Went out to a couple local stocked streams with some success. It was tough dealing with the crowds but they seemed to all go home at lunchtime, never to be seen again. I generally do not go out specifically for stockies, especially around opening weekend. But, I had a few hours by myself and the warm water  fish haven't really woken up yet. I managed about 20 stockies in a few hours. I was not impressed with the trash along the streams nor the condition of the fish. They were ugly and beat. You could tell the cramped conditions of the state hatcheries. What a shame. I guess the bucket brigade doesn't seem to care.

No trips this week. Gave the fish a weekend break. Took the time to look at some alternative tow vehicles that would haul at least 5 people comfortably, get good mileage, and still tow a driftboat. It's a tough call. The Silverado served us well and the Frontier, although smaller, did just as well. Neither hauled 5 people comfortably and we do not need a Tahoe or Suburban. The choices for 2013 were Nissan Pathfinder, Toyota Highlander, and GMC Acadia. Yes, there are a few others but these are the ones that we narrowed it down to.
The Pathfinder was our first choice due to past experiences with them. No bucket seats for the middle row, making it difficult to get to the 3rd row seat. It's a tie between the legendary reliability of the Highlander vs. the affordability of the GMC. My wife works for a GMC dealer so that makes for such a tough decision.

What can I say? It's cold and the fish are sluggish. Forget about fly fishing. If you hit the fish on the nose with a nymph, you may get a reaction strike. With the snow melt and the much colder water temps in our local limestoners, their metabolisms are quite slow as they usually are this time of year. Most give up fishing this month, some go ice fishing... and then there's me.  I have yet to be completely skunked when pinning for trout.
Today was a close call with one actual landing. Nice 14-15" wild brown. A few rollovers and missed strikes but still only one successful catch.

Today we decided to hit one of our favorite special regulation streams.
We did not anticipate much with the cold temps but at least there wasn't any ice flowing. It was a slow start and we managed to pull out a fish or two out of each hole. Between the two of us, we managed about a baker's dozen with all but one being rainbows. All fish were caught on soft plastics using the pin. We bumped into a flyfisherd on the wa