Open Water!!

Well, picked up my new fishing licence, regs, and my Barry Mitchells and planned a trip to some new areas the other day. I haven't fished little rivers too much for browns or bullies but did well out on the ??????. Anyway, thanks for the ice reports and here's a few pics. Photobucket won't let me resize them so i only attached a few. The browns were a surprise, between two of us we caught between 15-20, smallest was 15'', biggest just under 20''. Bullies were 20'' and 23''.

Sure walked a lot of miles and i'm feeling it today, was worth it though. My new theory for finding browns is find beaver jungle with lots of deep water.

[Sbrooks]

Nice fish!

Were you fly-fishing or using hardware?

[Ayr]

Some nice fish, thanks for sharing the pics.

Ayr.

"Were you fly-fishing or using hardware?"

Wish i could of got out the fly rod. After 10:00 am or so the ice flows and dirty water anywhere a little creek entered meant big very shiny spoons and spinners were best. Hopefully after runoff I'll be able to try catching some browns on the fly rod. It was likely the most challenging/ enjoyable river spinfishing I've done in years. I lost $25 worth of lures due to the poor visibility. Guess i was warned when i read all the articles about the streams out west here, lots of dead fall.

[MB1]

Very nice, are you refering to Barry's magazine or book? Those pics are good early season motivation to get out.

Thanks

[Sbrooks]

yeh, I know what river you hit up and it's hard on the lures. So much dam deadfall, easy to get snagged but thats where the fish are.

"are you refering to Barry's magazine or book?"

The magazine. I pick one up every year, there's always a few good articles and of course the stream descriptions in the back.

[ULTRAlite]

Great looking fish - on a side note, how are you liking the Bare stockingfoot waders? Was looking at them this week...

"how are you liking the Bare stockingfoot waders? Was looking at them this week"

They're as good as any other neoprene. I go through 3-4 pairs a year between work, fishing, and duck hunting and have tried all of the common brands. I stick with the bare as i find them the most comfortable and the price hasn't been bad ($90 or so).

I bought some new lightweights in the states for fishing this summer but in the cold water the 3.5 mm or so waders are great.

I bought these zipper on wading boots at cabelas i tried for the first time that trip, i really liked them for casual wading (fishing part) but my ankles are hurting after walking so many miles. It kind of looks like I'm not wearing any boots in the one picture. I can't wait till the waters warm enough for swimming trunks and those little wading boots instead of waders.