(Late Post) Methow and Dusty

March 23, 2012  Methow and Dusty

Sarah and I got up very early in the AM and picked up Tom on the way to the Methow, hoping to find the honey hole teeming with steelhead.  Brian A. and Don Schurtz also joined us.  Tom and I stumbled down to the river in the semi-darkness while Sarah waited in the car (sleeping), trusting we'd come get her if the fish were in.  We began to toss our beads into the water as it became light enough to see, and after a few minutes we knew that a repeat of the epic days of the previous year was not going to happen.  After working the hole thoroughly, only Brian A had picked up a steelhead from the rocks on the other side of the river.  The fishing was so slow that Tom actually stopped fishing and went up on the bridge to spot fish.  In all the hole, he saw one steelhead,  to which he graciously guided me.  "Cast out towards the point of rocks," he says.  "About five feet farther on the next cast."  Then, "There!" and I lift the rod as my indicator goes down.  Fish on!  Nice job, Tom.




Nice Methow steelhead (caught by Rick, directed by Tom)

While Tom searched for fish down at the bend, Rick worked a nice looking run of water below the bridge hole.  Not so much a hole, but just fishy looking water, in the Bella Coola sense.  After farming one definite steelhead and losing another possible, Tom came back upstream and Rick graciously let Tom lead the way a second time through the run; then he promptly caught a steelhead nearly in the water Tom had just walked through!



Another one for Rick

Finally, Tom found a steelhead a little farther down the same run.


Tom's steelhead - I think the left pectoral fin is still in the water....

We had to work pretty hard to find these fish, so we let Sarah sleep.  We checked out a couple other spots to see if we could find a big trout for Sarah, but to no avail.  I did get to enjoy watching her toss the bead around, mending the line and all just as she should.



Sarah trying to find a steelhead

With it being a beautiful day and the end of March, there was only one thing we could do on the way home - stop at Dusty!  Sarah needed fish!  The parking lot was empty, so we'd have the lake to ourselves.  After the beautiful hike down the ancient spillway from the floods of glacial Lake Missoula, we could see a good number of fish cruising the shoreline.  With no breeze to riffle the surface, we were as visible to the fish as they were to us. In spite of that minor problem, we were still able to entice a few nice rainbows to take our flies, making Sarah a happy girl!

Sarah finds a nice Dusty rainbow



Nice Dusty rainbow