Commencing Countdown Engines On.....

      Hello all and thanks for checking in at the O’Grady Fly Fishing Blog. Every now and then it hits me that something is more intertwined in my life than I had ever thought it to be. I have written many times over the years about my Huskers, my family, pets, and even a little about Ozzy and Zepp. At times I feel that I might have shared every bit of my life, but when I woke up Monday morning and saw that David Bowie was gone, I realized it was his turn to be in the spot light. As I read the sad news memories overwhelmed me, almost as if my life was flashing before my eyes, and attached to them, David Bowie.    

            I think the year was 1974 or 5 and my family had just made it to our cousins’ house in San Jose. Our station wagon pulled up to the house, I’m sure we looked just like the Grisswalds, and as soon as we got into the house my cousin Greg pulled us into his room and said he made a play for us. I had never heard Space Oddity before and his performance was complete with a space capsule he made out of his bunk bed and with him acting out the Major Tom part. It was the first time I think my conscience had ever connected with a song and to this day I still get teary eyed when the song comes on. Several years later I remember going to see Labyrinth with a couple friends and at times people think they have passed the bog of eternal stench when they come near. A few years later when I was thoroughly entranced in the darkest part of my life, Ziggy Stardust somehow became my theme song. Now the brightest recollection of Bowie came many years later when after marrying the absolute love of my life, Cat, she and I were on the road listening to the radio and China Girl came on. I looked over and saw Cat tearing up and she explained that her mom had always said that it was HER song. So yeah, that became another Bowie memory.

          So if you are trying to figure out how I will turn this blog back to fly fishing, it is simple. As our readers have picked up over the years, January is NOT my favorite time of the year to fish. Yes fish can be caught and good times can definitely be had, but simply said not my favorite time of year. Now the great thing about looking down at the date and seeing it is already the 17^th tells me that January is more than half way over. So as I go out over the next four weeks I will use Bowie as my guide. Every day the sun is getting a little higher and we are one day nearer to the fish coming out of their winter slumber, the days will be counted down till the fish lift off. Commencing countdown, till the fish are on. Check your fly box and may God’s love be with you....
       Fishing today was a nice walk in a river waving a stick. Cat, Winston, and I got to the water around noon and fished an area we hadn’t hit in a while. We fished for a couple hours and got a total of four hook-ups between the three of us. The bugs didn’t come out to play today and the fish were to nervous about the football game to eat (makes sense to me). The pictures below are from a guide trip on Wednesday. As always thanks for reading, Connell, Cat, The Goblin King, and Winston.   

Weather Tease....

          Hello all and thanks for checking in at The O’Grady Fly Fishing Adventures. Well the weather may have been saying March, but the river was saying mid-January. I was in the shop yesterday afternoon helping Cat out and every angler who came back in after fishing exclaimed how crowded the river was. We even had one fisherman who counted 31 anglers between Valco bridge and the Tree bend. I guess it was a good day to be in the shop. I had a full day teaching trip scheduled for today, but after hearing about the crowds it was moved to later next week. Without the trip, I decided to head out and really just wanted to explore and mingle. I knew one set of friends who were out wetting lines and I planned to just go heckle them, but they were catching too many fish to even sound clever with my jabs.

After departing my friends, I moved up river and stepped into a run where several fish were rising. After catching a few, I decided that I would coin a new term for these fish. Now I know that nothing can be further from the truth when they call those miniature candy bars “fun size”, there is absolutely nothing fun about an inch and a half candy bar. A fun sized candy bar would be 11 inches. As it happens the fish I was playing with today were in the 11 to 13inch range (the fun sized range). They were fish who have been in the river long enough to have a belly and a little bit of color. After having fun with those guys for a little while, I hunted for another run which hopefully contain a King Size. Picking out a fishy spot, I casted in and caught my fish of the day. He was just a tad over 19 and had the shoulders of a linebacker. I hooked one more there, but he popped off and I spent the rest of the day just moving around and scouting.

          Fish seem to be really moving into deeper pools and coming out to eat for just shot periods of time. Fish today were all taken on Cats SOL. As always Connell, Cat, Winston, Snickers and the Drift Fly Shop want to thank you for reading….

*** Shop Note: Due to the holiday we have rescheduled Open Tying Night Friday, January 8^th, at our normal time 6:00pm. Hope to see you there! Also a pair of gloves were found at the river this weekend and our waiting at the shop for their owner.

                                        Scott in the house..

Happy New Fish Year !!!

          Hello all and thanks for checking in at The O’Grady Fly Fishing Adventures. I wanted to start by wishing you all a fantastic New Year.

I was standing in the river today and as usual my brain began to wander. Since today was the first day of 2016, my thoughts kept bouncing between the past year and the upcoming one. I thought a while about my Huskers and how difficult of a year it had been and then after somehow making it to a bowl game, a Christmas miracle allowed my Huskers to come away with a win. Now looking forward to next year, it will be at least 9 months before we lose again. As for my real job, without getting too political, I’ll just say it was a long year. As for the future…ehhhh. These thoughts were fleeting and my mind drifted to the last year on the water, which was interesting to say the least. Three months of high water, a September that just began to show promise and then the longest turn over that I can remember. So as the river dropped and began to clear we finally got a good look at some of the changes the high water brought about. December had its moments and before I knew it, 2016 was here and we were in my favorite month of the year, January(not). Yeah I know it is not my favorite month of the year, but without January, March and April may not seem so awesome.

          I thought today was going to be an incredible day, second cast and my indicator shot upstream. A quick fight ensued, but then I could feel something just wasn’t right, and then the tail came to the surface. (fowl as a four-piece dinner) I got him back in the water and then it took another half an hour before I hooked up again. It wasn’t a monster, but my first (fair) fish of the year was the most joyous 13 incher I have caught in years. We wanted to do a little walking today so we didn’t stay in one spot too much. Cat got into one run and hooked a half dozen or so but they all seemed to pop of just as she was grabbing her net. The fish of the year was a fish that I had actually spotted last week on a guide trip. I was a little surprised to see the stripe in the exact same place. After a couple of drifts, I watched him turn and grab my fly. The battle was quick but he was an absolutely beautiful seventeen and a half incher. We moved back up river and Cat got her first two fish of the year in. They were small, but little fish need love too.

          To sum up the day it appears winter is definitely here. Fish seemed to be moving deep and are a little sluggish. The early afternoon saw fish feeding on Alex’s True Blood and in the late afternoon they switched to eating Cat’s SOL. We saw pretty decent bug activity this afternoon, but saw very few fish hitting the surface. With the strange year that just passed, a few of us have worried a little about the health of our river but after exploring a little today, we saw a few runs that were chalked full of rainbows. Even though this is not my favorite time of the year, I sure am optimistic about the upcoming year. As always, Connell, Cat, Winston, Tommy Armstrong and the Drift Fly Shop want to thank you for reading and we wish you and incredible New Year…

First fish of 2016

                                           

                                                    Second fish..

                                               Biggest fish of 2016..... so far.