It was another awesome spring-like day in Wolf Creek yesterday so I decided to tag along with WCA guide Luke Koerten, his girlfriend Betsy and their dogs. We floated Holter Dam to Craig with high expectations, excited about some January streamer action after having heard about some great streamer action over the weekend.
We figured we would start out chasing the bobber and get a few fish to hand before settling in to the streamer quest. Good plan but didn’t really pan out as we had anticipated. We ended up spending a lot of time changing bugs trying to find the HOT fly and never really did find anything that was working consistently. We had a tough run from the dam to Wolf Creek Bridge but started to piece a decent day together from there to Craig. The bite seemed a little off, maybe a result of the surge from LIttle Prickly Pear the last couple of days but the water was in great shape and I expect things will normalize over the next day or two.
We did ok with Firebead Soft Hackle Sows, Pink Lightning Bugs, Rainbow Warriors, Wire Worms, Soft Hackle Rays and the almost-famous WCA Casne’s Pinkalicious, which started to turn on at the end of the day.
Everything came from the slow deep winter runs but we rarely picked up more than two fish out of a run. Our lack of success delayed the streamer quest though we did spend an hour or two stripping SLOW and managed to connect a couple of times with the Polar Leech which has been our go-to at WCA since October. Weise’s Swimming Minnow got a few looks and Luke had some custom ties which moved a few fish but as was the case with the nymphing, there didn’t seem to be any one thing in particular they were looking for.
The late afternoon/early evening proved to be the best time slot, which reportedly has been the case for the last couple of days. All in all a decent day, in fact a damn good day by January standards. This weather pattern looks like it is going to hold through the weekend so get out there and enjoy it before winter returns, which it inevitably will. We currently have lodging available for the weekend and expect it will fill so book your room today and while you’re at it why not take advantage of our ridiculously reasonable winter trip rates of $395 for a full day on the MO.
See you in the shop and on the water.
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