Fished the upper St. Joe for the first time with 3 other guys. We parked at Spruce Tree campground and hiked the footpath that follows the river upstream for about 2 miles until we found a path down to the river. Worked the river on foot back toward Spruce Tree throughout the day. Water was very cold initially without waders, but as the day grew hotter, being knee-deep in water was the best way to stay cool.

I'm still a novice fly fisherman, so I took along my spincasting rod as well as my fly rod. Yellow hoppers seemed to be the flavor of the day. We had our most consistent results with terrestrials, the more yellow the better. We caught and released lots of beautiful cuts ranging from 9-13 inches in holes and runs all the way back to the campground. However, my best catch was on a black and tan terrestrial when I ran out of yellow hoppers. The trout rose to the surface, hammered the fly and made several runs before I was able to maneuver him into the net. He was only 13 inches, but a real fighter.

In the deep holes where the flys were getting no response, I switched to spinner baits and spoons with single Siwash hooks. To my great surprise, the most effective lure was a small red and white Daredevil spoon. It was a "This will never work, but I'll give it a try," surprise that worked consistently down the rest of the river.

Great weather, good company, beautiful river. Does it get better?

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