We still need more snow! The snowpack is around 90% of average. The good news is that it’s only early March, and more snow is in the forecast; we will see what happens with that. The key now is a long, cold Spring. We want that snow to stay as long as it can!
The Weather was beautiful this past weekend, so I headed down to the river on Friday to see what might be happening. I headed down to the usual spots to check things out. I got to Ora Bridge around 10:00 AM, and the temps were hovering around 35 degrees. I parked at the old bridge and peeked over the edge. I didn’t see any fish up, and to be honest, I had no interest in picking ice out of my guides, so I loaded up and drove down to the Fun Farm. When I got down there, the temps were hovering around 37 degrees, and I saw a fish rising! Wintertime flows are low enough that if you know where to get in the river, you can wade out to the islands (be very careful if you don’t know where to get in. The water gets deep quickly). The water temps are 38 degrees, and while that does not seem to bother the midge hatch, I had a hard time finding any other fish feeding on top. Midges were plentiful, and I bet if you had a bobber and some Zebra Midges, you would do just fine. Getting down to the boat ramp requires four-wheel drive, and you could get a boat in and out at the fun farm access.
As hard as I looked and hoped to see some heads, it wasn’t meant to be, so I loaded back up and headed up to Vernon. It was busy, and I saw plenty of bent rods. Fish were up eating midges at the boat ramp. The number of people enjoying the Sun and the good fishing was nice. I didn’t want to crowd anybody, so I grabbed my rod and walked up to the bridge, got in, and walked up about a mile. Once again, not a single head up. However, had I not been so stubborn and put a couple of Zebra Midges on, I would have crushed it! I turned around, and with my bottom lip hanging, I made the long walk back. By then, some other anglers had come up, and I chatted with a few guys who were having a great day nymph fishing the deeper holes. The water temperature at Vernon was 40 degrees.
I got back to my truck around 3:00 PM and made the journey back to the Ora Bridge. The crowds were starting to thin out. I saw a lot of sunburned faces with smiles coming up the hill. The folks I chatted with in the parking lot had some great fishing with little bead heads and smaller-sized rubber legs. I walked down to the river with rod in hand, and it happened. A couple of fish were rising! I watched for a few minutes and put a couple of casts over them. I tied on Harrop’s Hanging Midge and two casts later brought a healthy Rainbow to the net. I made a couple more casts and another one. Perfect! I reeled up and watched a couple more trout rising and took a water temp: 42 degrees. What a great day to be out and about!
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