TroutLegend

There is something so magical about fishing big rivers. After a long winter of trampling through backyards, fighting barking dogs, and yanking flies from overhanging brush it’s soothing to take a deep breath and stand waste deep in a huge rushing river. The sun and wind washing away instantly those long dark winter days. From Great Western Rivers to Great Lake Tributaries few anglers can ignore the call of big fish and Big Rivers.

With conditions holding fortuitously on the edge of a great storm we jumped quickly through the window. Ghostly mist and a blaze orange sun rise captivated our attention early, but soon those colors turned to racing chrome.

With it becoming so rare to find great spacing on our local streams you really have to savor the day when everyone is happily doing there own thing. The “swingers” were lazily 2 stepping their way through the big runs, while “short liners” targeted the riffles, and not far off the “pinners” were drifting the transition water. It’s nice to see everyone getting along.

My time guiding in Alaska seems so far away now. The memories of the Big Rivers out there are starting to fade like the black and white photos of our ancestors. Still, sometimes they all come rushing back, if just for a moment, in great detail and color as I wade the Big Rivers.