Didn't Happen This Year

Generally October-November provides a window of opportunity to catch very large, fat and sassy rainbows that run into the headwaters of a local waterway from the reservoir downstream. Last year saw my father and I into 25-27" fish, most weighing better than 5 lbs from mid October through mid November. This year, nothing of the kind. I tried the same tactics on the same stretch of river at the same time of the year 3 times this year and never found anything bigger than 20 inches. My only guess is that the reservoir was very high this year versus low over the past few years. I always thought it was the run of kokanees into the spawning gravel that brought the large fish into these waters, now I am thinking it is fish running from the heating temperatures in the lake late in the summer into the constant mild temperatures of the spring fed river.

What we were looking for:

Large, fat rainbows with maws big enough to swallow a duckling.
The big fish in this photo is most likely around 12 lbs.

What we found:

16-18 inch hard fighting rainbows but not the leviathans of our dreams.

Now I have a couple of more opportunities before the end of the season on this stretch, but I think I will pass. The SF is very low now and aggressive, randy browns in skinny water are calling to me. Last year the browns disappeared from the skinny water shortly after Thanksgivings so I need to get out while the getting is good.

My big rainbow run of late fall just didn't happen this year. Now I am sad.