Bluebird Day

When it’s cold enough to wear a woolen flannel and the skies are bright blue, I think of my friend Dick Bolton. Dick passed away a few years ago too darn young, but he left a handful of us with a better appreciation of the great outdoors. Dick had a unique way of optimistically looking at nature and time spent outdoors, and now a few of us haphazardly see things as Dick did. That was the case for me today.

As I was hiking into a favorite fishing spot of the Coldwater River, I passed a glorious stand of brilliant white sycamore trees contrasted against bright blue skies that seem to come only when the air is cool.

“Bluebird skies,” I muttered to myself as I reached for my camera and thought of Dick.

Today’s weather was a nice break in the winter.  It struggled to reach 50º but never quite made it. But the brilliant, sunny skies made it feel like 70º.

Once I was on the river, I was quite hopeful that the warmer temps would have the fish feeding. I started by stripping streamers and rolled a few trout in the slower, deeper edges of this small river.

As I fished, I noticed bugs in the air for the first time in months. Stoneflies. Early Black Stoneflies to be precise. Having seen the bugs, I could’t help but wonder if I would see a rise.

Before long, I broke off my only streamer leader on a backcast, and had to switch over to nymphs. One of the nymphs I tied on was a stonefly pattern that I learned about at a Grand River Fly Tyers meeting last winter. It’s a pattern used by Jay Allen on the Muskegon when he guides for Riverquest Charters.

As I nymphed my way down the river, I could have sworn I saw a couple rises. Or was that just the cobwebs of winter playing tricks on my mind?

Only one fish came to net today, a pretty wild brown just under 12″ with mostly black spots. It wasn’t a banner day for catching fish, but it was good to be out on the river on a beautiful bluebird day.