I figured today would be the first day to fish with the temps above the "ice in the guides" level so off to the Skykomish I went. I arrived around 7:30 to a near-empty parking lot and some light wind. I hoofed it down to a lower stretch and figured I would fish my way back to my car. River was cold, low and clear and the breeze was freshening as I set up shop. As expected the temp was warm enough to avoid icing up but the fishing was tough with the wind and low water. By the time I had worked down to the end of the hole I was sensing why the crowd was so light......not many willing fish around. As I was prepping myself to start fishing my way out I remembered I hadn't changed my bait since I had started so thought I should at least change to a fresh chunk of prawn. Two casts later, bobber down and after a fairly good fight with a couple jumps I had my first winter hatchery fish to the bank. Cool! 5 pound chrome hen. Worked the hole for another 15 minutes and decided to work my way out as the wind was wearing me out. Stopped at a likely spot and starting working the hole with another fisherman. The area looked fishy and I figured there had to be something there that needed to be hit in the head with the right offering. No luck with my first jig and I thought I would just head home with dinner and call it a day. At that point I snagged up and decided to change my presentation for a few casts before I left. After around 10 casts to the exact same spot we had worked to death, bobber down. I set the hook on what felt like a rock but the rock start pulling....huhh? Fish rolls and I could see it was a nice fish. After several ripping runs and a couple more rolls I got it close enough to see it was a toad of a native fish. By this time a couple fisherman came down to see what was going on and were able to take a couple pix before I sent him on his way. Right at my personal best of around 15 pounds. Thanks, guys! Two old lessons were taught to me again today......keep your bait reasonably fresh and don't forget to change up when things are slow. Tight lines!

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