Verdigre Creek Journal | 2009

Archive for December, 2009

Marching in on the Tail of a Cold Front

Monday had been unseasonably warm. The temperature was 58 degrees. Fetching items that I’d forgotten, I’d managed to make it to the truck and back in my stocking feet several times.

Today, the temperature was ten degrees just outside of Neligh. Going outside in stocking feet was out of the question.

There was slush on the Elkhorn River and some sheet ice. Many of the smaller ponds had frozen.

By the time I parked at the Bridge Pool, the thermometer read a balmy 21 degrees. The water temperature, though, was 43.2 degrees. Certainly, the water was warmer than the air; it was, none-the-less, cold.

The browns would be holding tight to cover, I’d have to put the fly right on the their noses to get a response. The ‘bows would be a little more inquisitive, but not too much. It would be a slow day.

It was still a little early in the season to fish scuds, they would be active in January. It would, though, be possible to entice a trout with baetis imitations. I tied on a Copper John Copper, size 16 to act as a stimulator, and dropped a size 20, beadhead Barr’s Emerger to the rear. With the cold weather, fishing an indy rig would be standard procedure.

I tried several pools where the spring water kept the pool a little warmer than the surrounding creek. I saw one ‘bow chase the Barr’s Emerger but he made his way quickly back to cover. True to form, the browns were nowhere to be seen.

I made my way over to the bigger water. It is usually a little more productive when the weather gets cold. On the first cast, I saw a small twitch on the indicator. I set the hook quickly. The rainbow made his way toward the deeper water but I coaxed him up toward the shallows. He made several nice runs before I brought him into the net.

I managed to catch several more rainbows.

Upstream, I was getting strikes, they were gentle and hard to set. The Little Western Weedy Water Sedges were hanging about the heavier vegitation; a few baetis nymphs swam about here and there. Despite the fact that the calendar still said fall, winter had come to the creek.