Spring Is Almost Here!

Yep, it's right around the corner.  This may be the first year I can actually give credit to Punxsatawney Phil for being right.  At least, I hope I can.  This past Saturday afternoon, Kathy and I decided to fish Nacoochee Bend.  It's really been fishing well the past few weeks in spite of cold and dreary winter weather.  The weather this day was perfect early spring type; a cool breeze but nice sunshine warming your face.  Of course, we all know those miserable days are the best fishing days but we couldn't resist.  The fishing was fun but I'll have to admit it was slower than I had hoped for.  I'm blaming it on a high pressure system that was moving into the southeast and you can take that for what it's worth.  We did catch some fish and Kathy got to work on her presentation skills as well as her fish fighting.  She's getting to be quite deadly with an Olive Krystal Bugger.

As evidenced by these photos, the water was beautiful (& very cold).  My camera skills simply don't do justice to the magnificent scenery surrounding us on the river.  The Olive Krystal Bugger was working for me also as was a shell pink San Juan Worm highsticked through the frothy riffles as they drop off into a deep pool.  It almost seemed as if the fish were hiding in those riffles because of the clarity of the water.  At least the ones I hooked were.

We didn't check the water temperature that afternoon but I'm guessing it was in the low 40's.  If you stood in waist deep water, it just sucked all the body heat right through your waders along with your energy.  Kathy decided to take a break and enjoy the sunshine while I went prospecting for fish.  What can I say; she's learning from a master.  I'm teaching her everything I know about how to enjoy a day on the water.