01-13-2007, 10:40 PM
Last Wednesday. Hoser and I went to the Blue River down below the Town of Silverthorne. Had to park on the side of the highway because of the snow. We trudged through the snow to the river to look for deep slow water to fish. Little Buster the vibrating dog was on our heels the whole way. Hoser and Buster tested the ice and found that it was thick and they could skate on it way too easily. So I with my cleated boots walked out to fish a run while Hoser and buster high stepped down stream through the snow to find a spot they could enter the river without a frightful skate.
It was a great day to be on the river. The sun was shining and it was a balmy 4o degrees with a forecast of single digit temperatures for the following day. So inspite of making methodical casts across the run and then changing floating depth with not a single bite it was enjoyable.
Getting tired of that run I moved on down river past Hoser searching for more really fishy water. It was short but tiring walk to find that spot. Buster the dog was tight on my heels as I waded leg deep through the snow. Finaly I spotted a very fishy spot. Deep water with small submerged boulders right out from some slick water with an ice shelf out to it. Bust spotted the ice shelf also and in an instant he was prancing up and down the length of it. All the while his toe nails were going clickly clack clicky clack on the ice. After a few castes
I decided the fish must not have cared for all of the noisy action on the ice so I moved on down stream further walking through the alders and leg depth snow to a dog leg in the river that I knew was deep and slow in spots. I crossed the river up stream watching to see if I scared up a fish in the shallows above the dog leg but there was not even a minnow sturring.
An hour and several flies later there still had not been even a bite. This was not good. I could still smell the skunking I had on the river from last summer. Pat Dorsey says that you either love the Blue or you Hate it. I think I am close to the latter. It has a very bad habit of slapping me down into my place.
Wondering back up stream I found Hoser and Buster working the deep run I had vacated earlier. Hoser was still joyful to be out doors enjoying the same success I was having. The consensus was that we needed to move up river.
So with the sun sinking low and the temperature sinking quicker than the sun we went to the Outlet mall in Silverthorne .
More precisely we stopped behind the outlet mall. With a size 18 pheasant tail and size 24 Sparkle wing emerger I started cleaning the river of a bunch of moss. After getting no attention I moved up to the top of run and made a few casts and doing the San Juan slap to clean moss off the hooks. Then I really hug up in the moss. So I gently started pulling on the rod to drag it free of the moss. But the moss broke free and started floating down river dragging my fly and line with it. It was then that my hopes were proved to be true. I had a fish on not moss. a Few minutes later I had a 14 inch brown thrashing about in my net.
Ahh, it felt good to get the skunk smell off.
I wonder up stream to see how Hoser was doing. He was grinning with glee as he had hooked three and got one of the to the net. A 10 inch Rainbow had helped him remove his skunk.
It was past time for us to head to the house. We had a couple of buddies coming over to Hoser's to tie flies and talk plans for trips to the Green and Big Horn later in the year. We made it home just in time.
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It was a great day to be on the river. The sun was shining and it was a balmy 4o degrees with a forecast of single digit temperatures for the following day. So inspite of making methodical casts across the run and then changing floating depth with not a single bite it was enjoyable.
Getting tired of that run I moved on down river past Hoser searching for more really fishy water. It was short but tiring walk to find that spot. Buster the dog was tight on my heels as I waded leg deep through the snow. Finaly I spotted a very fishy spot. Deep water with small submerged boulders right out from some slick water with an ice shelf out to it. Bust spotted the ice shelf also and in an instant he was prancing up and down the length of it. All the while his toe nails were going clickly clack clicky clack on the ice. After a few castes
I decided the fish must not have cared for all of the noisy action on the ice so I moved on down stream further walking through the alders and leg depth snow to a dog leg in the river that I knew was deep and slow in spots. I crossed the river up stream watching to see if I scared up a fish in the shallows above the dog leg but there was not even a minnow sturring.
An hour and several flies later there still had not been even a bite. This was not good. I could still smell the skunking I had on the river from last summer. Pat Dorsey says that you either love the Blue or you Hate it. I think I am close to the latter. It has a very bad habit of slapping me down into my place.
Wondering back up stream I found Hoser and Buster working the deep run I had vacated earlier. Hoser was still joyful to be out doors enjoying the same success I was having. The consensus was that we needed to move up river.
So with the sun sinking low and the temperature sinking quicker than the sun we went to the Outlet mall in Silverthorne .
More precisely we stopped behind the outlet mall. With a size 18 pheasant tail and size 24 Sparkle wing emerger I started cleaning the river of a bunch of moss. After getting no attention I moved up to the top of run and made a few casts and doing the San Juan slap to clean moss off the hooks. Then I really hug up in the moss. So I gently started pulling on the rod to drag it free of the moss. But the moss broke free and started floating down river dragging my fly and line with it. It was then that my hopes were proved to be true. I had a fish on not moss. a Few minutes later I had a 14 inch brown thrashing about in my net.
Ahh, it felt good to get the skunk smell off.
I wonder up stream to see how Hoser was doing. He was grinning with glee as he had hooked three and got one of the to the net. A 10 inch Rainbow had helped him remove his skunk.
It was past time for us to head to the house. We had a couple of buddies coming over to Hoser's to tie flies and talk plans for trips to the Green and Big Horn later in the year. We made it home just in time.
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]Nice Story. McManus will be looking you up pretty soon. 
]