4-4-05 - Start the day off with a bang - A Chrome Male Looper!

Ken was out plying the pocket water for steelies.

4-04-05 - Doing a little Pre-Fishing

Waters Fished: Pike River, Root River, Oak Creek
Fish Caught: 1
Outing Date: 4-04-05
Weather: Partly Sunny
Air Temp: N/A
Water Temp: Pike River - 40F, Root - 46F, Oak Creek - 52F
Water Level: Pike River - 50 cfs and falling, Root - 200 CFS and falling, 20 CFS and falling
Water Color: Oak Creek Clear - 3'+ vis, Root muddy, Oak Clear, visibility 2'
Fish Species: Steelhead
Pattern Fished: Egg Patterns
Pattern Color: Red, Pink, Orange, Blue, you name it.
Fishing Quality: Fair

What can I say...5 drifts in on the Pike and I nailed a chrome looper! And surprisingly, that was IT FOR THE DAY?! Ken F. was out...he had already landed a fish or two. Guess I knew where I'd be guiding tomorrow ;)

This is one of those short days...I should've gone home after landing my fish...along the lines of Len Harris's "1 over 20", call it a day" rule. Ken and I headed upstream quickly and ran into Frank Nardomarino of Troutwalker Guide Service...Frank was already calling it a day after landing a fish (smart man). At least he had his spring trib fix as well!

I figured I owed it to my clients to check out some of the other area rivers. Upstream on the Pike wasn't very active other than for suckers, so it was time to move on and check out the Root River. After stopping in Lincoln Park, I headed upstream and fished Colonial. Nothing going on!

Your Root River Weir Numbers as of 4-4-05!	Talk about high & dirty water conditions on the Root!	The "dam" that forces fish up into the fish trap.
Look closely, you can see the gates are "UP", stopping fish from jumping the stoplogs and forcing them to enter the fish trap instead.	High water in Colonial Park on the Root.

OK, time to go to Oak Creek which had been dropping from the rains a couple days ago. I walked the entire stream and spotted over 30 new redds! Not a single redd had a fish on it...they were simply gone! Despite spending a lot of time on Oak Creek, I only sighted 2 steelhead! Can't really say if it was from massive harvest for sure, but accounts from my buddies suggested that MANY fish were harvested on Sunday and earlier this morning. Yes, Oak Creek is small enough where a couple 5 fish limits can make a serious dent in the fish population (and fishing quality). The only thing left to fish for on Oak Creek were the hordes of suckers.

On up to Oak Creek...the suckers are in thick and are biting!	A good shot of Oak Creek.	One more look at Oak Creek.

  MP