Tony Buzolich
03-05-2010, 07:07 PM
Do you ever wonder about old sayings or where certain words come from? There's usually a good reason associated with some of these bits of wisdom and if we take the time to listen, sometimes these old quotes pay off.
For the past week or so we've had some pretty good rains and snow coming down around here and this unfortunately raises (literally) hell with the river conditions when you want to go out. There's a small slough just above Marysville called *%#^ Jack Slough. With even a small amount of rain this slough dumps mud immediately and the river goes to hell.
It's been several days now and my buddy Jim May was saying the river is starting look a little better. Well,"If you don't go,,you'll never know" and so this morning I went.
Got to the river early and in the low light I can't see anything as to color but I go ahead and launch anyway hoping for the best. Another old friend of mine, I think it was Dan himself, said "If you can see your prop it's clean enough to fish". And so it was. Still quite muddy but, I could see my prop.:)
The water was running a bit high and fast, and definitely not clear, but the most noticeable thing was the temperature,,, It had dropped to 50 degrees. For the last few weeks it had averaged around 54 degrees. :( This isn't ideal but I'm already here and I don't have anything else going so why not?
I motored up to one of my usual starting points and began working the bank like I always do but now some of the trees that I normally look for are under water. After just a few casts I'm hung up and there goes one of my favorite flies.
I see fish busting bait close to me and I quickly tie on another fly and promptly loose it to yet another unforseen snag. Damn! :( and fish are busting.
I drift a ways away and re-tie again trying to find the magic color that will get these fish to bite. Chartruese and white, white and chartruese, white on white,???Nope,nope, nope. Nothing seems to be working. Aha,,, lets try something dark. The water is still pretty muddy and maybe this will work? Still nothing wants to cooperate.
So what do you do when all else fails? Remember your grandpa telling you that "Stripers love Red&White"? Remember those old plugs with three sets of trebles all painted red and white? Yep, they do,,,,,, like red and white.
And today that is what they wanted. Red and white. Nothing natural at all about red and white but maybe with this dirty water that's all they can see.
So, like the old saying goes, "If you don't go you'll never know". Even if conditions aren't really ideal, ya gotta get out there and give it a shot.:) You just never know :)
For the past week or so we've had some pretty good rains and snow coming down around here and this unfortunately raises (literally) hell with the river conditions when you want to go out. There's a small slough just above Marysville called *%#^ Jack Slough. With even a small amount of rain this slough dumps mud immediately and the river goes to hell.
It's been several days now and my buddy Jim May was saying the river is starting look a little better. Well,"If you don't go,,you'll never know" and so this morning I went.
Got to the river early and in the low light I can't see anything as to color but I go ahead and launch anyway hoping for the best. Another old friend of mine, I think it was Dan himself, said "If you can see your prop it's clean enough to fish". And so it was. Still quite muddy but, I could see my prop.:)
The water was running a bit high and fast, and definitely not clear, but the most noticeable thing was the temperature,,, It had dropped to 50 degrees. For the last few weeks it had averaged around 54 degrees. :( This isn't ideal but I'm already here and I don't have anything else going so why not?
I motored up to one of my usual starting points and began working the bank like I always do but now some of the trees that I normally look for are under water. After just a few casts I'm hung up and there goes one of my favorite flies.
I see fish busting bait close to me and I quickly tie on another fly and promptly loose it to yet another unforseen snag. Damn! :( and fish are busting.
I drift a ways away and re-tie again trying to find the magic color that will get these fish to bite. Chartruese and white, white and chartruese, white on white,???Nope,nope, nope. Nothing seems to be working. Aha,,, lets try something dark. The water is still pretty muddy and maybe this will work? Still nothing wants to cooperate.
So what do you do when all else fails? Remember your grandpa telling you that "Stripers love Red&White"? Remember those old plugs with three sets of trebles all painted red and white? Yep, they do,,,,,, like red and white.
And today that is what they wanted. Red and white. Nothing natural at all about red and white but maybe with this dirty water that's all they can see.
So, like the old saying goes, "If you don't go you'll never know". Even if conditions aren't really ideal, ya gotta get out there and give it a shot.:) You just never know :)