MS Creel Update as of 4.03.16

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WOW, talk about getting the rug yanked out from underneath...

Just when things were starting to get really interesting, mother nature played one hell of an April Fools joke on us.

Temperatures which had been doing a steady climb suddenly retreated to the cellar along with much of the fish activity.

To be sure, there are fish around, but they have developed a case of lock-jaw with average stream temps now hovering in the 31-32F range. Can you still catch them? Yes. Will you have to work your tail off to do so? You bet your sweet bippy!


Our latest creel update which includes numbers through April 3rd illustrates it pretty well:
Note the catch trend from the 29th - April 1st. The biggest player here were the daily average temps at just over 34 combined with high temps approaching 40F. If you were out at the right time of day, you were catching fish. The storm dropped both average and high temps into the 31-32 range which brought most activity to a virtual stand-still. If the water wasn't moving in the first picture, it would be frozen over. Those chunks you see in the photo are all slush. Doesn't look like much but an hour earlier, you could barely get your line in the water.

Hard to say what will happen over the next few days other than to say we've gone back into a holding pattern with the forecast calling for more cold. Beyond that, here are the latest numbers:

2016 Creel Project Day 24:
118 Rainbows reported
4.91 fish per day average
64 Steelhead
54 Kamloops
2 Brook Trout/Presumed Coasters

Lower Shore:
53 Kamloops
52 Steelhead
2 Brook Trout/Presumed Coasters

Mid Shore:
1 Kamloop
12 Steelhead

More to come!
Regards - Minnesota Steelheader

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