Even with this warmer stretch of weather the water on the Crooked River is still very cold and levels have come up since last week. The water is running very clear and conditions will improve over the course of this week and into next. The water level needs to drop a little bit to make wading easier and to be able to fish all of the pools effectively. There is still a decent snow pack in the forest surrounding the upper section of the river that will contribute to the runoff in the next few days. You may see bare ground where you are, but not where we were this morning. The warmer temperatures made walking on top of the snow impossible and snow shoes would have been a better bet for us today.

Trail to the river

When the sun finally hit the water there was a sparse midge hatch and along the shallows there were many other aquatic insects moving about. We grabbed a northern casemaker larvae caddis from the shallows as it crawled along. These larvae will inhabit the slower sections of the river and a slow retrieve right on the bottom is essential. There were also little black stoneflies fluttering along the surface of the water below Bolsters Mills. We watched intently for any surface rises into the afternoon, but were not rewarded in that endeavor.

Northern Casemaker Caddis imitation

Northern Casemaker Caddis

Black Stonefly

Jeff at Cemetary Pool

After fishing the upper section of the river I took a moment to put my canoe into Songo Locks. This area gets a lot of fishing pressure, so I am careful to pick a time when there are less anglers on the water. I put on a Grey Ghost with a red floss body that I tied up myself as the salmon in this pool will readily recognize this as rainbow smelt, their primary forage. Even though I had an anchor I chose to drift with the wind and slowly retrieve my streamer along the bottom. Within a few moments I hooked into a beautiful salmon. This salmon jumped many times, one of the major reasons why I became truly addicted to salmon fishing, and also ripped off many strong runs that had my reel singing. I had to beach my canoe on shore to finally land this strong fish. I estimated this fish around 20”. Feel free to try and catch him again as he still swims in the pool below Songo Locks. Again going back to my drifting technique I hooked and landed another smaller salmon that was quickly released. These two fish were a fitting end to a wonderful day. Conditions are only going to get better and the ice has turned dark on many of the local lakes and ponds, which indicates a weakening of the ice. Very soon there will be many more opportunities and open water.

First Salmon of the Season

Salmon