closer to the source

[willowgrub]

e re suffering again down here . A new fishing season began on October 1st , with too much water in too many rivers . A legacy of a wet autumn and some big winter rain . Snow melt in there as well . I could get optimistic about that , “ plenty of water in the rivers” , like a buffer to the usually dry summer and autumn. Except it hasn’t been that way in the last two years . Too many summer floods , and high flows for too long . That has affected the food supply , and , I hope, it is also the reason that the flowing waters I fish in have been less bountiful . Im not lost in despair, the winter fishing lakes further south kept me running on full buzz.
I could almost forsake my moving water for those still stalking days and midge hatch moments , almost ………..there is just something about water moving in a stream , and fish moving in the water , that I cant resist , probably cant stay sane without .
40 years ago I slid and scraped along the muddy creeks of my home city , using worms and tiny hooks to pull slippery native fish out of their element into mine . I think that is the undercurrent I feel on a stream now , a connection to that time , a way back to the boy .
I needed a river, my home town river would have done fine at one fifth of the flow . I headed upstream back towards the source , as the river split to tributaries so the flow diminished .Closer to the mountains that feed clean water down all the western tributaries , the north fork of one tributary provided all that I was seeking that afternoon .
Maybe this time it was not full with fat sea run browns , as it has often been early on in the season , but the resident fish had all the best spots taken . Mostly they were recovering males all about 3 to 4 pounds , and missing at least another pound from their prime weight judging by the head size and length

[soupmix]

They may be under weight, but they sure are pretty!

[Mostyn]

Beautiful countryside; and that looks like wonderful fishing!

M