While Steve and Kevin were down in Holt at the FFF tying expo I went out for a solo scouting mission on the lower river. I swung my version of Kevin’s “Basic Bucktail,” it’s all about having confidence in your fly when you’re swinging for steelhead and I know that fly works. The fish were on the feed. Even managed a small lake run brown. I hooked several fish and manged to land most of them. Netting a fish from a boat with a 13′ 6″ spey rod by yourself is quite difficult.
Air temps probably cracked 30 degrees, but not by much. Water temp was 36 degrees at the river mouth and it’s only a matter of time before everything freezes up down here. We’ve been getting light snow for a couple days now but the ramps are still manageable. Suttons Landing is slightly worse off than the state ramp across the road.
With various forms of precipitation over the last week or so the river almost managed to climb back up to average flows but is falling off again quickly. Fishing should remain good in the lower river for at least a couple days, but with the forecast we have right now it’s no telling how long it will last. We need more rain but it looks like we’re getting snow.
