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3. Last fly rod fishies of the year?

Well folks, like perhaps many of you out there in "trout nut land", our weather has turned good and cold now. Plus, we are still dry as a bone, steelhead runs are light as of yet. Over Thanksgiving Weekend I went down to visit my folks in my home town of Troy, Michigan. We were FINALLY blessed with a late spell of nice, warm, sunny weather with light winds, so unlike what we've had since the second week of October - cold, windy, rainy, grey, BLAAAHHH. So I haven't done much fishing lately, but with the convergence of nice weather, being home to visit my parents, and of course ALWAYS keeping fishing gear in the trunk (fly fishing still, ice fishing soon), I hit Sylvan Glen Lake, which I have been fishing since 1974 (since '86 with fly rods). This 9 inch black crappie and a 10" largemouth responded to a weighted #10 chartreuse Woolly Bugger with grizzly hackle, as did a few others that I lost.

So likely ends my fly fishing season, things will be freezing up here shortly with some very cold nights predicted. Time to untangle the tip-ups and dust off the cross-country skiis...

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Jonathon

Hey Jonathon,

Same to you!

Last fly rod fishies of the year? Don't have to be... If you were truly committed, you would drill a hole in the ice and drop a weighted nymph in. Of course you'll need specialized gear, like a 24" fly rod and a Hi-D 2wt (or you could just go with the long tippet method on a dry line). A new market niche? Hey, somebody call the boys at Sage! :) Or, you could just use your conventional gear and work on your casting skills by hitting the hole from various ranges.:)LOL

PS - Is that a new reel? Nice...

There are folks on Michigan rivers practically all year long. In some places I wish it weren't so. It would be nice if the Browns and Brooks were left alone during the spawn, but with some of the new regs there are stretches open year round now. The no-kill sections are and have been. The "Opening Day" doesn't always apply here...I'd like to give them a bit of a break, especially where they get pounded during the "regular" fishing season and the populations are "wild".

Any break in the weather and someone's fishing here...:)

I was going to post here some of our "ice" flies and thought better of it. :)

I hate to rub it in boys but my wife is the pumpkin pie princes of the mid-west! :) She made four pies this year...Two went with us to the old neighborhood and moms on Thanksgiving Day, one stayed home :), and we gave one to someone who helped do some work on my sister's new home.

You know how some men say that their wives can't make one of their old favorites like their mothers did...My wife has slam-dunked both potato salad and the pumpkin pies...She's so good my mother has thrown in the towel and at Easter (potato salad) and Thanksgiving (the pies) are brought my my wife...:)

Spence

The Rifle River below Sage Lake Road is open year-round for a steelhead run, got my first brown of the year there two weeks before the opener this year. Same with the Pine below F-41. But they're both reeeaaallllyyyy low right now from the drought, I doubt they would fish well at the moment. And I'm just not into winter fly fishing, haven't ever had much luck with it (unlike ice fishing) and it's just too darned COLD to be in waders up to my waist in water handling a fly line that's iceing up on me. It's time to ski and ice fish, both of which can still be done after dark! Ever cross-country skied on a night with a full moon? Mercury-switch tip-up lights for walleye?

Jonathon