Success and ice surfing…

River: Pecos River, Pecos NM

Date: 2010-01-31

Conditions: Sunny but cold, still a lot of ice on the river with some small openings. Look for any slow moving water and deep pools.

Today I finally landed a fish on one of the flies I had tied. The fly was one I planned on using later in the year but since I was having luck with the San Juan Worms I figured I would give a go. The fly is a Green Rock Worm. This is a Caddis larva (Rhyacophila).

Green Rock Worm (Rhyacophila)

So the first rig of the day is Green Rock Worm with a small red San Juan Worm dropper. I did a bit of hiking from the Willow Creek day use area and found a really nice pool flowing up against a large boulder. It looked good, the best spot I had seen so far this winter given the limited access.

So I hiked down river a bit and made my approach upstream. First cast into the pool just at the trail of the riffle leading into it. I float it right through the heart of the pool and BAM! First cast and I had a fish on the line but not for long. He wiggled off fairly quickly.

After that I had a few more indications of bites but nothing then I hooked a really nice fish. He was a lot larger than any fish I had on my line all winter. I fought him for a few seconds and got him close to my legs right then he wiggled off. Damn, he was nice sized. I know it was a brown, I got him that close.

I figure I have spooked this pool now but I try a few more times and I got another on the line. This time I got him on the snow.

After that I hiked up the river hitting what slow water I came across but I would have no more action on this day, well, sort of. One thing about fishing this river this time of year is the ice along the sides. I was really careful the first few times walking out to the river but after a while I got a bit complacent. As I walked out to get to another section of the river I strolled on out towards the edge and planned on just jumping in.

Well, the ice almost took me down. The ice broke off before I expected it to. Luckily I have good reflexes.

I surfed ice for a second…