Salmon

It has been sooooo nice here in the mountains. Normally, winter comes quickly but fall (my favorite season) has been incredible. Yesterday was close to 70 and sunny but it was crazy windy. I intended to head to the river and fish into the night but once I got a ways down the road I changed my mind and went home. This morning I got up early and saw that winter was trying to make an appearance. It was snowing and blowing and I could hardly see the field in front of the house. I worked in the garage for a while and then decided to head to the river and see what was going on. Hardly anyone was there and to mix things up I fished further down than I normally do. It was 33 degrees and the winds had to be 30 mph. It was cold and I was wishing I had grabbed another layer for my core and my fleece pants. 

The flows have been super low all fall (averaging about 60 cubic feet per second). Things started getting bumped up on Thursday and Friday and this morning it was up to 150ish. It's amazing how 100 more cfs can change the entire river. The water gets more stained as the increased current tears things up. Bugs get dislodged from the bottom. Fish are less spooky and there are way more places for fish to hang out. Right away I started spotting big fish and right away I spotted a big group of Kokanee Salmon and some of them were really large. This guy was right at 20". 

This guy was in the same ball park in terms of size. It's so cool to have a bit of Alaska right here on my home water. Wish I could have kept one especially since they'll be dead in 2-4 more weeks.