Hi Folks, Ran my boat yesterday for the first time in 2017. Ran beautifully! Always a certain amount of work and prep that goes into getting the boat ready and keeping it maintained for the fishing season. Nice day to be on the water with air temps, exceeding 90 degrees. Really sunny and a stiff breeze from the west southwest. The water temperature was a consistent 62 degrees. Color was a bit off. We did not see any bass spawning beds but the largemouth were in much shallower water than the smallmouth. We located most of the largemouth in soft bottom areas with old dead trees on the bottom. Saw a number of pike and pickerel chase flies yesterday and we did manage to land half a dozen of the toothy critters without bite guards on our tippets. Unfortunately, we did lose the fish of the day and maybe could have been the pike of the season when we had a giant hen pike take a black bunny bugger in about 3' of water. Needless to say she bit us off and left us standing oin the boat in shock!, Damn it!!!! All the same the fishing was pretty darn good as we landed 7 different species on the fly using black and white bunny buggers and some red and white deer hair divers. Looks to me like the next month should be really good on the warm water front as the bass prepare to spawn.
Trout fishing should be spot on now with fish beingg stocked and wild fish awakening from their winter hiatus. Hendricksons, March Browns, and Grannoms all in the mix. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
