4-25-03 - Fresh-Cut Redds; less than 48 hours ago I know second-hand that fish were on these puppies! Where are they all now?

4-25-03 - The Precursor to another weekend of fishin!

Rivers Fished: Pike River
Fish Caught: 0
Outing Date: 4-25-03
Weather: Sunny
Air Temp: 50's
Water Temp: N/A
Water Level: low
Water Color: Clear
Fish Species: Steelhead
Pattern Fished: N/A
Pattern Color: N/A
Fishing Quality: Didn't Really Fish

Daylight-Savings combined with the extending daylight hours of spring have started to allow for evening trips north; with this knowledge in hand I made a mad-dash for the Pike on Friday after work! 24 hours ago fish were on the Redds, I knew this second-hand from a reliable source. 48 hours ago the fish were there as well! So I hopped in about 7:00 where I thought I'd find them...and guess what, all I found were redds. Nothing but REDDS at A & 13th. I did stop to "fish" what I thought was a fish in a hole...turns out it was nothing but a stone with a leaf trailing behind it. Trust me, it LOOKED like a fish at the time.

So I moved upstream to find one lone fish on a redd; totally crusty and barely alive. I walked the entire stretch of gravel, eventually returning to this fish, who had picked up a companion at this point. Totally spooky, he moved back into a pool well before I was even within fishing range. A look at the pools upstream turned up another underneath a bridge, which I fished in vein for a bit. The bite was nowhere to be found.

About 8:00 things were getting pretty dark, and I headed back to the old female, still sitting there barely moving. End of legal fishing time was roughly 8:15 PM, and honestly, as that time hit about 10 friggin fish poured out of the pool above her and onto the gravel. All I could do was strain in the darkness and watch (or more precisely listen) as the orgy began. I guess that old girl got her last hurrah in afterall. At least I knew where the fish *should be* in the morning.

  MP