Winter Storms 2021

To say that our recent weather patterns have been bizarre would be the understatement of the century. While I type this, temps are hovering around 50 degrees. Yesterday it was nearly 80. A week ago, it was -11. A foot and a half of snow sat on the ground, and nobody could imagine that it would melt away anytime in the future. Fast forward to now, and it is all but gone. Only a few big piles of it remain in the parking lots of the big box stores, but spring sure seems like it has sprung. During the Corps attempt to generate for the considerable electricity demand and to reduce the chances for rolling blackouts in our area, the lakes dropped over 6” per day. We are the farthest below the top of the power pool that I have seen in years. I am personally enjoying the lower flows. With the big water over the past couple of years, its nice to know the river still has a bottom. And it is beautiful. Rowing a 21’ boat is a little easier in 700 cfs than 20,000 as well. We have already been seeing some caddis dotting around on the surface, but it is certainly a little early for all of that nonsense. Nonetheless, trout are gobbling up caddis pupa with your favorite midge dropper below it. Even several nice browns are eating the little bugs. There are definitely dead shad above the dam in the lake. With many of the creek arms freezing over, you could see their shiny little bodies stuck in the ice. Now, the only missing part of the equation for a good shad kill bite is heavy generation from the dam. A couple of decent rain events could lead to this, or another good cold snap would increase demand for electricity. Only time will tell, but in the meantime, we are having a ton of fun catching a ton of fish.

Evan made a drive from Pennsylvania that him and the guys won’t soon forget. Once they made it, there was a big one waiting for them!

Witnessing John’s buck fever after he landed his best trout ever was the highlight of the trip!