One Day Fishing Report: A Fine Day Sandwiched by Snow & Blizzard!!

I recall it was very cold with some snow when I posted the last time. This weekend is the same, no worse!! Yesterday, March 1st, we (Paradise Valley to Bozeman and surrounding area) were hit by a ferocious blizzard. Today it's a bit improved: no winds and no snow-drift and it's only -6F!!

Strangely and luckily, we had very nice & mild weather on the last Thursday, in between snow (last weekend) and blizzard (this weekend).  No winds and the air temp went up above 40F!! I actually sweated a lot. (and this is why we are all surprised by the sudden change.) And it turned out to one of most interesting fishing days. Enough to make a full post, really! Let's review.

Thanks to good folks at Waterworks-Lamson, my reel was revived. Actually I received the reel handle assembling parts on last Wednesday. Of course, I hit DePuy Spring Creek (www.depuyspringcreek.com). My first catch was very fine & leaping brown!! I did appreciate the revived reel!! I also caught one fine Rainbow in spawning color at the same spot but couldn't take pictures.

.................................Then I did something different from usual. It wasn't only me who decided to take advantage of a nice weather while we could. Creek was somewhat busy for this time of year. And as of now I NEVER show up before noon!! (it will change soon, I guess.) At any spots I thought of, I was behind of others. So I was still at the creek property but I didn't fish the creek...... Go figure! A massive Whitie swallowed my Stonefly nymph!!

And I conducted a stomach sample. Yes!! If you are trained and aren't scared of Whities, you can sample Whities, just like trout!! It was a great discovery to me!! See midges in every stage were taken (larvae, pupae, and adults)!! Then Look at the number of small Stonefly nymphs and their nymph shucks!! I can't specify the species of Stonefly for now but they are getting active and hatching.

Right after the Whitie, I had another big hook-up....... It was larger and heavier for sure and fighting/swimming differently from Whities............ Wow!!??

 Yeehaw!!

 Perhaps the best rainbow for me from this "water"!!

 I moved onto one more stretch. This time it was a nice brown!!

Indeed midges were hatching a lot though I didn't really any rising trout.

See!! This is the nymph shuck also collected on the shore. I try to identify the species and I keep you updated.

As it darkened, I went back to the creek. Now I found some room. I caught a big one! Rainbow in spawning color? Not it was a big buck brown who seemed just spawned out.

 So I released him quickly and snapped under-water pics while I could!! Turned out to be cool.

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How about my Atlantic Salmon fly projects? Perhaps this would be my best effort. As spring coming, I gotta shift into trout flies for guiding and sales.

For the final work, I am paying my best attention to every detail. The head must have been improved quite a lot!

Hopefully I can go fishing next week. Well, before thinking of fishing, I need to keep my house warm and I'd like to drive safe!!