Pit Report - Fri Feb 7

As promised here's the report from the Pit.......

On the way in, we noticed that Lake Britton was a little dirty, and therefore the river was dirty too. Not completely muddy, but a greenish brown, probably 2 feet of visibility at the most. Those that know the Pit, wading is as tough as it gets when the water is clear. But when you can't see the bottom, it's a whole different world. It's all about "feel" since you can't see. Eric and I are experienced Pitters and know how to wade that river by feel, but this was really tough going that I wouldn't wish on anyone.

As for the fishing, the fish can definitely see in the cloudy water. We got into a few fish on dark rubberlegs and AP's in the morning. Nothing like the numbers you get in the summer, but the fish were there, and surprisingly in the normal spots where they usually hang out, with the exception of the white water. The water was really really cold! So I'm sure that affected the bite some, along with the low viz. Weather was great though. I was in short sleeves in the afternoon.

In the afternoon, there was a decent mayfly and midge hatch. So i switched over from rubblerleggs to a smaller pattern with some flash. My 2nd favorite fly of all time......Mercer's Gold Bead Poxyback Hare's Ear (#14). I started getting into lots of fish, mostly in the shallower areas outside the main channel. Ended the day with around 20 fish to hand. Got 1 at 17" and one at 18", both were very skinny and didn't fight too well. I'm thinking they must've spawned recently. The rest of the fish were typical healthy Pit footballs from 8-14", which faught very well.

We were planning on fishing two days, but the first day was just too brutal with the low viz, so we came home a day early.

So now we know how the Pit fishes in winter! The fish are there and do eat, but you have to make sure you've got good viz before you go. I doubt the FlyShop had anyone up there checking lately. So maybe a call to the Clearwater Lodge might be a good idea (if they're even open in the winter).

~Jeff

Solid report. The Pit can chew you up. If you get through a day there without a nasty fall down or a dunking that is pretty good. Twenty fish is a haul. The last time I caught twenty fish in a day was smallmouth in September. That was a good day although my buddy had a serious knee injury so I don’t want to feel too good about it.