Snap, Crackle, Pop

Date: April 4, 2008
Location: Brule
Air temp: mid 50s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: something
Fish landed: 1 (steelie)

Present members of the Fly Anglers Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter, for this outing were:

Quickdraw
Timbo
Xan


While the south central streams have thawed out, the Great White North is just teetering off its winter axis. Last weekend was steelhead opener at the Brule, with reports of cold weather, ice below Highway 2, and a few fish here and there.

QD, Timbo and I decided to beat the crowds and drove up on Thursday night to the Brule. Waking up bright and early on Friday, we went to Red Gate, only to find a bunch of cars of the blue plate special variety.

The morning started off well, with a bit of snow, a chill in the air, and a really slippery hill. Timbo was nice enough to let me use his 7 weight Sage XP. I promptly snapped off the tip on our way to the stream, in what would be one of five or six spills I took trying to descend the f%$*ing hill. I also cracked my net into two pieces.

A great start morphed into a predictably slow morning session. The water was cold and the air was colder. Using a spare 6 wt I had brought, we fished the bend where Timbo had caught his beast from our last trip, but didn't get any hits.

QD and I headed a bit upstream to find some good runs. The water was brown and flowing well. A recent up-tick in temps have started to thaw the area out, bringing the river dangerously close to being blown out.




After more of the same, we headed back to find Timbo still fishing the run. The sun was shining and temps were quickly getting into the 50s.

I decided to give the area one last shot before heading downstream. After numerous casts, the river gods smiled upon me. My strike indicator twitched, I set, fish on. The fish quickly came to the surface, and I had confirmation: Steelie, a smallish hen. A quick yell of "fish!" brought Timbo to my aid. After a short fight, I guided the fish toward the bank, where he was able to secure the fish and take a pic. After seven or eight sessions, my Brule cherry was finally popped.