The ‘not so’ dog days of summer?
Usually about this time of year we are starting to talk about Fall being right around the corner. Don’t get me wrong, Fall is my absolute favorite time of year to fish but let’s talk about the right now a bit.
So far, the fishing on the Lower Colorado has been absolutely amazing this summer-well relatively absolutely amazing I suppose. Many years ago, way before All Water Guides, summer time wasn’t so bad. Sure it was hot as hell, but the fishing kept us engaged with numbers that almost don’t seem real anymore. Then, the drought set in, and it got bad. Then, bad got worse. The drought ‘ended’ and we rumbled amongst ourselves about when will it come back around…it has to come back around…right? And slowly it did. We’ve seen the ‘old river’ through changing windows. Windows that were inconsistent, confusing and frustrating to us as guides. Privately, I wondered “what if it never recovers?”
We have had some great fishing over the last few years since the drought. But, the last piece of the puzzle has been the summer time fishing. It just hasn’t been there for us. I think we’re seeing that come to an end and we’re seeing the river coming into its own again. As a paramedic, there is a time after a patient experiences cardiac arrest when we have regained pulses where we just have to sit and watch. It’s the longest few minutes I can barely explain, and then only to those who have experienced it too. You sit and watch with your hands in your pockets to see if they can hold their own without intervention. When they do, the tone changes dramatically. I kind of feel that the summer time fishing has been those few minutes we’ve needed to see if the river can hold its own. And in these last few weeks we’ve seen a river busting with life, cool clear water and some great fishing.
As I sit and type this, we are coming off some really great time spent on the water. Some weather moved in yesterday that gave the watershed a good flushing and as always there will be a recovery time, but I’m excited and optimistic about what August and September have in store for us. The name of the game will be as it has been: start early and fish hard until the heat has sucked the life out of you.
I know football is less than a month away but from a fishing stand point I’m looking forward to seeing how this summer pans out.
See you on the water.
Winston
