3-19-05 - The mouth of the Pike was a "blustery" spot to fish.

Down real low on the Root.

Ken works a chute in otherwise slack water.

3-19-05 - Bested by the weather!

Waters Fished: Pike River, Root River
Fish Caught: 0
Outing Date: 3-19-05
Weather: Cloudy
Air Temp: 30's and dropping.
Water Temp: didn't bother.
Water Level: Root coming up (200+ CFS), Pike Up (80 CFS?)
Water Color: Muddy, visibility only 1' max on the Pike, even less on the Root.
Fish Species: Brown Trout, Steelhead
Pattern Fished: Spawn, Streamers, egg patterns
Pattern Color: Threw the gammut.
Fishing Quality: ROUGH!

Man, can I sum up an afternoon of fishing quickly...we made the cardinal mistake...we left fish. It started out that Ken was looking to break in the new 9' 7wt. I had built for him...he was also originally planning on bringing out a buddy new to fly fishing. By all accounts, a guided trip, but I forewarned him that if the DNR had not processed my license, I could not accept any payment from him. As of today, still no DNR license, so this trip is on me.

Well, Ken's buddy cancelled, so Ken and I just fished like we have before. Based on my luck the day prior, we started our day at the mouth of the Pike. 6 fish were on stringers when we arrived, 5 steelies and a brown. One of those steelies was a buck with a head the size of a truck...it really didn't look like it fit his body! While we braved casting into a 20mph north wind, we saw yet another steelie landed. All of these fish had come for lucky anglers bottom bouncing spawn.

Now, I hope Ken doesn't mind me saying this, but he needed some work with the fly rod. After Ken called it at the mouth (seriously, it was BITTERLY COLD) we went upstream to the spot where I had done well yesterday. Most of that time was spent helping Ken acquire the roll cast, which with some practice he got down pretty well.

This spot on the Pike proved to be too dirty to fish...you just couldn't even see the bottom mear inches from the shore. I figured we might as well head to the Root and try our luck downstream. This proved to be a futile move...the Root was also pretty dirty. One last move a bit upstream didn't yield any more luck for either of us...while there were plenty of brown trout smolts around even these proved to be tough with the dirty water. I'd say Ken vastly improved his fly casting, and if anything, that was the best catch of our day. Ken and I both knew that leaving the mouth of the Pike, which was hot right then and there (and from subsequent reports is now back to DOA status) was probably the only real mistake we made that day. Live and learn.

With the Root coming up, I didn't even bother with fishin' Sunday...rather it was an ideal day to build rods! After talking with several of my buddies, skipping Sunday was on all accounts the prudent choice. Even the guys I know who've fished the SE Tribs for 10 years+ are scratching their heads....we all agree on one thing...it's been really really cold.

  MP