A Grey Day at Shonto: Or Learning to Love the Cold and Wet - by Jay Forrest
Submitted by admin on Sun, 2006-09-17 21:21.
On January 25 a number of you drove in the drizzle and gloom to Shonto. It was cold and grey and wet and some of you probably wondered why you were there. Your non-fishing friends would, no doubt, think you had gone loony. I wasn’t there and it wasn’t because I don’t like fishing in the rain!
Cold! Miserable! Wet! It doesn’t get any better than that!
Maybe it comes from wading too long in freezing water – in the snow, at 15 to25 degrees Fahrenheit. Perhaps that cold water somehow damaged my brain. But there is nothing like a cold, grey day to get me thinking about going fishing.
Perhaps it is having the river to one’s self. Perhaps it is the sheer macho of facing ridiculous conditions. But I love it. And many of my largest trout have been landed under ridiculous conditions. So I will always look forward to fishing in the cold.
My first such trip involved floating the Deschutes in early February about ten years ago. The temperature when we shoved off into the river was 20 degrees. It was sunny, but cold, never rising above freezing. The water temperature was 38 degrees. We had to dip our rods into the water just about every cast to unfreeze the line from the guides. The conditions seemed brutal -- but the fish cooperated and we caught ten trout from 15 to 22 inches. The cold melted every time a native redside screamed downriver.
Most of my “nasty weather” fishing has been in Oregon – a five day float trip for steelhead in October where we rose two hours before sunrise to don frozen waders and lurch into the river to thaw them so we could move better. Steelheading on the Umpqua in November in overcast drizzle. A seven pound rainbow caught on the Williamson in the snow. But nasty weather seems to work wherever there are trout. An eight pound brookie on a cold, stormy August evening in northern Labrador. A 30 inch char in March in the snow in British Columbia. An eight pound rainbow on a snowy February day on the San Juan.
The fish cooperated and I learned to associate good fishing with nasty conditions. So when drizzle and cold coincided with the club’s trip to Shonto I really wanted to go. So if you were there, I would have gladly traded my warm sofa for your spot on the river. And if you weren’t there, you missed the conditions I love. Try fishing in nasty weather some time. It takes the right gear, but it can be addictive!