August Smallies

The river continues to give up some nice Smallmouth.  The deep colours these fish sport are awesome.  The big lady is on the verge of handing herself over to the Kings.  I witnessed a few porpoise while I spent my brief 45mins on her banks this morning. 

It won't be long until the madness ensues and all hell breaks loose both in the water and more shamefully along the banks.  Salmon season is almost upon us. 

Although I long for some anadromous species to test the new Imperial I do not look forward to the mayhem the Kings bring to the river.  It's all a part of the program I guess.  Stay tuned for Salmon 2011 in the coming weeks.

Prolific Hatch

I managed to slip down to the river this morning.  We hadn't been up to the cabin for a few weeks and I was anxious to get a few drifts in.  I had heard a minor push of Kings had made their way up the river last week and I was curious to see if any had made the 24 mile or so trek up to Tippy.  My question was answered as soon as I parked the van and witnessed a giant dead king dumped beside the garbage bucket.  It was obviously fresh from the night prior and I was confused as to why someone would just dump the beast.  The only thing I could figure was the male was mistaken for a hen and was dumped after the perps slit the stomach to reveal an absence of roe.  I was excited to see that some kings were up this far already and made the hike down to the river.  There was nobody on the water and I had the place to myself.

I really didn't expect to find any kings but I did have high hopes of a few browns and perhaps some river smallies.  On my way down river I couldn't help but marvel at the hatch that was underway.  It was crazy...Stones everywhere.  I struggled for a bit trying to find a player and suspected the stone hatch was to blame.  I managed to turn a small brown when a single siren blast went off from the dam followed by a sudden blow out.  The river went from crystal clear to mud brown in a matter of minutes.  I waited about 10 mins to see of it was a temporary condition but the river didn't clear so I packed it in an hiked up to the parking lot.  Curiosity had the better of me so I went to the lookout to see if the river had cleared or if the pond above the dam was chocolate.  To my surprise the river was once again running clean and the pond was crystal as well.  The dam staff must have been de-silting and my lack of patience put me off the river.  Live and learn I guess.  Tomorrow is another day.