Tailwater

Well, it was tough going at the local tailwater, here a few days back. Stiff winds blowing up the river and a high of 20 made casting and getting a good drift dicey. De-icing took up a good 1/3 of my time on the water and I lost one nice fish when my reel seized up as it had frozen. I opted to head out after that to get warmed up. Locating fish and what they wanted to eat was tough and I by no means had it dialed. Found a few in slimmer water looking for current seams that may hold fish. No takes on streamers or bigger nymphs in obvious places. Once the clouds broke for a few I found some very small black midges mixed with an odd winter stonefly. Small and dark did the trick with a micro mayfly emerger and glass bead midge doing the work. Camera and equipment did not like the cold so I don't have many photos to share this trip out. Caught a nice rainbow that jumped a few times after the hook set with plenty of spunk on the release.

Stroke