Jim D with a streamer caught pinook
I ended my time on the Garden River last week. The river still had fresh fish moving into the system in small numbers. I have a call into our native guides to see if the rain this weekend brought fresh fish in. I suspect it did.
This year was one of the toughest fishing years we have had up north. With a river as small as the Garden it is hard to get 20 pound fish to move without rain. We saw a TOTAL of 1/2 inch of rain in the month of September, hard to believe. The run was so late that we had few fish holding in pools where we target them with streamers. They were moving in, getting on the gravel and doing the spawn routine faster than I have seen at anytime or place.
The good news is that the fish were much bigger than the year before, looked healthy and fought well. Joe and Cody will continue to monitor the run so we know if what big, small or in-between.
Next year we will start later than we have in the last couple of years and we will also be targeting steelhead more than we have in the past. I'll keep you posted when we have the details.
Many thanks to all of the anglers that joined us up north this year. I enjoyed showing you the beautiful place that my native friends call home.
Thanks,
Hawk
Friends and daughters relaxing on the bank
