Pre-Spring Swing

 

Hello folks,

Well winter has been strange to say the least and on February 10 I am going to swing flies in northeast Ohio in 50-degree weather.  Meanwhile there are states in the Pacific Northwest that have only 50% of the snowpack for the season.

Today’s outing of swinging flies was more for exercise than anything else. I headed way up stream on the Grand River. I found the river to be running a little low for swinging at 340 cf/s and she had a solid 24” of visibility today.

I brought my Scott switch rod (2H1157/4) and I have it strung up with a SA 440 grain skagit. My tip of choice today was a 1.5”/sec sink rate leader.  I also chose a more subtle and natural colored fly.

Its spring and the majority of the fish have either spawned or are actively on gravel. I have no desire to fish for bedding fish.

I made my way up the riverbanks that are budding with life already. The wild rose bushes were turning back to green after being dormant over winter. They should still be in their dormant state, but these temps over the several weeks have changed that.

A lot of these areas up here on the river are low lying areas and prone to flooding.  I did notice some type of swamp plant that was also coming out of its dormant stasis.

I found my first perch and covered the water to the best of my ability. I worked the casts long and short to cover the holding lies well enough in the hopes of making a fish rise.

After over an hour I began my mile plus hike back to the car. I could hear turkeys going off in the distance. I heard deer snort at me I yelled out “whatever”.

I got back to the car a little less for wear and headed to the “jawbone River”.

Here I would settle in once I made the over mile trek to the river and make a pot of boiling water for my coffee press.

The river here was nothing like her easterly cousin.  Here is river was green and had exceptional flow for February. I keep coming back here to see her to hopefully one day she will grant me the experience of hooking a steelhead in her river. I made my coffee and continued to traverse the river. I swung every part of that river that I thought could hold a fish. I tried to redefine the definition of insanity but I failed to do so and called it a day. Battered and beaten, but with a smile on my face I turned the car to the east and drove home.