Kay and I spent the latter part of winter in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas, but there was no need to escape the cold here at home; temperatures were and remain unseasonably warm.  Consequently, trees are already leafing out and wildflowers are blooming almost a month early.  As I walked out the front door to take some photos of the blooms, I noticed that the dogwood tree in the “circle” bed had begun to bloom; it normally blooms about April 15.  Along the road from the highway to our house, there are many wildflowers, and my favorite is the columbine, and it bloomed today—can you believe it!  We constantly monitor the columbines to detect their bloom, and were surprised a few days ago when we noticed buds appearing on the plants.  By tomorrow, they will be bursting with their subtle reds and yellows.

There were also other wildflowers blooming, many dogwood trees are beginning to bloom, and our azaleas will bloom in the next day or two—all several weeks early.  We hope this doesn’t portend a bad freeze, wet spring with flooding, or hot summer.

The birds are also beginning to appear regularly at the feeders.  Our neighbor, Bill, and I noticed a tom turkey strutting yesterday about 75 yards from the house, and a couple of days ago I was able to snap this photograph of a pileated woodpecker picking up pieces of suet dropped by other birds. 

DATE: Monday, March 19, 2012

TIME: 12:30PM TO 3:30 PM

WEATHER: Low 80s, mostly cloudy, windy

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, Across from Ol’ Charlie’s and upstream to top of island

FLIES USED: #20 red zebra midge, #16 gray elk hair caddis

ROD USED: Winston 8’ 6” 5-weight WT Joan Wulff Favorite

HATCHES: Midges, caddis

OTHER: I fished with Wayne and Bill.  Water from generation was still dropping when we walked in, and with the crowd already beginning to build downstream at the access, I immediately waded downstream to the riffle across from Ol’ Charlie’s.  Both the discharge and velocity dictated more weight, and I added a split shot above the top fly, an olive scud; I rarely add weight as it is my opinion that it gives the fly an unnatural drift.  After many casts, and a couple of misses, I hooked up and landed a small trout.  As water levels dropped, with a corresponding drop in discharge and velocity, I removed the split shot, and caught three additional fish, including a fat 12-inch cutbow.  As the water settled into “0” generation levels, I switched to the caddis, and was rewarded with three more fish, but had several misses.  Bill left the riffle at the top of the island, and I quickly waded upstream to fish a caddis there.  Despite heavy winds and mostly overcast skies, I managed to catch about 9 fish on the caddis there, and again had at least that many misses.  By this time, fatigue set in, and Bill and I began wading to our walk-out point, noting that water levels had begun to rise, indicating generation.  We notified a solitary fisher above us, and he didn’t have a clue, nor we suspect, did he have any idea about generation and generation forecasts.  He began following us out, but I advised him to hurry downstream because we were departing through private property; I’ve got to believe he didn’t know better.