Guide Trip Report: 12/30/07 South Branch

Wrapped up my guiding for this calender year this past Sunday with a morning on the South Branch with a three generation trio. Dave, David and John joined me for a half day in fairly tough conditions. The river was up,(over 300cfs) cold, (38-39) and temp had dropped over the past few days. The dropping water temps are by far the most difficult of those three condition factors due to the concept of conditioning. It's not true that trout shut down under 40 degrees. I have had many VERY good days on the water with temps hovering in the mid 30's. The key to fishing temperatures below a trouts comfort zone is: HOW LONG has it been at the given temperature. Once conditioned to the lower temp, they will resume their normal, albeit slower (winter)feeding tempo. The practical fishing problem comes when the water takes a sudden dip or spike in temperature, fishing will then be tough for a day or two.

Dave, David and John were troopers and managed to hook three fish between them by lunchtime when we parted.

I hung around for an hour or so after lunch and managed a few hookups myself on midges fished behind various attractors.

Here's quick video of a pretty fish from that afternoon.