Tues and Wed

      Got up bout 2 AM on Tues -worked round the house and fished till 5 tonight-Wed- and bugged out. In the 20s at night and in the low 40s both days- kinda sunny with a mix of clouds and a bit of noontime hail both days.     
    Not many fishermen cept way up.   Stayed outa the Zones.
   Pulaski weather- Sunny and hail. Or- hail its sunny.
Fish were still coming into a feeder and some were still spawning and there was a dead one or two. Still no suckers in there but they are startin at its mouth. Very low in the feeder and the higher up ya go the lower the water is.
     SR had dropped quite a bit and I think that put the bite off - lotsa guys said they were skunked even though ya could see fish here and there. Guys who said they hooked up were saying only one fish. Even groups of guys were sayin skunk or one fish for the group.
  Made me feel pretty good- I did OK but never stopped moving- couldnt see standing in one place with the bite off- kept looking and casting and walking. Covering lotsa ground equaled better fishing opportunities IMHO- thats how the boats do it.  
      It aint over yet-those cold nights may well be saving the run for  a little longer- even with low water those cold and frosty ( mon nite) nights gotta be coolin the water somewhat. I normally still catch Spring fish when the water snakes are out and they aint out yet.
     BTW- 2 of my 3 May spots are ruined by trees having fallen resulting in the gravel runs bein completly silted in. DARN.

    I hate snakes-didnt see any- thankfully-some of the log piles I fish from are famous for them and they werent there as yet- am sure they are sitting around sunning here and there though.
     BTW- I dont feel good bout my trip anymore- fella on the other forum says he and his bud hooked up over 50 times on Sunday.
    OOPS- just read it again-they EACH hooked up over 50 times. Musta been some bite happenin on Sunday.

Quite honestly it doesn't to me rt. 4/1 was 285. Normally it's in the 1,00o range and full of runoff with snow still around. This bringing good pushes of fish that have been waiting in the lake just for that. The small creeks are holding the spawners as much if not more then the river. Drop backs are usually just starting and peak around 2 nd week in May. Things are way ahead IMO by a good 3 weeks.

To me it's been a very non typical season.

        Understand that Tuna-it certainly would have been better if we had snow and decent runoff but some projections seemed to indicate that it was gonna be over real early- that aint happenin.
    Recall a very low water level throughout the Fall season too and it certainly fouled up my regular places however the State has recorded some record fisherman numbers and excellent returns of fishes as well.
     Not sayin its utopia now but only that those planning trips can get into fish. Most never went after mid April for Steel and the fact that they will still be able to have a quality trip despite the weather conditions speaks well of the fishery.
  Even during banner years in very late April and through May ya generally have the river pretty much to yourself. Its in all likelyhood that the late season is where ya will see the run over earlier than usual.
      Would agree that its slower than usual now but only pointing out its still happenin an on a fair level too.
     Seems to have been a very different kinda year up there all around.Frankly for me the Steel numbers were never what they have been in recent seasons but the fish are there for those who work at them This is still much more interesting than those 'lean years' of not so long ago.
    Think that 500 they  ran a few days ago may have freshened things up just a bit.

Hi PAL - When I first started up there Spring Steel was not as popular as now and there were a a LOT of fish. Ya could find them most anyplace and without crowds too. Then the lean years came and it was considered a good 3 day trip if ya landed a couple.
The past few years have been great for them. This year IMHO has been moderate throughout.  I'll take moderate anytime over the 'lean times".
I dont generally talk about personal numbers but on my last trip a week or so ago had several landed and a number more hooked up- hadda really work for them and cover lotsa ground. They are still there if ya sweat a bit.
The trip I did before that was lousy-  water level as Tuna indicated is very important- it can put the bite right off.
  Water temp at DSR yesterday still  at 40.

Oh yea- walkin around with a "the end is near' sign over your shoulders is a PIA.
  As a dedicated bait guy bout the only way I fished in those days was with Garden Hackle-did OK too- still works too.

Even though my back was hurtin' I was went yesterday for a few hours to the feeder. I did not post up because I really was going for some browns with an ultra light because I could not cast my fly rod too well. Went for 2 hours I got 2 small browns and 2 what I assume were small rainbows. I really do not know the difference between a baby steel and a rainbow. These fish were small , biggest at around 7 inches and smallest could fit in my palm with room to spare. I saw 1 ragged steelhead and 1 smaller one which could have been a rainbow or a small steel. I has a small pink estaz fly with a bit of worm on. I cast to each and they honestly came up and bumped the fly with their nose checking it out and were not interested in the least. The big one did it 3 times and gave me the fin and then left.
There reason for posting this here was to say the feeder had no steel in it other than that, no suckers on worms either. Plenty of smaller trout though. I had a bit of fun with them