Ice Fishing ... Kinda

Well, I started off on my quest to fish every month of 2010. My neighbor John and I headed up into the Jemez this past Friday. The weather forecast called for clear skies and temps near 50. Of course, things were a bit cooler up in the mountains, but it was still very nice up there. The first stream we stopped at was pretty well frozen over. There were a couple of spots where the ice had cleared. We saw a couple of fish hanging out down there, but we couldn't fish to them. They were hanging just under the ice at the head of the clearing. Hard to drift a fly down to them under a long stretch of ice. Still, it was a blast to get up in the mountains and hike around. I hiked through a couple of drifts were the snow was knee high. Our waders kept the snow off us and helped keep us warm. Crossing the frozen-over stream was fun, too. Every once in a while I'd hear the ice start to "pop", telling me to get across a little quicker. After a couple hours trying our luck on this small stream, we decided to head off to another spot.

The second stream was completely frozen, no chance of fishing there. We headed back down towards Jemez Springs where we'd find a bit more sun and warmer weather (less ice on the river). We stopped off at a popular picnic spot, well at least it's popular during the summers. The river was mostly ice free in this spot and there looked to be some good holes. There was a fair number of midges in the air -- too bad we couldn't see any fish rising to them. We fished there watching our nymphs for any subtle takes and had a great time; however, I managed to catch only one 7" rainbow.

So, for my last two fishing trips I've caught two fish total. I need to do more catching on these fishing trips! Oh well, it's as much about getting out and enjoying being outside as it is about catching fish. Still, I'm looking forward to some good dry fly action later this year.

One month down, 11 more to go ...

And I've got to get me a camera ... any suggestions?