A friend wanted to hit the river on Saturday to chase some steel. We went to a popular area near Goldbar and joined the crowd which really wasn't that bad considering the time of year. We found a spot to ourselves that has produced in the past and waited for enough light to fish. The river was low and super clear so I thought if there were any willing fish they would be most likely to hit before the sun got too high and the fishing activity had a chance to spook them. Once again things were very slow and we watched maybe 5 or 6 fish caught above us and 1 below us. Finally around 8:30 I got a bobber down and stuck a small hatchery hen. 4.03 pounds to be exact. No, I didn't weigh it but I did take it to Three Rivers Marine and entered it in the derby hoping it would be the smallest one on the books which also gets a prize. Too big for that but I found out I could have cleaned it and still qualified for smallest fish. Hope I get a fish more on the higher side of the derby but as I looked at the sheet it was apparent that not many fish are being entered and a lot of them are on the small side. That jives with my experiences on the river.....not many fish caught and I personally haven't seen one that was north of the 7 or 8 pound line. We left at around 11 am and would guess there were around 10 fish caught around us. Very slow considering the number of anglers. I am hoping that this is just the start of a late run and not the signal of a poor run. Oh well, I feel blessed to have run into one. Tight lines!

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