Stream Fishing hits an All Time Low!!!!!!!

[Capt. JJ]

In terms of water depth, that is........

Started out 0600 hours yesterday at my fave hole on the Musky along with Klemster, Mac Daddy, and Bones....I didnt even recognize it. I figured the big rivers would be safe from lack of rain but even this location was a trickle compared to years past...lines in a few mins later and Klemster hooks up immediately with a nice rainbow. I'm next to follow with a chunky rainbow on a salmon egg, and so it continued for 90 minutes...all rainbows except for one brookie...all nicer size but we did have 2, 18" 'bows to give some weight to stringers...decided to venture downstream to see some other fave spots.

The Mill area was dead....didnt see a fish lifted....went further down by rte. 78 (which looked like it hadnt been fished since opening day) and it was scary to see how low the river was.....almost entirely unfishable under the bridges...in fact I'll say it: "it was unfishable because there was basically no water!"

A bit north of the underpasses there were quite a few fish feeding on a major hatch, and it was fun to watch, but........

Anyways....drove down 31 and stopped at the Spruce creek at a few of our fave spots.....Jesus!!!! It was a trickle!!!! Ive never seen it this low, this early, in all my years....maybe not even this low in mid-July in all my years! Sad thing is there were trout in all the usual spots, but with 12 inches of gin-clear water where there used to be 6 feet, it was not going to be a fish-able deal.

Ended up paying a quick visit to the Cap and it was just as bad there......fish everywhere in big numbers but very easy to spook on what amounts to about half a stream left,

We need this big rain to make an impact or the Spring stocking season is, IMHO, going to be very short-lived, or highly modified.....

We all ended up with limits plus for the day (except for Bones, who was aiming for the "caught most trees and snags" award), and I guess we'll have to see what mother nature brings us in the way of H2O relief.

Capt. JJ