First off, Happy New Year and I hope 2022 is a great one for you all!
Although 2021 was overall lackluster for fishing results, December couldn't have been more the opposite. My first trip was to a well-known lake location. I did well with rainbows for the first few hours.
The weather that day was the sleet and freezing rain that we've often seen this month. Normally, a day like that during the week would provide some solitude, but not this year. When I checked the spot a few days later in even worse weather, I was surprised to find a fair amount of foot traffic and a boat anchored in the middle a shallow gravel bar that most folks wade.
But, hey, perfectly legal and they were there first. So, I'm giving them a shout out and a super star award for helping me to refocus my efforts on lesser pressured options. I broke big river options into manageable pieces, caught a bunch of fish, and learned a ton. And most of the time I was alone, except for eagles who were as bald as me. The icy weather continued though most of the month. A wading staff and cleats kept me away from any tumbles requiring orthopedic intervention. I also didn't need any professional towing service for the Silver Beauty until New Year's Eve
The big river fishing was epic. I came up with 5 different species of salmonids, including 4 species in one day ( a personal best)
. Included in the mix were some solid splake, another PB for size of that species in a river. The pics aren't great, with one of the bigger ones being a blur as it leaped away.
Browns and brookies dominated the big river catch. Not giant by any means, but not dinks either. The few salmon I caught in the bigger water were small, but colorful.
Many days ended with fog at dark as the damp air cooled down, giving a nice effect to the pics.
Fishing a jig under a bobber was key to the action, and you'll see from the pics that a chartreuse jig was particularly effective. Chucking and retrieving spinners or spoons in the cold water was not the way to go.
I also put in some time for lake run fish during the month. It was much more hit and miss than usual, but there were some good bursts of action on both salmon and browns. Flows were up and down, leading to anything from flooded marshes to interesting ice as the water dropped.
Sorry if I've rambled a bit here and loaded up the photos, but some of the best fishing I've seen in 60 years has me a bit excited.
I hope January is half as good as December in spots where tracks are few except for the deer.