my bird photography.

I've only ever fished this part of the creek once before and the tangle of wood and soft bottom make it a little tricky.  The last time I was here, the clouds covered the sun and the visibility was poor.  Today was different matter.  Moving slowly, I swung my little bunny leech into deep water and dark spots and had fish flash often enough that I was reconsidering my opinion of this stream.   The bottom is soft bright sand and spotting fish and/or fishy water isn't to tough with good light. In the end I landed 5 or 6 trout and spooked hundreds.  The big one that got away darted out from an undercut bank three times to the first fly I offered and then once more to the next fly I tried.  I never felt it, but i got a pretty good view of it and now I know where it hangs out.  

The dog stayed put when asked to do so and ointment was applied liberally to my case of the "Shack Nasties", and though the guides froze up eventually, it wasn't enough of a problem that I had to think too much about it.    

I reeled up and decided that it was all better than I hoped and probably more than I deserved.

Abbey Road comes to mind...

Sandhills in flight

Thor

Thor staying put...

Thor's turn for fun.

Good light for photos

The grass on the far bank reflected gold.

Thor's first look at a Brown Trout

ready for release

Feeding Browns 1

Feeding Browns 2

Chickadee 1

Chickadee 2

Chickadee 3...thinking I should have the lens cloth handy.