Managed my second excursion to Velva Sportsman's
dam this afternoon, my third trip out since opening
day. Had a growing sense of dread with all the
reports of winterkill, plus my jaunt the week before
to Baker's Bridge on the Souris river.

That was a disheartening trip. The spot is
upstream of where the Des Lacs river dumps in, and
that tributary has been one of the few sources of
runoff into the river upstream of town. Nothing
coming out of the dam at Lake Darling. So, I was
basically on a stagnant section of water, not too
long after ice-out. The shallows were littered
with dead fish carcasses -- mostly suckers and
bullheads (takes a *lot* to kill them), plus the
odd walleye and northern pike thrown in for good
measure. Good casting practice, but that was
about it. The five other vehicles that were there
when I arrived gave up and went home pretty quick.
I was more persistant, but was not expecting
anything given that I could have filled a five
gallon bucket with dead fish within 10 yards of
where I stood.

The question of winterkill had been in my
mind since my trip out to Velva Sportsman's dam
on opening day, and I'd seen nothing to exactly
encourage me. But, the only way to answer the
question was to go back out and try my luck. It
wasn't a bad day for spring in ND -- fairly sunny,
in the 50s, and a 20 mph "breeze", with stronger
gusts. Maybe not a perfect fly fishing day, but
not *so* bad. :-)

Arrived to find another vehicle parked at
the east end -- old guy drowning worms. He was
on the lee side, out of the wind. Not a spot *I*
would fish, given the dynamics of wind-induced lake
currents.

Decided to start in the little bay on the west
side, where I could cast quartering to the wind.
Heard something splash on the far side, saw the
ripples, but never got a look. *Lots* of black
midges buzzing about anywhere there was a wind
break. Hear another splash off to my right. Hmmm...

Rigged up a black midge pupa on an indicator
rig and let that drift around likely looking areas
for a while with no joy. Kept wondering about those
splashes... *Could* have been fish, or just as easily
muskrats...

After 20-30 minutes, it was fairly obvious *this*
tactic wasn't working. Back to the car for the
streamer box! :-) Tied on a #6 black maribou leech
pattern, and started working my way down the bank
from the car, casting *right* into the teeth of
the wind. Had to go down the bank a ways to gain
some room behind for a decent back cast, and with
some double-hauling, started to manage 30-40' casts.
Let the leech sink, and started a *slow* hand-twist
retrieve. Wanted to be just ticking the bottom.

Kept working down the bank, out onto a 4-5' or
so deep flat that comes up to a small point. Belted
out a decent cast, waited for the leech to sink, and
started my retrieve... Tick... Tick... Hmmm... That's
a bit *too* much of a tick... Raise the rod tip...

That's all it took to start the familiar circular
thrumming of a rod and line with a trout at the other
end of it. :-) Feels pretty good... :-) Doesn't look
too bad, either. :-)

Soon enough, the fight comes to an end, and a fat
rainbow comes to hand. Measuring against the rod
handle reveals a 14" fish -- much bigger than a fresh
stocker. Also *much* more vividly coloured. :-) Looks
like at least *some* of the trout made it through the
winter. :-)

Was getting to be time to go, and I threw a couple
more casts on the way back to the car, but the performance
was not to be repeated. Didn't matter. The question
had been answered in the affirmative, and the smile
resulting from it remains still. :-)

Going to have to tie some more of those maribou leeches.
Probably do some in natural turkey grey, as I've replenished
my supply over the weekend. :-) Brother and I left the
house at a bit after 7:00AM opening day of spring turkey
season, and were done and on the way back home with a
brace of respectable birds (his was just shy of 18 lbs,
and mine was 20 lbs., 5 oz.) by 9:00AM. :-) Hard to beat
that. :-)

Todd (remove hook to reply)